Animal farm

• George Orwell

  • Hated colonialism due to witnessing the British exploitation India first hand
  • Works rebelled against imperialism and the British Empire
  • Published animal farm in 1945
  • Feared the concept of Stalinism and how it corrupted communist ideals
• Chapter 1- Old majors speech

  • The animals gather in a barn to listen to the "stout" and "wise" Boar, Old Major make a speech on a dream that he had
  • Old Major details of an utopian paradise that could be achieved by overthrowing the cruel rule of man with the animals holding their own.
  • "our lives are miserable, laborious and short."
  • Beasts of England is introduced, soon to become the song of the rebellion
• Chapter 2- The rebellion

  • Old Major dies
  • In preparation for the rebellion, the pigs naturally become superior to the other animals as they are the most intelligent
  • Three pigs become prominent, Snowball (quicker in speech and more inventive"), Squealer (could turn black into white") and Napoleon ("reputation of getting his own way").
  • Establishment of Animalism
  • Midsummers eve- rebellion occurs as Jones and his men do not feed the animals
  • Animals are victorious and gallop around the farm in celebration
  • Establishment of 7 commandments
  • Milk goes missing (first sign of corruption)
• Chapter 3

  • Most successful harvest on record, the animals learn that hard work brings personal rewards
  • pigs became effective leaders- did not work (corruption and exploitative)
  • Everyone cooperated as life was better than in Jones' day and seems to be on a trajectory to get even better.
  • Disputes between Snowball and Napoleon become apparent
  • Snowballs committees are set up
  • Animals became educated
  • "four legs good too legs bad"
  • Puppies taken away by Napoleon
• Chapter 4

  • Fear of animalism spreads to the neighbouring farms
  • Establishment of neighbouring characters (Mr pilkington and Mr frederick)
  • Battle of Cowshed
  • Animal hero created
• Chapter 5

  • Mollie flees the farm
  • Napoleon seems to outsmart Snowball through manipulative tactics, such as making the sheep recite "four legs good two legs bad" when he is speaking
  • Snowball creates schemes in order to mechanise the farm and enabling it to prosper through industry
  • Idea of Windmill created
  • Snowball is exiled by Napoleons dogs
  • Squealer begins to twist history about Snowball, saying he was in leagues with Jones all along
• Chapter 6-Animals begin working

  7 days a week or rations would be reduced
• Animals "worked like slaves" to create the windmill
• Boxer


  A devoted role model to how the animals should work
• Chapter 6-Trade announced with neighbouring farms


  1. To aid the production of the windmill

  2. Breaking the 1st commandment
• Mr Whymper


  Helps the farm trade
• Chapter 6-Pigs moved into the farm house
• Chapter6-Tensions created between neighbouring farms

  Due to uncertainty of trade opportunities with either, but never both
• Chapter 6-Napoleon

  Begins to be referred to as "leader" instead of "comrade" by Squealer
• Chapter 6-7 commandments are changed for the first time
• Chapter 6-First Destruction of windmill


  Blamed on Snowball
• Chapter 6-Napoleon immediately demands that the windmill is to be rebuilt
• Napoleon's demand to rebuild the windmill


  Indicates a disassociation with the animals and their suffering
• Chapter 7

  • Quality of life seems to decrease massively "starvation seemed to stare them in the face"
• Chapter 7

  • When Whymper arrives, he is fed lies on how rations have increased and how prosperous life is in animal farm
• Chapter 7

  • Napoleon is now rarely seen- playing God
• Chapter 7

  • Hens rebellion- Napoleon refuses to feed them, killing 9 until they retired
• Chapter7

  • Snowball revealed to visit the farm at night
• Chapter 7-

  • Snowball is said to have been a traitor all along- which creates doubts within the animals "i do not believe that snowball was a traitor in the beginning"
• Chapter 7

  • Napoleon awards himself with Animal Hero first class and Animal Hero second class
• Chapter 7-

  • Purges begin- Dogs kill four pigs, and attempt to kill Boxer, his strength is too much however
• Chapter 7

  • Commandments are changed once again
• Chapter 7

  • Beasts of England is abolished, minimus composes a knew song
• Chapter 8 pt1

  • 7 commandments change once again
  • Animals begun to work even harder
  • Napoleon is now an even rarer sight, only to be seen with his dogs and cockerel
  • "our leader, comrade Napoleon"
  • Minimus composes poem "comrade Napoleon" which praises him in a god-like sense
  • Portrait of Napoleon made on opposite wall to seven commandments
  • Purges continue
  • The pigs begin to lie about the treatment of animals on other farms to make them feel better about how they are treated
  • Napoleon trades with Mr Frederick- who double crosses him
  • Battle of the Windmill- it is destroyed by Fredricks men
• Chapter 8 pt2

  • Even though the animals are bleeding and in bad shape, Squealer instructs them to celebrate, loss of hope
  • Boxer has split his hoof and has been shot multiple times "what victory?"
  • Pigs get drunk to celebrate
  • Napoleon is announced to be dying- he is hungover
  • Commandments changed once again
  • Squealer is caught changing the commandments
• Chapter 9

  • Spontaneous processions, worshipping Napoleon are intorduced
  • Boxer loses all strength and collapses whilst working
  • Boxer is sent to the knackers as he is not useful to the pigs anymore, but he realises too late, as Benjamin chases after him, but he is too weak to break out of the trailer
  • The animals are told that Boxer died in a hospital
  • Money used from Boxer's death was used to buy the pigs more whisky
• Chapter 10

  • Years have passed, no one speaks of the rebellion
  • Only Clover, Benjamin, Moses and some pigs remembered the days of the rebellion
  • Pigs are fat and massively socially removed from the other animals, gaining separate educations
  • The farm is more prosperous, as more animals work harder for less
  • life had made no change
  • Squealer read a weekly list of figures, describing the prosperity of the farm.
  • Squealer was seen walking on his hind legs, holding a whip
  • "four legs good, two legs better"
  • Single commandment "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"
• Chapter 10- pt 2

  • All pigs carry whips
  • Farmers invited to see the farm
  • Pigs and Humans go into the farm house to play cards, watched by the animals through the window
  • Mr Pilkington congratulated the pigs on "low rations" and "long working hours"
  • "Comrade" abolished
  • animal farm once again became manor farm
  • Napoleon and Mr Pilkington both place an ace, suggesting cheating and double crossing
  • The pigs become indistinguishable compared to the man "it was impossible to say which was which.
• Old Major

  • Represents Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin
  • Creates the ideology for Animalism
  • Uses rhetoric in his speech to convey his frustration at the animals suffering
  • Introduces Beats of England
  • Dies before rebellion takes place
• Napoleon

  • Calculating and corrupt leader, who develops into an evil tyrant throughout the novella
  • Represents Stalin
  • Gains control through violence and intimidation
  • Twists events to use them for his own advantage(dogs)
  • Turns on Snowball by altering historical events
  • Becomes indistinguishable with the humans by the end of the book
  • Changes animalism into a construct based off of his superiority
  • Relies on Squealer to convince/manipulate the animals
• Snowball

  • Represents Leon Trotsky
  • Constantly compared with Napoleon
  • Exiled by Napoleons dogs
  • Propoganda used to change public opinion on him after he was exiled
  • Ready to work harder in order to make life easier in the long term(windmill)
  • Not morally pure- could have turned out to become a villain like snowball
  • Believed in a nationwide rebellion, instead of working on protecting and strengthening what he already had.
• Squealer

  • Napoleons second in command- gets all the benefits that he does from exploiting the animals blind loyalty
  • Represents Molotov
  • In charge of changing the commandments in order to dismiss doubts about the pigs actions
  • Uses rhetoric
  • Enjoys manipulating the animals
• Boxer

  • Represents the Stakhanovite movement
  • "strong as two horses"
  • Exploited for his blind loyalty
  • Sympathetically drawn
  • "I will work harder" - his answer to all his problems
  • "Napoleon is always right"- used to make sense of an event, disables his ability to question when he has doubts
  • Death represents the ideas that once the working class were too weak, they were cast aside as they were not useful anymore, and once they realised their expliotaion they were too weak to fight back
• Mr Jones

  • 1st character introduced
  • Drunk and lazy
  • Causes rebellion due to incompetence not being evil
  • Represents Tsar Nicholas II
  • Source of his own demise is his own destrictive behaviours
• Mr Whyper

  • Acts as intermediary between animal farm and the outside world
  • Represents westerners who turned a blind eye on corruption within the USSR in order to profit off of it