Animal Farm by George Orwell
Name-
Chapter 1After Mr. Jones the farmer has gone to bed (drunk as usual), the animals all
sneak into the barn to hear a speech by Old Major. First the dogs arrive, then
the pigs, followed by the hens, sheep, cows, pigeons, ducks and so on.
Among the animals are Boxer and Clover the cart-horses, Muriel the goat,
Benjamin the donkey, Mollie the white mare and the cat.
Old Major tells them he has done a lot of thinking in his long life, particularly
about the hardships the animals face (hard work, little food and eventually
being slaughtered). He believes these hardships are all due to the greedy
humans:
"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give
milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run
fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to
work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from
starving, and the rest he keeps for himself." Chapter 1, pg. 7
He tells them to work for the eventual overthrow of the human race. "All men
are enemies. All animals are comrades." Chapter 1, pg. 9
He reminds the animals to stick together and protect each other, even the
wild animals, and to remember that they are all equal. He also warns them
never to adopt any human habits. He teaches them a song which came to
him in his dream, an old song that he remembers his mother and the other
sows singing parts of when he was young. The song is about liberation and is
called "Beasts of England".
They quickly learn the song and start singing it, but this wakes Mr. Jones who
lets off a charge from his gun in case there is a fox in the yard. The animals all
hurry off to bed.
Themes
Presentation of characters
1. Propaganda ‘Beasts of
England.’
Order they enter the barn-
2. Greed- main issue dealt with
in Old Major’s speech.
Significance?
Chapter 2
Old Major dies peacefully in his sleep three nights later, and the pigs
begin teaching and organizing the others to prepare for the Rebellion
he predicted. Chief among them are Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer,
who elaborate Old Major's ideas into a system of thought called
Animalism. They teach this to the other animals at secret meetings
late at night in the barn, but the animals make many silly points like
"Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we should starve to death," and
it is slow work. Boxer and Clover are their two most devoted disciples.
Moses the pet raven of farmer Jones keeps telling the animals lies
about a magical place called Sugarcandy Mountain. The pigs have to
work hard to persuade them that it doesn't exist.
On Midsummer's Eve, Mr. Jones goes to the pub and gets drunk, then
doesn't come back until noon the next day and goes to sleep with the
newspaper over his face. The farmhands go out catching rabbits and
no one feeds the animals, who become so hungry that by evening they
break in the door of the store-shed and help themselves. Mr. Jones
then wakes up and he and his men start lashing at the animals with
whips. The animals spontaneously attack the humans and drive them
off the farm - Mrs. Jones and Moses sneak away when they see what is
happening.
The animals are thrilled and amazed to be free; they destroy all the
reminders of Jones - the whips, knives, chains etc. are thrown down
the well and the reins, nosebags and ribbons are burnt.
The next morning they wake up and go around the whole farm
snuffling at the earth, rolling in the dew, eating the grass and so on,
overwhelmed with excitement that it is all theirs. They creep into the
farmhouse, inspect it and remove some hams for the kitchen for burial
as well as shattering the beer barrel in the scullery. They agree to
preserve the farmhouse as a museum, and that no animal must ever
live there.
The pigs then reveal that they have taught themselves to read and
write, and Snowball paints out the 'Manor Farm' sign on the gate and
replaces it with 'Animal Farm'. He and Squealer paint the Seven
Commandments of Animalism, the new laws of the farm, on the wall of
the barn.
THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS1. 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.
The cows have not been milked and their udders are almost bursting.
The pigs manage to milk them, and the animals go off to the hayfield
to begin the harvest - when they return that evening they notice that
the milk has disappeared.
Themes
1. Propaganda- ‘The 7
Commandments’
Presentation of characters
Who initiates the rebellion?
2. RebellionHow do the animals celebrate
victory over the humans?
3. Human cruelty and overly
luxurious lives-
What do the pigs reveal to the
other animals?
4. Appearance/reality*What disappears? What can the
reader assume has happened to it?
Author’s craft and intentions-
5. Names- What is the farm
called before and after the
rebellion?
*Why is this important?
*Manipulation of languageSEE ACTIVITY WORKSHEET for
ideas…
How does Orwell prepare us for the
idea that the pigs are natural
leaders?
Chapter 3The animals harvest the hay, with everyone helping - the pigs
supervise the others as they work, and even the ducks and hens go
back and forth in the sun all day carrying tiny wisps of hay in their
beaks.
Through the summer and the later corn harvest, everything continues
to go well.
"The animals were happy as they had never conceived it
possible to be. Every mouthful of food was an acute positive
pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced by
themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a
grudging master."
Boxer pulls everyone through again and again, doing the work of three
horses rolled into one. He gets up half an hour early to do extra
volunteer work, and his personal slogan and answer to every problem
is "I will work harder!" The animals work hard, although some, like
Mollie and the cat, seem to avoid work.
On Sundays there is no work and after breakfast the animals hoist
their flag. Then they have a Meeting to discuss work and proposed
resolutions, and Snowball and Napoleon are always the most active in
debating resolutions, although they never agree with each other.
The pigs use the harness-room as a headquarters where they study
blacksmithing, carpentering and so on from books they find in the
farmhouse. Snowball organizes the animals into committees (such as
the Wild Comrades' Re-education Committee), which are not very
successful, but also organizes reading and writing lessons, which are
very successful, particularly with the pigs, dogs, Muriel and Benjamin
who all learn to read well.
They find that the stupider animals - like hens, sheep and ducks cannot learn the Seven Commandments by heart, and so after thinking
about it Snowball decides that the Seven Commandments can
effectively be reduced to the slogan: "FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS
BAD" and this is written up above the Seven Commandments on the
wall of the barn, in bigger letters. The birds object that they have two
legs, but Snowball tells them a wing is more like a leg than a hand,
because the wing is used for movement and not to manipulate objects.
The sheep, hens and ducks then learn this slogan by heart.
Napoleon says it is more important to educate the young than those
who are already grown up, and he takes the nine puppies that are born
right after the harvest away from their mothers for education,
secluding them in a loft until the rest of the farm has pretty much
forgotten that they exist.
The animals discover what has been happening to the milk - it all gets
mixed into the pigs' mash. As the apples begin to ripen, orders go out
that all the windfall apples and the main crop later on are to be
reserved for the sole use of the pigs. Even Snowball and Napoleon
agree on this - Squealer explains to the other animals that it is
necessary for the pigs to eat milk and apples for their health, because
they have to do all the brain work and if they fail in their duties Jones
will come back.
Themes
1. Communism in actionHow do the animals present the
ideals of Communism (Old Major’s
idea-ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL)?
Presentation of characters
How successful are the animals at
running the farm?
How is Boxer presented in this
chapter? What is his slogan and
what does it suggest about him?
2. Leaders*Who? How does Orwell present
them to us?
3. Followers*Who? How does Orwell present
them to us?
How is Mollie shown to the reader?
Why are the puppies taken away
and by who?
What kind of committees does
Snowball establish?
Successful eg-
***USE this chapter to help you
discuss the two different
leadersNapoleon and Snowball…
Unsuccessful eg-
Chapter 4News about the takeover on Animal Farm spreads through the county,
and Snowball and Napoleon send out special flights of pigeons
instructed to go to other farms and tell the animals the story of the
Rebellion and teach them, "Beasts of England.”
Mr. Jones spends most of his time sitting in the Red Lion Pub
complaining about his woes, and the other farmers wonder if there is a
way they can gain by his loss. Luckily the two farmers neighbouring
Animal Farm, Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood and Mr. Frederick of Pinchfield,
hate each other and would never cooperate against the animals. They
are both worried by the rebellion, though, and say that it will never
last and that the animals are fighting among themselves and starving
to death. Then when it is clear that the animals are not starving to
death, they change their tune:
"It was given out that the animals there practised cannibalism,
tortured one another with red-hot horseshoes, and had their
females in common. This was what came of rebelling against the
laws of Nature, Frederick and Pilkington said."
Still, rumours of a wonderful farm spread among animals, and 'Beasts
of England' can be heard everywhere, much to the anger of the human
beings.
In early October, Jones and all his men with some others from nearby
farms, come back to try and retake the farm - Jones carrying a gun
and the others were carrying sticks. Snowball assumes leadership (he
has studied an old book of Julius Caesar's campaigns from the
farmhouse) and together the animals manage to defeat the humans
and drive them off the farm - although a shot from Jones kills a sheep
and wounds Snowball along the back. One stable-boy is hit on the skull
by one of Boxer's hooves, and then lies motionless face-downward in
the mud. Boxer is upset because he believes he has killed the boy, and
when Snowball tells him that the only good human being is a dead
one:
"'I have no wish to take life, not even human life,' repeated Boxer, and
his eyes were full of tears."
The animals discover Mollie is missing, go to look for her and find her
hiding in her stall with her head buried in the hay - when they return
they find that the stable-lad, who was only stunned, has recovered and
run away.
The battle is named the Battle of the Cowshed and the animals decide
to make two military decorations - "Animal Hero, First Class", which
they give to Snowball and Boxer, and "Animal Hero, Second Class",
which they give to the dead sheep. The gun Mr. Jones left behind is set
up at the foot of the flagstaff, to be fired twice a year - once on the
anniversary of the battle, and once on the anniversary of the Rebellion.
Write down the key events from, ‘The Battle of the Cowshed…’
Napoleon sends __________________ out across the lands to tell
others of the rebellion and to help other animals learn the words
to _______________________________________.
Meanwhile Mr Jones is
__________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Themes
1. Propaganda and
communication- ‘Beasts of
England’ is spread via carrier
pigeons.
Presentation of characters
Snowball- How is he presented in
this chapter?
*Use this to complete Snowball
vs. Napoleon*
Definition of propaganda:
Why is Boxer upset?
2. Leaders- Who assumes
leadership?
*What is the significance of Julius
Caesar? Who was he? What did
he do?
Human/Animal relationsWhat are the two contrasting
ideas about humans portrayed in
the summary above?
Why is "Animal Hero, First
Class,"invented? What does it
symbolise?
Chapter 5
Mollie becomes an increasing burden on Animal Farm: she arrives late
for work, accepts treats from men associated with nearby farms, and
generally behaves contrary to the ideas of Animalism. Eventually she
disappears, lured away by a fat, red-faced man who stroked her coat
and fed her sugar; now she pulls his carriage. None of the other
animals ever mentions her name again.
During the cold winter months, the animals hold their meetings in the
big barn, and Snowball and Napoleon’s constant disagreements
continue to dominate the proceedings. Snowball proves a better
speaker and debater, but Napoleon can better canvass for support in
between meetings. Snowball brims with ideas for improving the farm:
he studies Mr. Jones’s books and eventually concocts a scheme to
build a windmill, with which the animals could generate electricity and
automate many farming tasks, bringing new comforts to the animals’
lives. But building the windmill would entail much hard work and
difficulty, and Napoleon contends that the animals should attend to
their current needs rather than plan for a distant future. The question
deeply divides the animals. Napoleon surveys Snowball’s plans and
expresses his contempt by urinating on them.
When Snowball has finally completed his plans, all assemble for a great
meeting to decide whether to undertake the windmill project.
Snowball gives a passionate speech, to which Napoleon responds with
a pathetically unaffecting and brief retort. Snowball speaks further,
inspiring the animals with his descriptions of the wonders of electricity.
Just as the animals prepare to vote, however, Napoleon gives a
strange whimper, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded
collars charge into the barn, attack Snowball, and chase him off the
farm. They return to Napoleon’s side, and, with the dogs growling
menacingly, Napoleon announces that from now on meetings will be
held only for ceremonial purposes. He states that all important
decisions will fall to the pigs alone.
Afterward, many of the animals feel confused and disturbed. Squealer
explains to them that Napoleon is making a great sacrifice in taking the
leadership responsibilities upon himself and that, as the cleverest
animal, he serves the best interest of all by making the decisions. These
statements make the animals feel better, though they still question the
expulsion of Snowball. Squealer explains that Snowball was a traitor
and a criminal. Eventually, the animals come to accept this version of
events, and Boxer adds greatly to Napoleon’s prestige by adopting the
beliefs; “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right.” These two
maxims soon reinforce each other when, three weeks after the
banishment of Snowball, the animals learn that Napoleon supports the
windmill project. Squealer explains that their leader never really
opposed the proposal; he simply used his apparent opposition as a
maneuver to oust the wicked Snowball. These tactics, he claims, served
to advance the collective best interest. Squealer’s words prove so
appealing, and the growls of his three-dog entourage so threatening,
that the animals accept his explanation without question.
How does Napoleon originally feel about the
windmill?
How does he express this?
How is the reader expected to feel about
Napoleon’s character?
Themes
1. LeadersWho is fighting for leadership?
Who would make a better leader?
Give 3 reasons (quotations) to support your
answer… (PEE paragraph please)
Characters
Snowball vs.
NapoleonLook at each
character and use
the information
provided to
complete your
worksheet- noting
down positive and
negative
presentation.
Chapter 6For the rest of the year, the animals work at a backbreaking pace to farm
enough food for themselves and to build the windmill. The leadership cuts the
rations—Squealer explains that they have simply “readjusted” them—and the
animals receive no food at all unless they work on Sunday afternoons. But
because they believe what the leadership tells them—that they are working
for their own good now, not for Mr. Jones’s—they are eager to take on the
extra work. Boxer, in particular, commits himself to Animal Farm, doing the
work of three horses but never complaining. Even though the farm possesses
all of the necessary materials to build the windmill, the project presents a
number of difficulties. The animals struggle over how to break the available
stone into manageable sizes for building without picks and crowbars, which
they are unable to use. They finally solve the problem by learning to raise and
then drop big stones into the quarry, smashing them into usable chunks. By
late summer, the animals have enough broken stone to begin construction.
Although their work is strenuous, the animals suffer no more than they had
under Mr. Jones. They have enough to eat and can maintain the farm
grounds easily now that humans no longer come to cart off and sell the fruits
of their labour. But the farm still needs a number of items that it cannot
produce on its own, such as iron, nails, and paraffin oil. As existing supplies of
these items begin to run low, Napoleon announces that he has hired a
human solicitor, Mr. Whymper, to assist him in conducting trade on behalf of
Animal Farm. The other animals are taken aback by the idea of engaging in
trade with humans, but Squealer explains that the founding principles of
Animal Farm never included any prohibition against trade and the use of
money. He adds that if the animals think that they recall any such law, they
have simply fallen victim to lies made up by the traitor Snowball.
Mr. Whymper begins paying a visit to the farm every Monday, and Napoleon
places orders with him for various supplies. The pigs begin living in the
farmhouse, and rumor has it that they even sleep in beds, a violation of one
of the Seven Commandments. But when Clover asks Muriel to read her the
appropriate commandment, the two find that it now reads “No animal shall
sleep in a bed with sheets.” Squealer explains that Clover must have simply
forgotten the last two words. All animals sleep in beds, he says—a pile of straw
is a bed, after all. Sheets, however, as a human invention, constitute the true
source of evil. He then shames the other animals into agreeing that the pigs
need comfortable repose in order to think clearly and serve the greater good
of the farm.
Around this time, a fearsome storm descends on Animal Farm, knocking down
roof tiles, an elm tree, and even the flagstaff. When the animals go into the
fields, they find, to their horror, that the windmill, on which they have worked
so hard, has been toppled. Napoleon announces in appalled tones that the
windmill has been sabotaged by Snowball, who, he says, will do anything to
destroy Animal Farm. Napoleon passes a death sentence on Snowball,
offering a bushel of apples to the traitor’s killer. He then gives a passionate
speech in which he convinces the animals that they must rebuild the windmill,
despite the backbreaking toil involved. “Long live the windmill!” he cries.
“Long live Animal Farm!”
Read the statement in bold and find a quotation from the summary
above to support what it is saying.
-BE SELECTIVE and do not choose LONG quotations!!
-The animals are coping well with the farm and are relatively better off
than they were with Mr. Jonese.g. “The animals suffer no more than they had under Mr. Jones.”
-The animals realise they are reliant on human beings-
-The pigs have changed the seven commandments. They try to
convince the others-
-The pigs provide proof to support their changing of the laws-
Snowball the SCAPEGOAT A scapegoat is…
*How is Snowball used by Napoleon as a scapegoat in this chapter?
What is he accused of?
Chapter 7In the bitter cold of winter, the animals struggle to rebuild the _______________.
In January, they fall short of ____________, a fact that they work to conceal
from the human farmers around them, lest Animal Farm be perceived to be
failing. The humans refuse to believe that ________________ caused the
destruction of the windmill, saying that the windmill’s walls simply weren’t
___________ enough. The animals deem this explanation false, but they
nevertheless decide to build the walls twice as thick this time.
Squealer gives ennobling speeches on the glory of sacrifice, but the other
animals acquire their real inspiration from the example of ___________, who
works harder than ever. In order to feed the animals, Napoleon contracts to
sell four hundred eggs a week. The other animals react with shock—one of
Old Major’s original complaints about humans focused on the cruelty of egg
selling, or so they remember. The _________ rebel, and Napoleon responds by
cutting their rations entirely. Nine hens ________ before the others give in to
Napoleon’s demands.
Soon afterward, the animals hear, to their extreme dismay, that Snowball has
been visiting the farm at night, in secret, and sabotaging the animals’ efforts.
Napoleon says that he can detect Snowball’s presence everywhere, and
whenever something appears to go wrong by chance, Snowball receives the
blame. One day, Squealer announces that Snowball has sold himself to Mr.
Frederick’s farm, Pinchfield, and that the treacherous pig has been in league
with Mr. ___________ from the start.
He recalls Snowball’s attempts at the Battle of the ____________ to have the
animals defeated. The animals hear these words in stupefied astonishment.
They remember Snowball’s heroism and recall that he received a medal.
Boxer, in particular, is completely baffled. But Napoleon and Squealer
convince the others that Snowball’s apparent bravery simply constituted part
of his treacherous plot. They also work to convince the animals of Napoleon’s
superior bravery during that battle. So vividly does Sq_____________ describe
Napoleon’s alleged heroic actions that the animals are almost able to
remember them.
Four days later, Napoleon convenes all of the animals in the yard. With his
nine huge dogs ringed about him and growling, he stages an inquisition and
a purge: he forces certain animals to con_______ to their participation in a
conspiracy with Snowball and then has the ________ tear out these supposed
traitors’ throats. The dogs, apparently without orders, even attack _________,
who effortlessly knocks them away with his huge hooves. But four pigs and
numerous other animals meet their deaths, including the hens who rebelled
at the proposal to sell their eggs. The terrible bloodshed leaves the animals
deeply shaken and confused.
After Napoleon leaves, Boxer says that he would never have believed that
such a thing could happen on Animal Farm. He adds that the tragedy must
owe to some fault in the animals themselves; thus, he commits to working
even harder. ____________ looks out over the farm, wondering how such a
glorious rebellion as theirs could have come to its current state.
Some of the animals begin to sing “Beasts of ______________,” but Squealer
appears and explains that “Beasts of England” may no longer be sung. It
applied only to the Rebellion, he says, and now there is no more need for
rebellion. Squealer gives the animals a replacement song, written by Minimus,
the poet pig. The new song expresses profound patriotism and glorifies Animal
Farm, but it does not inspire the animals as “Beasts of England” once did.
England
Dogs
Confess
Boxer
Cowshed
Jones
Windmill
Die
Hens
Thick
Snowball
Food
Squealer
Clover
Scan over the chapter to find out information for the following to
complete your character profileSquealer
-How does he move around?
-What jobs does he do for Napoleon?
Boxer
-What does he question in this chapter?
-Why does Boxer vow to work even harder?
Dogs
-How have they been used by Napoleon?
What happens to the hens’ eggs?
Look back to p4. What does Old
Major say to the hens about their
eggs?
Snowball the SCAPEGOAT
The things that Snowball is accused of seem to escalate to beyond the
ridiculous. Write down all of the things he is accused of in this chapter…
1. Milking the cows in their sleep- (Find quotation and write page reference)
*Napoleon stages an
inquisition
and a
purge-
A purge is…
An inquisition is…
Napoleon brings his ‘Rule by Fear’ tactics to a new level in this
chapter. Complete the mind map to take a not of what he does-
Napoleon uses guard dogs to attack/kill animals.
Napoleon’s reign
of terror…
Chapter 8- (Write a detailed summary for this chapter)
Summary Chapter 9-
Summary Chapter 10-
Napoleon- **Transfer info from Napoleon vs. Snowball**
Use the page references to find suitable quotations to describe
the charactersAlso- write down the information you currently have in your books onto these pages…
Snowball- **Transfer info from Napoleon vs. Snowball**
Squealer-
Old Major-
Boxer-
Muriel, Benjamin and Clover-
Pigs-
Hens-
Sheep-
Mr. Jones-
Mr. Whymper-
Mr. Pilkington-
Mr. Frederick-