chapter 3

• Historical

  "Boxer with his tremendous muscles always pulled them through. . . . From morning to night he was pushing and pulling, always at the spot where the work was hardest. He . . . would put in some volunteer labour at whatever seemed to be most needed, before the regular day’s work began. His answer to every problem, every setback, was “I will work harder!”—which he had adopted as his personal motto."

  The character of Boxer is an allusion to the Russian proletariat, or the working class.
• Historical/Political

  "The flag was green, Snowball explained, to represent the green fields of England, while the hoof and horn signified the future Republic of the Animals which would arise when the human race had been finally overthrown."

  This an allusion to the hammer and sickle flag adopted by the Communists after the Russian Revolution, which became the flag of the Soviet Union.