Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Close Reading Organizer - Chapter 1

Directions: Read each summary entry and think about which themes listed in the
Themes Key apply to it, then color in those themes in the Theme Tracker. Next, write a
few sentences of Analysis to explain how the themes you chose apply to each summary
section.

Themes Key
1 Totalitarianism
2 Revolution and Corruption
3 Class Warfare
4 Language as Power
5 The Soviet Union

Summary Theme Tracker Your Analysis

The owner of Manor Farm, Mr.

Jones, locks his henhouses for
the evening—but he’s too drunk
to remember to shut everything
before he goes to bed. As soon
as the lights are off in the
farmhouse, the animals all stir
and make their way to the big
barn, where the old boar, Old
Major, wants to address
everyone. Old Major lies on a
raised platform. The three dogs
and all the pigs come in first and 1 2 3 4 5
settle right in front of the
platform. The hens and pigeons
perch in windows and the
rafters; the sheep and cows
settle behind the pigs; and
Boxer and Clover, the
carthorses, lie down in the back.
Clover settles a brood of
orphaned ducklings in the crook
of her leg as the cantankerous
old donkey, Benjamin, and the
goat Muriel join the horses.

The foolish mare Mollie shakes 1 2 3 4 5

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

her braided and beribboned

mane while she munches sugar,
and the cat finds the warmest
spot between Boxer and
Clover. The cat doesn’t listen to
Old Major at all. Seeing that
everyone but old Moses, the
tame raven, is present, Old
Major begins. He addresses
everyone as “comrades” and
announces that he’s going to die
soon but wants to share his
wisdom and a dream he had
with everyone before he does.
He says that the nature of their
lives is horrendous: they only
get enough food to keep them
going, and once they’re no
longer useful, Mr. Jones kills
them. Animals, he insists, are
slaves, though they don’t have
to be. Manor Farm would
support many animals
comfortably if only humans
didn’t steal the products of their
labor. If they remove man, they
won’t be hungry or overworked.

Old Major insists that humans 1 2 3 4 5

are the only creatures who
consume without producing
anything, like milk or eggs. He
asks the animals to consider all
they’ve given up, from gallons of
milk to hundreds of eggs to
Clover’s four foals, gone
forever. Old Major points out
that Mr. Jones butchers pigs,
will someday sell Boxer to the
glue factory when he can’t work,
and drowns dogs when they get
too old. Man, Old Major
suggests, is the root of all evil.
Getting rid of men through
rebellion would free the animals,
and Old Major insists that the
rebellion will come in due

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

course. He warns everyone that

they can’t entertain the idea
that humans and animals have
common interests; they must
believe that all men are enemies
and all animals are comrades.

Suddenly, the dogs catch sight

of four rats listening in and
chases them back to their holes.
Old Major calls for silence and
insists that they must vote on
whether wild animals are
enemies or comrades. The
assembly votes overwhelmingly
in favor of wild animals being
comrades. Only the cat and the
dogs vote no, but some 1 2 3 4 5
discover later that the cat voted
on both sides. Solemnly, Old
Major insists again that they
can’t forget that man is their
enemy, but they also can’t ever
come to resemble man by
drinking alcohol, sleeping in
beds, or trading. He also says
that animals cannot terrorize
each other, as they’re all equal.

Old Major explains that he’s

going to teach everyone a song
that his mother taught him part
of long ago. It’s called “Beasts of
England” and it speaks of a
“golden future time” in which
animals will be free from human
tyranny. All the animals, both 1 2 3 4 5
the highly intelligent and the
less intelligent, learn it quickly
and they sing it all together five
times through. They only stop
when Mr. Jones shoots his gun
into the side of the barn,
breaking up the meeting.