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Summary Animal Farm
Summary Animal Farm
Summary
After Mr. Jones the farmer has gone to bed, all the animals sneak into the barn to hear a
speech by Old Major. Old Major tells them he has done a lot of thinking in his long life,
particularly about the hardships the animals face (hard work, little food and eventually being
slaughtered). He believes these hardships are all due to the greedy humans.
He tells them to work for the eventual overthrow of the human race. "All men are enemies.
All animals are comrades."
He reminds the animals to stick together and protect each other, even the wild animals, and
to remember that they are all equal. He also warns them never to adopt any human habits. He
teaches them a song which came to him in his dream, an old song that he remembers his
mother and the other sows singing parts of when he was young. The song is about liberation
and is called "Beasts of England".
They quickly learn the song and start singing it, but this wakes Mr. Jones who lets off a
charge from his gun in case there is a fox in the yard. The animals all hurry off to bed.
Old Major dies peacefully in his sleep three nights later, and the pigs begin teaching and
organizing the others to prepare for the Rebellion he predicted. Chief among them are
Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer, who elaborate Old Major's ideas into a system of thought
called Animalism. They teach this to the other animals at secret meetings late at night in the
barn, but the animals make many silly points like "Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we
should starve to death," and it is slow work. Boxer and Clover are their two most devoted
disciples.
Moses the pet raven keeps telling the animals lies about a magic place called Sugarcandy
Mountain and the pigs have to work hard to persuade them that it doesn't exist.
On Midsummer's Eve, Mr. Jones goes to the pub and gets drunk, then doesn't come back
until noon the next day and goes to sleep with the newspaper over his face. The farmhands go
out catching rabbits and no one feeds the animals, who become so hungry that by evening
they break in the door of the store-shed and help themselves. Mr. Jones then wakes up and he
and his men start lashing at the animals with whips. The animals spontaneously attack the
humans and drive them off the farm - Mrs. Jones and Moses sneak away when they see what
is happening.
The animals are thrilled and amazed to be free; they destroy all the reminders of
Jones are thrown down the well and the reins, nosebags and ribbons are burnt.
They agree to preserve the farmhouse as a museum, and that no animal must ever live
there.
The pigs then reveal that they have taught themselves to read and write, and Snowball
paints out the 'Manor Farm' sign on the gate and replaces it with 'Animal Farm'. He and
Squealer paint the Seven Commandments of Animalism, the new laws of the farm, on the
wall of the barn.
"THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS”
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.
The animals harvest the hay, with everyone helping - the pigs supervise the others as
they work, and even the ducks and hens go back and forth in the sun all day carrying tiny
wisps of hay in their beaks.
Boxer pulls everyone through again and again, doing the work of three horses rolled
into one. He gets up half an hour early to do extra volunteer work, and his personal slogan
and answer to every problem is "I will work harder!" The animals work hard, although some,
like Mollie and the cat, seem to avoid work.
On Sundays there is no work and after breakfast the animals hoist their flag. Then
they have a Meeting to discuss work and proposed resolutions, and Snowball and Napoleon
are always the most active in debating resolutions, although they never agree with each other.
The pigs use the harness-room as a headquarters where they study blacksmithing,
carpentering and so on from books they find in the farmhouse. Snowball organizes the
animals into committees but also organizes reading and writing lessons, which are very
successful, particularly with the pigs, dogs, Muriel and Benjamin who all learn to read well.
They find that the stupider animals - like hens, sheep and ducks - cannot learn the
Seven Commandments by heart, and so after thinking about it Snowball decides that the
Seven Commandments can effectively be reduced to the slogan: "FOUR LEGS GOOD,
TWO LEGS BAD" and this is written up above the Seven Commandments on the wall of the
barn, in bigger letters. The birds object that they have two legs, but Snowball tells them a
wing is more like a leg than a hand, because the wing is used for movement and not to
manipulate objects. The sheep, hens and ducks then learn this slogan by heart.
Napoleon says it is more important to educate the young than those who are already
grown up, and he takes the nine puppies that are born right after the harvest away from their
mothers for education, secluding them in a loft until the rest of the farm has pretty much
forgotten that they exist.
News about the takeover on Animal Farm spreads through the county, and Snowball
and Napoleon send out special flights of pigeons instructed to go to other farms and tell the
animals the story of the Rebellion and teach them "Beasts of England".
Mr. Jones spends most of his time sitting in the Red Lion Pub complaining about his
woes, and the other farmers wonder if there is a way they can gain by his loss. Luckily the
two farmers neighboring Animal Farm, Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood and Mr. Frederick of
Pinchfield, hate each other and would never cooperate against the animals. They are both
worried by the rebellion, though, and say that it will never last and that the animals are
fighting among themselves and starving to death.
In early October, Jones and all his men with some others from nearby farms, come
back to try and retake the farm - Jones carrying a gun and the others carrying sticks.
Snowball assumes leadership and together the animals manage to defeat the humans and
drive them off the farm - although a shot from Jones kills a sheep and wounds Snowball
along the back. One stable-boy is hit on the skull by one of Boxer's hooves, and then lies
motionless face-downward in the mud. Boxer is upset because he believes he has killed the
boy, and when Snowball tells him that the only good human being is a dead one:
The animals discover Mollie is missing, go to look for her and find her hiding in her
stall with her head buried in the hay - when they return they find that the stable-lad, who was
only stunned, has recovered and run away.
The battle is named the Battle of the Cowshed and the animals decide to make two
military decorations - "Animal Hero, First Class", which they give to Snowball and Boxer,
and "Animal Hero, Second Class", which they give to the dead sheep. The gun Mr. Jones left
behind is set up at the foot of the flagstaff, to be fired twice a year - once on the anniversary
of the battle, and once on the anniversary of the Rebellion.
Mollie often shirks work, and one day Clover confronts her and tells her that she saw
her looking over the hedge dividing Animal Farm from Foxwood, talking to one of
Pilkington's men and letting him stroke her nose. Mollie tries to deny it, gets upset and
gallops off - Clover goes to Mollie's stall and finds some lump sugar and ribbons hidden
under the straw. Three days later Mollie disappears and some pigeons later report seeing her
harnessed to a cart outside a pub, being fed sugar by a fat red-faced man.
It is decided that the pigs, because they are the cleverest, should decide all the farm
policies, although their decisions have to be ratified by a majority vote - this causes some
problems because of the rivalry between Snowball and Napoleon.
Snowball decides that a certain knoll in the pasture would be the perfect spot for a
windmill which would supply the farm with electric power. He uses some books that
belonged to Mr. Jones to help him with the plans, which he starts drawing with chalk on the
floor of a shed. All the animals are in awe of the plans, although they can't understand them,
and go to look at them often - Napoleon visits once, looks at them, and urinates all over the
plans to show his disdain.
Snowball believes it is important to finish the windmill and save labor, Napoleon
believes it is more important to increase food production immediately; Napoleon believes the
animals must find firearms and learn how to use them to defend themselves, Snowball
believes it would be better to stir up rebellion on all the surrounding farms so that none of the
farmers will be able to organize an attack against Animal Farm. The two cannot agree on
anything.
Snowball finishes the plans and at the next Meeting the windmill is to be put to the
vote: Snowball makes a speech in favor, Napoleon utters a sentence or two against it, and
Snowball then launches into a brilliant, eloquent appeal for the windmill. Napoleon suddenly
lets out a strange high-pitched sound and nine huge, vicious dogs bound into the barn, head
straight for Snowball and chase him off the property. It turns out that these are the nine
young puppies Napoleon took away from their mothers.
Napoleon then announces that no more Meetings will be held, and a special
committee of pigs under his leadership will decide all questions of how to run the farm.
Some animals, particularly four young porkers, seem upset by this, but the dogs start
growling and put an end to all discussion.
Squealer later explains to the others than Napoleon is making a great sacrifice for
them in taking on the burden of leadership, that Snowball was no better than a traitor, and
that holding debates on Sunday mornings and failing to let Napoleon lead will bring Jones
back. He says:
Boxer adopts another personal motto in addition to "I will work harder" - "Napoleon
is always right."
Napoleon announces that the windmill will, after all, be built. The animals are
confused, but Squealer explains that the windmill was Napoleon's idea all along, stolen by
Snowball.
In August Napoleon announces there will be voluntary work on Sundays, and that any
animal that doesn't do it will have their rations reduced by half - but even with these extra
hours, some of the tasks around the farm are not getting done and there may not be enough
food for the winter.
There is a limestone quarry on the farm, and to get stone for the windmill, all the
animals drag boulders up a slope to the top of the quarry, then let them fall and break so that
there are pieces small enough to use for building - this is hard work and without Boxer's
strength it would be impossible.
Although there is so much hard work, the animals have as much food as they did in
Jones's day, all through the summer. But there are shortages of things like nails and dog
biscuits, and Napoleon announces that the farm will begin trading with neighboring farms -
not for any commercial purpose, but just to get hold of necessities. Some animals are
uncomfortable, especially the four young pigs that protested when Snowball was expelled,
but Napoleon silences them and Squealer later goes around and convinces the animals that
there was never a resolution passed to avoid trade and money, and that they must have
dreamed it.
Napoleon hires a solicitor, Mr. Whymper, who comes to the farm every Monday for
his orders, and although the animals hate and fear the human, they do feel proud when they
see Napoleon on all fours delivering orders to Whymper on two.
The pigs move into the farmhouse and sleep in the beds - Clover seems to remember
a commandment against this and gets Muriel to read the fourth commandment to her, but she
has remembered it wrongly and it actually says that no animal should sleep in a bed with
sheets. Squealer happens to be passing by with a few dogs and reassures them that the pigs
have removed the sheets from the beds and sleep between blankets.
The windmill is half-finished when there is a major gale one night in November - the
next morning the animals find that the windmill has been leveled. Napoleon announces that it
is because Snowball has crept onto the farm during the night and destroyed it. He offers a
reward of apples for Snowball's capture, and announces that they will begin rebuilding the
windmill that very morning
The winter is difficult and building the windmill is even more work this time since
the walls are being built thicker.
In January the farm starts running out of food and rations have to be drastically
reduced - Napoleon arranges to have Whymper contradict any rumors in the outside world of
a shortage on Animal Farm.
The shortage becomes so serious that Napoleon makes a contract to sell 400 eggs a
week to buy grain, until the summer when things will get easier. The hens try to protest, but
Napoleon orders that no hens will receive any food until they cooperate - after five days and
the deaths of nine hens, they have to agree.
Napoleon decides to sell a pile of timber that has been left in the yard - Pilkington and
Frederick both want to buy it.
Napoleon goes through the farm sniffing around and declares he finds traces of
Snowball everywhere - Squealer tells the animals that it has been discovered that Snowball
has sold himself to Frederick, and was in league with Jones from the very start. Boxer
initially refuses to believe this and takes a lot of convincing.
Four days later Napoleon orders the animals to gather, and at a signal his dogs attack
the four young pigs who complained about the Meetings being abolished. Three dogs seem to
go quite crazy and try to attack Boxer, who pins one of them to the ground - Napoleon tells
Boxer to let the dog go, and they slink away.
Napoleon tells the four pigs to confess their crimes, and they confess to being in
league with Snowball - the dogs then tear their throats out. The hens who led the rebellion
over the eggs come forward and say Snowball told them to rebel - they are killed. Other
animals make confessions and are killed; it goes on until there is a pile of bodies.
Later, "some of the animals remembered - or thought they remembered - that the
Sixth Commandment decreed 'No animal shall kill any other animal.' And though no one
cared to mention it in the hearing of the pigs or the dogs, it was felt that the killings which
had taken place did not square with this."
But when Clover has Muriel read her the Sixth Commandment, it turns out to say that
no animal shall kill any other animal without cause, and obviously there was a good reason
for killing the traitors.
The animals work hard and are always hungry, but every Sunday morning Squealer
reads them long lists of figures proving they have more food than ever before.
Napoleon is now always referred to formally as "Our Leader, Comrade Napoleon",
and appears more ceremoniously - he now has a black cockerel to march in front of him
when he goes out in public, to act as a kind of trumpeter by letting out a loud 'cock-a-doodle-
doo' when Napoleon speaks.
Minimus writes an extremely flattering poem entitled 'Comrade Napoleon', and
Napoleon has it written up on the wall of the barn opposite the Seven Commandments, with
Napoleon's portrait above it drawn by Squealer in white paint.
Around the middle of the summer, three hens confess that, inspired by Snowball, they
have been plotting to kill Napoleon - they are executed, four dogs start guarding Napoleon's
bed at night and a young pig named Pinkeye is appointed to be his food taster in case of
poison.
It is announced that Napoleon has decided to sell the timber to Pilkington, and
relations between them become almost cordial - meanwhile terrible stories are being
circulated about Frederick and his cruelty to his animals. The pigeons still flying around to
spread word of the Rebellion are told to avoid Foxwood.
Snowball continues to be blamed for things going wrong - like weeds in the corn - and the
animals are told that Snowball never received the order of 'Animal Hero, First Class', but
merely spread this rumor himself. He was in fact lectured for showing cowardice in the
battle.
In the autumn the windmill is finally finished and the animals are proud and
triumphant despite their exhaustion.
Frederick and his men then march onto the farm, carrying guns, and use blasting
powder to blow the windmill up. It is completely pulverized.
The animals attack, despite the guns, and manage to drive the men off the farm after
heavy casualties on both sides. There is a large celebration and Napoleon creates a new
military decoration which he confers on himself.
Later, the pigs find a case of whisky in the farmhouse cellar and are heard drunkenly
singing parts of 'Beasts of England'. Napoleon later orders barley to be planted in a paddock
that was going to be used as grazing land for retired animals. Mysteriously, there is a loud
crash in the barn around midnight one night, and Squealer is found with a broken ladder,
lantern, overturned paint-pot and paintbrush beside him. A few days later, Muriel notices the
Fifth Commandment, the one about not drinking alcohol, is different from what she
remembers.
Boxer's hoof, split in the battle against the humans, takes a long time to heal, but he
refuses to take any time off work as he wants to see the windmill well under way before he
retires the next summer.
There are many more mouths to feed as the four sows all litter at once, giving birth to
thirty-one piglets. The farm has had a fairly successful year, but still has to sell off some hay,
potatoes and increase the egg contract to pay for things for the pigs like candles, sugar,
materials to build a schoolroom for the piglets - and the regular supplies like nails and string.
There are more songs, speeches and processions than before, and Napoleon orders the
animals to hold 'Spontaneous Demonstrations' once a week.
In April, Animal Farm is declared a Republic and they hold an election, with only one
candidate, Napoleon, who is elected unanimously. The same day, it is announced that new
documents have been discovered revealing that at the Battle of the Cowshed Snowball was
openly fighting on the human side as the leader of their forces.
Boxer is looking less healthy than he used to, but still keeps working hard, looking
forward to his retirement. One day he falls down while dragging a load of stone and can't get
up, and the animals run to see what is wrong - he tells Clover it is his lung. Squealer says that
Napoleon is very concerned and is making arrangements to send Boxer to the vet in
Willingdon - for two days Clover and Benjamin carefully look after Boxer. Then a van
comes to take him away and he is already loaded in when Benjamin runs to warn the animals
- on the side of the van is written 'Horse Slaughterer'. Boxer is being taken to the knacker's to
be boiled down for glue and dog meat. They all run after the van, Clover shouting to Boxer,
who then tries to kick his way out, but it is too late and the van drives off with him in it.
Three days later Squealer comes to announce that Boxer has died in the hospital in
Willingdon after receiving the very best of care. He explains that there was a mistake - the
vet had just bought the van from the knacker and had not yet painted out the old name.
Squealer gives details of Boxer's death-bed and the expensive medicines Napoleon paid for,
and says that his last words were 'Long live Comrade Napoleon! Napoleon is always right!'
The pigs hold a memorial banquet in Boxer's honor, and on the day appointed for it a crate of
whisky is delivered at the farmhouse and they all get drunk again.
Many years pass and the only animals left on the farm from the days before the
Rebellion are Clover, Benjamin, Moses and a number of the pigs - the rest have passed away.
The farm is more prosperous now, with more animals who have been born or bought,
and the windmill is finished. It isn't used for electricity, but for milling corn which is then
sold at a profit. The animals are building another windmill, which will run a dynamo, but
even then there will be no light and hot and cold water in the stalls, or a three-day work
week, or any of the improvements Snowball had talked about.
Although the farm is much richer, the animals' lives are as hard as ever. Still,
Squealer keeps telling them things are constantly getting better, and they have no way to
dispute this.
Nevertheless all the animals, even the ones that have been bought from other farms,
feel pride in knowing that their farm is special, run by themselves, and that they are all equal.
One day Squealer takes the sheep into a secluded piece of ground and keeps them
there for a week, saying he is teaching them a new song.
Soon after they come back, the pigs suddenly come out of the farmhouse walking on
their hind legs, Squealer in the front and then all of them in a long file. Finally Napoleon
emerges, also walking on his hind legs and carrying a whip in his trotter. Before the animals
can protest, the sheep all start bleating at once "Four legs good, two legs better!" over and
over without stopping.
Clover leads Benjamin to the barn and asks him to read her the Seven
Commandments. There is only one left:
"ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS"
All the pigs start carrying whips, and wearing clothes. A group of neighboring
farmers are invited to tour the farm, and afterwards they are heard laughing and singing with
the pigs inside the farmhouse.
The animals are curious and Clover leads them up to the house where they peer in the
window. Inside, Pilkington is saying that he and all present are glad that humans have finally
been reconciled with Animal Farm, and they have realized that the pigs are not revolutionary
or abnormal, but in fact run their farm admirably. He compliments them for making their
animals work harder on less food than any other animals in the county and he toasts Animal
Farm.
Napoleon thanks Pilkington, and announces that certain changes will be taking place
on the farm - the habits of calling each other 'Comrade' and marching past Old Major's skull
on Sundays are to be suppressed, and the hoof and horn are being removed from the green
flag. The farm's name is also being changed back to 'The Manor Farm'.
They toast, and it seems to Clover, although with old age her sight has grown weak,
that something is melting and changing in the faces of the pigs. The animals are turning away
when they hear a quarrel going on inside and run back - Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington have
both cheated in the card game.
"No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside
looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was
impossible to say which was which."
II. Insight
The Animal Farm is about a ruler in a country using Totalitarian type of ruling.
Animal Farm is a fairy-story and a political attack story. The rulers are illustrated
as pigs who overthrown their leader (farm owner). And little by little they became
the rulers of the new farm which they called “Animal Farm.” This will show how
dirty rulers rule their land and do dirty jobs behind their fellow men (or animals).
CHRISTIAN PAOLO C. ASUNCION
A09A08
PROF. RONITO B. ORIAS