Animal Farm: A Fairy Story (commonly just known as Animal Farm) is a novella written by George Orwell. Released in 1945, it details farm animals revolting against their owner.
Characters[]
- Napoleon - a pig who takes control of the revolt and turns it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The character of Napoleon is based around Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
- Mr. Jones - the former owner of the farm who the animals revolt against due to his drunkenness. Mr. Jones serves as a representation of the Tsars.
- Snowball - a pig who serves as a rival towards Napoleon. He is based on Leon Trotsky.
- Squealer - a pig with an extreme gift for winning debates who serves as Napoleon's right-hand pig.
- Mr. Whymper - a solicitor who Napoleon uses as his bridge with the humans.
- Mr. Pilkington - a well-mannered human farmer.
- Mr. Frederick - an extremely cruel human farmer. Mr. Frederick represents Adolf Hitler, with the short-lived alliance between Mr. Frederick and Napoleon representing the short-lived (and doomed from the start due to Hitler's hatred of Slavic peoples) alliance between the USSR and Nazi Germany.
- Clover - a kind horse.
- Boxer - a hard-working horse. Boxer serves as a representation of the working class.
- Muriel - a goat with the ability to read.
- Benjamin - an old goat who frequently makes odd remarks. He possibly represents the author himself.
- Mollie - a vain horse. Mollie serves as a representation of the downtrodden who base their worth on materialistic and vain displays of their enslavement.
- Major (or Old Major) - an older pig who begins the revolt. He is based (rather broadly) on the older figures of communism, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
Publisher's summary[]
1963 Signet Classics edition (features an introduction by C.M. Woodhouse)
This remarkable book has been described in many ways - as a masterpiece... a fairy story... a brilliant satire... a frightening view of the future. A devastating attack on the pig-headed, gluttonous, and avaricious rulers in an imaginary totalitarian state, it illuminates the range of human experience from love to hate, from comedy to tragedy. "A wise, compassionate and illuminating fable for our time... The steadiness and lucidity of Orwell's wit are reminiscent of Anatole France and even of Swift." - NEW YORK TIMES
Plot[]
Chapter I[]
In the farm of a drunken farmer named Mr. Jones, an old pig named Major begins a revolt among the animals - putting the maxim that all animals should revolt against their human owners - and recounts a song from his dreams (Beasts of England). The other animals begin gleefully singing the song until Mr. Jones shoots at the barn that the animals have chosen as their meeting place.
Chapter II[]
Some time after Major dies, the animals begin their revolt against Mr. Jones due to his incompetence. The revolt succeeds immediately - with Mr. Jones and his lackeys fleeing. The animals put forth seven commandments that all animals should live by (which boil down to animals fighting against humans). The house of the Jones is kept as a museum.
Chapter III[]
As the animals begin harvesting the resources of the farm, cracks begin showing in the idyllic state. The pigs begin taking some of the resources for themselves and only for themselves.
Chapter IV[]
As news of the rebellion of "Animal Farm" spreads throughout England, Jones tries to reclaim his farm yet again. Snowball (one of the pigs) leads the charge against Jones - beating his men away from the farm.
Chapter V[]
Shortly after the battle, Mollie (a vain horse) flees from the farm. Snowball and his rival (Napoleon) begin arguing incessantly. Things reach a boiling point regarding a windmill that Snowball plans to build. Napoleon absolutely despises this plan, and during a meeting on the windmill he uses trained dogs to chase Snowball out of the farm. Soon after, Napoleon essentially disbands the government of the farm and uses Squealer to frame Snowball as a traitor. Napoleon also decides to build the windmill anyways (claiming that Snowball stole the plans).
Chapter VI[]
The animals build the windmill in around a year. As the windmill is being built, Napoleon reveals that he is opening trade with the humans. It is around this time that Napoleon begins subtly changing the commandments to suit his own purposes.
One night, a large storm destroys the windmill. Napoleon blames this on Snowball and uses it to sentence him to death.
Chapter VII[]
A bitter winter leads to famine conditions on the farm. Napoleon begins covering up the bad news to save face. Napoleon also demands that the hens give up their eggs. The hens try to revolt but fail - with several hens dying in the protest.
Napoleon begins to warp history to suit his needs, using the other animals' bad memories to paint Snowball as a vile enemy who has always been a traitor to animal-kind. He also uses this (and his guard dogs) to brutally murder his enemies under the disguise of executions. The surviving animals try to keep their spirit by singing Beasts of England but Napoleon outlaws singing it (claiming that the revolt has ended).
Chapter VIII[]
Napoleon becomes a cult-like leader, with poems being written in his name. He begins to negotiate with the neighboring farms over the sale of a pile of timber so that he can get machinery for the newly-rebuilt windmill. He pretends to sell it to a nice farmer named Mr. Pilkington but instead sells it to a cruel farmer named Mr. Frederick. To Napoleon's anger, he discovers that the notes Frederick gave him are counterfeit. Frederick then attacks the farm - nearly taking control of the farm and blowing up the windmill - before his forces are beaten back by the dogs. Napoleon pretends that this is a wonderful victory when in actuality it nearly lead to the destruction of Animal Farm.
The pigs soon find alcohol. After drinking it, Napoleon feigns a deadly illness (possibly being extremely hungover in this time) but quickly "recovers".
Chapter IX[]
Boxer (the workhorse of the farm) begins to weaken as he reaches old age. He readies himself for retirement but before he can he falls ill. Napoleon calls for a "veterinarian", which turns out to be a horse slaughterer. The other animals try to save Boxer from the slaughterer but fail. A few days later, Napoleon announces that Boxer died from his "illness" and uses his death to call for the other animals to work harder.
Chapter X[]
As the older animals begin dying from old age, the pigs begin walking on two legs (training the sheep to stop bleating "four legs good, two legs bad" and instead bleat "four legs good, two legs better". They erase all of the commandments and replace them with "all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others" and force the other animals into nigh-slavery using whips. Napoleon meets with the humans, who are impressed with the efficiency of his workers (intending on forcing their lower class into nigh-slavery as well). As the animals watch, they realize that the pigs and the humans have become completely indistinguishable in attitudes.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bunt | Władysław Reymont | 1922 | A novella extremely similar to Animal Farm |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | 1949 | A novel by the same author with similar themes |
| The Death of Artemio Cruz | Carlos Fuentes | 1962 | A novel with similar themes |
| White Acre vs. Black Acre | William M. Burwell | 1856 | An extremely racist "anti-Uncle Tom's Cabin" novel with vaguely similar themes |
| Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan Swift | 1726 | A similarly satirical and fantastical novella |
Sources[]
- Wikipedia