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Demonstrate Your Understanding of Animal Farm
Chapter 1
1. What was the name of the farm and who owned it?
2. What animal failed to show up for the meeting?
3. What term does Old Major use to address the
animals?
4. What were some of the complaints against man that
Old Major mentioned during his speech?
5. During his speech, what warnings does Old Major give
to the animals in their fight against man?
6. How did the animals react when Old Major was done
talking?
7. Explain at least two key ideas that were in the song.
8. Why do you think the song had such an impact on the
animals?
9. The pigs and dogs arrive first and sit in the front to
hear Old Major. What does this tell us about them?
10. From the animal’s reactions, do you think they agreed
or disagreed with Old Major? Explain your answer.
11. Predict what you think will happen now that Old
Major has shared his dream.
Chapter 2
1. What did the pigs do with Old Major’s teachings?’
2. What place did Moses, the tame raven, claim to know
about? What might we call this place?
3. What did the animals find hanging in the kitchen of
the farmhouse, and what did they do with them?
4. What was the set of several principles known as?
Chapter 3
1. What two food items did the pigs claim for
themselves?
2. Describe the flag Snowball created.
3. Seven commandants were reduced to a single maxim.
What is it?
4. “Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?’’ Why
was this an effective way of ending all dissension
among the animals?
5. Compare and contrast Snowball’s and Napoleon’s
ideas on education.
6. How are the pigs assuming a more dominant position
than the other animals?
7. Why do you think Squealer said that many of the pigs
really disliked the milk and apples? Do you think this
is true? Explain your answer.
8. Was life at this point better than it was under Mr.
Jones? Justify your answer.
Chapter 4
1. Why didn’t the other farmers help Mr. Jones?
2. Describe Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Fredrick in detail.
3. Tell, in detail, about the Battle of the Cowshed.
4. Compare and contrast Mr. Pilkington’s and Mr.
Fredrick’s farms and the way they were run.
Chapter 5
1. What was the signal that caused the pack of dogs to
bound into the barn and attack Snowball?
2. Boxer adopted a new maxim for Napoleon. What is it?
3. On Sunday mornings, as the animals would file into
the barn, they were required to pay respects to
something placed on the stump. What is it?
4. Who is finally given credit for the idea of building a
windmill?
5. Squealer had a word for the scheming and
maneuvering of Napoleon to get rid of Snowball. What
was this word?
Chapter 6
1. Despite the claim that all work was “strictly
voluntary,’’ what happened if an animal chose not to
work?
2. Which animal worked the hardest at building the
windmill?
3. When there were shortages of certain items on Animal
Farm, Napoleon decides to pass a new policy. What is
it?
4. How do the animals respond initially to the new
policy? How do the four young pigs respond?
5. What is the name of the only human being whom the
pigs will do business with?
6. Squealer is sent around twice in this chapter to
convince the animals of something. What?
7. What “title” has Squealer now given to Napoleon?
8. The animals were sure that commandment #4 was
now being broken. Evidently, the pigs had altered the
commandment to suit their needs. What was
changed?
9. Who was blamed for the destruction of the windmill?
Why?
10. Napoleon pronounced death to Snowball. What
rewards does he offer for the capture of Snowball? Be
specific.
Chapter 7
1. By January, what is the condition of the animals on
Animal Farm?
2. What does Napoleon order to be done to deceive the
humans about the true state of Animal Farm?
3. What incident followed after Squealer announced that
the hens would have to surrender their eggs?
4. When anything went wrong on Animal Farm, who was
blamed for it?
5. Squealer told the animals that Snowball was a secret
agent for someone. Who?
6. Squealer tells the animals lies about Snowball. What
does he say?
7. Later, Napoleon emerges from the farmhouse wearing
2 items. What are they?
8.
With a signal, Napoleon ordered his dogs to seize 4 of
the animals and drag them forward. What kind of
animals were these? What is their crime?
9. What is the name of the animal who feels the things
happening are “due to some fault of ourselves. The
solution, as I see it, is to work harder.”
10. A tradition at Animal Farm has now been abolished.
According to Squealer, it is no longer needed. What
has been abolished? What reason was given for
abolishing it?
Chapter 8
1. The Sixth Commandment has been altered. What is
the new commandment?
2. On Sundays, what did Squealer do to convince the
animals that their hard labor was very productive?
3. Napoleon appears less and less in public. When he
does appear, it is with a procession of others.
Describe the procession.
4. The gun is fired on two of Animal Farm’s most
important anniversaries. However, it is now fired on
yet another occasion that may not be so important.
What is this other occasion?
5. What were some of the titles given to Napoleon? List
four examples.
6. Minimus composes a poem about Napoleon. What is
a major idea found in the poem?
7. Three hens came forward and confessed to a plot to
kill Napoleon. As a result, new precautions are taken.
What are these precautions?
8. In the late summer, many things are going wrong on
Animal Farm. The wheat crop is discovered to be full
of weeds. A gander confesses that it was Snowball’s
plan before the gander committed suicide. Squealer
then spreads another rumor about Snowball. What is
the rumor?
9. Napoleon pronounced death upon Frederick and said
he should be boiled alive. What did Frederick do to
deserve this?
10. In the Battle of the Windmill, the animals were losing,
but then something happened that made them fight
even more fiercely. What was it?
11. The pigs came upon a case of whiskey in the cellar and
Napoleon became so hung-over that his impending
death was announced. What was Napoleon’s solemn
decree (which was supposed to be his last act on
earth)?
12. Napoleon recovered from his illness and began plans
to brew and distill alcohol. In a humorous incident
involving Squealer, the Fifth Commandment was
altered. Describe the incident (give at least 3 details).
13. Which animal seemed to realize what the entire
incident meant?
Chapter 9
1. Life was hard and the winter was cold. All rations
were reduced for most of the animals. Which two
groups of animals did not have their rations reduced?
2. Thirty-one young pigs were born in autumn. What
were they discouraged from doing?
3. What was a new rule introduced about this time?
What special privilege did the pigs have on Sundays?
4. Napoleon commanded that once a week there would
be a Spontaneous Demonstration. What is it?
5. During the Spontaneous Demonstrations at Animal
Farm, Boxer and Clover carried the green banner that
had a picture of a hoof and a horn. It also has a
caption. What does the caption say?
6. In April, what is Animal Farm declared and who is
elected President?
7. Also in April, new documents were discovered about
Snowball. What is Snowball being accused of now?
What have the pigs changed about the past?
8. In the middle of the summer, an animal returns to
Animal Farm and starts talking about something. Who
is it? What does he talk about?
9. After Boxer took ill and was contemplating his
retirement, he intended to devote the rest of his life
doing what?
10. Boxer was taken away by the “horse slaughterer”
instead of the “horse surgeon.” How did Squealer
explain this predicament to the animals?
11. On the day appointed for the banquet to remember
Boxer, a van from Willingdon delivers a crate
containing whiskey. Where did the pigs get the money
to buy the alcohol?
Chapter 10
1. Squealer has become so fat that he has difficulty doing
what?
2. What human trait or qualities have the pigs acquired?
3. What are the sheep now bleating, as instructed by
Squealer?
4. State the one and only commandment now found on
the wall of the barn.
5. The very next day, the pigs start to adopt more human
characteristics. What do they do?
6. In the evening, the other animals hear laughter and
singing from the farmhouse. Some of the animals
peek through the window. What do they see?
7. Napoleon tells the farmers that certain customs or
traditions at Animal Farm will be stopped at once.
What customs will be stopped?
8. As a quarrel breaks out between the pigs and the
humans, the other animals outside stare back and
forth between the pigs and the humans. They notice
something about the two. What is it?
Write a Proper Journal Answer:
 Answer each question in a complete sentence.
 Make your answer concise, and yet complete.
 You need not restate the question.
 However, in your answer, have a preference for
nouns (Mr. Jones, Clover, the Manor Farm, the
four young pigs) rather than pronouns (he, she, it,
they).
 Show evidence of depth and complexity in your
thinking, and time and effort in your
presentation.
Write a Proper Journal Answer:
 Answer each question in a complete sentence.
 Make your answer concise, and yet complete.
 You need not restate the question.
 However, in your answer, have a preference for
nouns (Mr. Jones, Clover, the Manor Farm, the
four young pigs) rather than pronouns (he, she, it,
they).
 Show evidence of depth and complexity in your
thinking, and time and effort in your
presentation.
Example Question:
What was the name of the farm and who owned it?
Example Question:
What was the name of the farm and who owned it?
Weak Answer:
It was called the Manor Farm. It was owned by Mr.
Jones.
Weak Answer:
It was called the Manor Farm. It was owned by Mr.
Jones.
Concise, Complete Answer:
The farm, which was owned by Mr. Jones, was known
as the Manor Farm.
Concise, Complete Answer:
The farm, which was owned by Mr. Jones, was known
as the Manor Farm.
Write a Proper Journal Answer:
 Answer each question in a complete sentence.
 Make your answer concise, and yet complete.
 You need not restate the question.
 However, in your answer, have a preference for
nouns (Mr. Jones, Clover, the Manor Farm, the
four young pigs) rather than pronouns (he, she, it,
they).
 Show evidence of depth and complexity in your
thinking, and time and effort in your
presentation.
Write a Proper Journal Answer:
 Answer each question in a complete sentence.
 Make your answer concise, and yet complete.
 You need not restate the question.
 However, in your answer, have a preference for
nouns (Mr. Jones, Clover, the Manor Farm, the
four young pigs) rather than pronouns (he, she, it,
they).
 Show evidence of depth and complexity in your
thinking, and time and effort in your
presentation.
Example Question:
What was the name of the farm and who owned it?
Example Question:
What was the name of the farm and who owned it?
Weak Answer:
It was called the Manor Farm. It was owned by Mr.
Jones.
Weak Answer:
It was called the Manor Farm. It was owned by Mr.
Jones.
Concise, Complete Answer:
The farm, which was owned by Mr. Jones, was known
as the Manor Farm.
Concise, Complete Answer:
The farm, which was owned by Mr. Jones, was known
as the Manor Farm.