ANIMAL FARM

51 Animal Farm – the story and the principles on which the animal society is organised, how and
why they change and get abandoned
ANIMAL FARM = a book written by GO, published in 1944/5, it is an allegory, the theme of the book
is the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Regime in Soviet Union
STORY:
o Old Major, an old wise boar, gathers the animals of the Manor Farm for a meeting in the big
barn. He tells them of a dream he had last night in which all animals live together with no
human beings to oppress or control them. He tells the animals that they must work toward such a
paradise and teaches them a song called “Beasts of England,” in which his dream vision is
lyrically described. The animals are enthusiastic about this idea.
o Very soon (3 nights later), Old Major dies. After his death, three younger pigs —Snowball,
Napoleon, and Squealer—formulate his main principles into a philosophy called Animalism
o The animals manage to defeat and expel the farmer Mr. Jones.
o They rename the farm to Animal Farm.
o At first, Animal Farm prospers.
- Snowball works at teaching the animals to read, and Napoleon takes a group of young
puppies to educate them in the principles of Animalism.
- When Mr. Jones reappears to take back his farm, the animals defeat him again.
o very soon, Napoleon and Snowball increasingly argue about the future of the farm, and they
begin to compete with each other and try to gain the power and influence among the other
animals
o Snowball suggests building a windmill, but Napoleon rejects the plan.
o Then they have a meeting, where they are to vote on whether to realize the windmill project –
Snowball gives a passionate speech. But after his speech, nine dogs – the puppies that Napoleon
„educated“ before – come and expel Snowball from the farm.
o Napoleon then becomes the leader of the Animal Farm and declares that there will be no more
meetings. From that point on, he decides that the pigs alone will make all of the decisions—for
the good of every animal.
o Napoleon then changes his mind about the windmill and decides to build it– all of the animals
work really hard to complete the windmill, especially Boxer works very hard, his motto is: „I will
work harder“.
o the windmill has to be built three times, because first the windmill breaks down, second time is
destroyed by people (but Napoleon claims that it was Snowball who returned to the farm to
destroy the windmill). The third time it is finally finished, but Boxer has been working so hard,
that it weakens him and soon he was taken away from the farm – Napoleon says Boxer is taken to
a doctor where he the dies peacefully, but he in fact Boxer is sold to a butcher.
o Napoleon begins to act more and more like a human being—sleeping in a bed, drinking
alcohol, and cooperate with other farmers, even though these activities are strictly forbidden by
the original 7 commandments. All of his actions are jusitfied to the animals by another pig –
Squealer, Napoleon’s propagandist, speaker.
o Squealer convinces the animals that Napoleon is a great leader and is making things better
for everyone—despite the fact that the common animals are cold, hungry, and overworked.
o As the years pass, the pigs become more and more like human beings—walking upright, carrying
whips, and wearing clothes. Eventually, The pigs start to dress and behave exactly like
humans.
o Eventually, the seven principles of Animalism, known as the Seven Commandments and
inscribed on the side of the barn, become reduced to a single principle reading “all animals are
equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
o Napoleon even begins to communicate and cooperate with people. He also the name of Animal
Farm back to the Manor Farm.
o The common animals can no longer distinguish the pigs from the human beings.
Philosophy of Animalism – the 7 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.

52 Animal Farm – main characters and their characteristics, the human types they represent

1) JONES (TSAR NICHOLAS II)

 he is a human, owner of the farm, alcoholic, he doesn’t take care of the animals,
doesn’t feed them enough
 he is expelled from the farm by the animals
 represents Tsar Nicholas II

2) OLD MAJOR (KARL MARX)

 he is a boar who is respected by others
 he is wise and has lot of experience
 he had the idea of the revolution – it occurs in his dream
 he spreads the idea of the revolution and then dies at the age of 12 years
 he is supposed to be the thinker and ideologist, represents Karl Marx

3) NAPOLEON (STALIN)
 a pig – in fact one of the main pigs, intelligent
 he is cruel, lazy, totalitarian, sly
 at the beginning of the Rebellion he cooperates with Snowball, but then they start to
argue a lot and N. expel Snowball and …
 … becomes the leader of the farm and overtakes all power
 he is not a good speaker, Squealer becomes his speaker and propagandist
 represents Stalin

4) SNOWBALL (LEON TROTSKY)

 pig – also one of the main pigs, very intelligent
 a good speaker, good ideas, he educates the animals
 in conflict with Napoleon about the windmill
 he is expelled by Napoleon’s dogs
 represents Leon Trotsky

5) BOXER (the working class)

 a cart-horse – very big and extremely strong
 plays a key role in the early prosperity of Animal Farm and the later completion of the
windmill
 but naive (he naivly trusts the pigs, especially Napoleon), silly, simple-minded, easy
to be manipulated
 brave, selfless, dedicated,
 represents the working class
 works so hard that he is extremely weak
  his mottos: „I will work harder“, „Napoleon is Always right“
 he represents the working class
6) BENJAMIN (THE INTELLIGENTSIA)
 a donkey – very intelligent, calm, cynical
 very old, he doesn’t say anything – doesn’t express his thoughts
 he refuses to fell inspired by the Rebellion – he realises what happens and how
it is supposed to end
 he is not enthusiastic as the other animals about the idea of the farm lead by
animals
 he remains unpleasant and negative all the time
 he doesn’t spread his thoughts and is unwilling or unable to oppose the pigs
 he represents the intelligentsia

7) SQUEALER (THE MEDIA AND NEWPAPER)

 pig
 he becomes the propagandist and the speaker of Napoleon
 a very good speaker, very persuasive
 he interprets Napoleon’s thoughts, he justifies his acts which are not in
accordance with the 7 commandments
 the animals believe him
 represents the media and newspaper

8) Minimus
 The poet pig who writes verse about Napoleon and pens the banal patriotic
song “Animal Farm, Animal Farm” to replace the earlier idealistic hymn
“Beasts of England,” which Old Major passes on to the others.

9) Mollie
 The vain, flighty mare
 craves the attention of human beings and loves being groomed and pampered.
 She has a difficult time with her new life on Animal Farm, as she misses
wearing ribbons in her mane and eating sugar cubes.
 She represents the petit bourgeoisie that fled from Russia a few years after the
Russian Revolution.
10) Clover
 A good-hearted female cart-horse and Boxer’s close friend.
 Clover often suspects the pigs of violating one or another of the Seven
Commandments, but she repeatedly blames herself for misremembering the
commandments.

11) Moses
 The tame raven who spreads stories of Sugarcandy Mountain, the paradise to
which animals supposedly go when they die. Moses plays only a small role in
Animal Farm, but Orwell uses him to explore how communism exploits
religion as something with which to pacify the oppressed.
55 George Orwell – his life and concerns (the freedom of press; role and heading of British
intelligentsia, development in Russia and other countries) – what he was concerned about, what
dangers he feared

GEORGE ORWELL
- his real name: ERIC ARTHUR BLAIR (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950)
- better known by his pen name George Orwell
- was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic
HIS LIFE:
- born in a british colony in India, but when he was 1 year old, his family moved to England
- his father was a british official in the Indian civil service, his mother was of a French origin
- in England, he attended some small school in Henley and then he got a scholarship to Eton
College – which was a british leading school
- After the college he couldn‘t afford to attend a university because his family was unable to
pay the fees
- So he followed their family tradition - in 1922 went to Burma and joined the imperial police
- But very soon he realized how the Burmese (Indians) felt under the British domination and so
he felt increasingly ashamed of his role as a colonial police officer and of the role which
British played in it’s colonies. In 1927 he left the police and went back to England, he wanted
to focus on writing.
 his experience in Burma provided an inspiration for his first book which was
published later in 1934 – called „Burmese Days“
- he lived in Paris working as dishwasher for a short time and then he took a job as a teacher
in England in a small school and he also took a part-time job in a book shop, there he met his
future wife Eileen. At this time, he began writing books.
- when the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, he volunteered to fight for the republicans (on
the side of the Republicans) against General Francisco Franco and his Fascist party
- during the WW2, he served for the British as a correspondent.
- in 1944 he wrote his famous book Animal Farm inspired by the Russian Revolution and the
period of Joseph Stalin.
 it was difficult for him to publish the book, because there were written many
thoughts against Soviets who were allies in the WW1,2
 the book was finally published in 1945 – great success, made Orwell famous
- then his wife Eileen died, he began writing his greatest work 1984, which was finally
published in 1949
 1984 – a dystopian novel set in the imaginary future, he wrote this as a warning to
the totalitarian regimes of Stalinism and Nazism
- He died of tuberculosis in 1950 aged 46
HIS WORK:
- His work is characterised as:
 clear prose, he used:
 very simple language
 very simple and short both words and sentences
 no terms or scientific words, he used rather everyday expressions
 no metaphors nor other figures of speech
 he cut out the unnecessary words
 didn’t use passive unless it was necessary
 social criticism
  criticism of totalitarianism – Stalinism, Nazism
 (outspoken) support of democratic socialism

- 53 Animal Farm – parallels between events on Animal Farm and the historical events in Russia; parallels between
characters in the book and real people/Russian society
- 54 Animal Farm – the role of propaganda, the message of the book, Orwell’s language