Animal Farm
Character Summary
The Animals:
Major: An old boar whose speech about the evils perpetrated by humans rouses the animals
into rebelling. His philosophy concerning the tyranny of Man is named Animalism by his
followers. He also teaches the song "Beasts of England" to the animals.
Snowball: A boar who becomes one of the rebellion's most valuable leaders. After drawing
complicated plans for the construction of a windmill, he is chased off of the farm forever by
Napoleon's dogs and thereafter used as a scapegoat for the animals' troubles.
Napoleon: A boar who, with Snowball, leads the rebellion against Jones. After the rebellion's
success, he systematically begins to control all aspects of the farm until he is an undisputed
tyrant.
Squealer: A porker pig who becomes Napoleon's mouthpiece. Throughout the novel, he
displays his ability to manipulate the animals' thoughts through the use of hollow yet
convincing rhetoric.
Boxer: A dedicated but dim-witted horse who aids in the building of the windmill but is sold
to a glue-boiler after collapsing from exhaustion.
Mollie: A vain horse who prefers ribbons and sugar over ideas and rebellion. She is
eventually lured off the farm with promises of a comfortable life.
Clover: A motherly horse who silently questions some of Napoleon's decisions and tries to
help Boxer after his collapse.
Benjamin: A cynical, pessimistic donkey who continually undercuts the animals' enthusiasm
with his cryptic remark, "Donkeys live a long time."
Moses: A tame raven and sometimes-pet of Jones who tells the animals stories about a
paradise called Sugarcandy Mountain.
Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher Three dogs. The nine puppies born between Jessie and Bluebell
are taken by Napoleon and raised to be his guard dogs.
The Humans:
Mr. Jones: The often-drunk owner of Manor Farm, later expelled from his land by his own
animals. He dies in an inebriates' home after abandoning his hopes to reclaim his farm.
Mrs. Jones: Jones' wife, who flees from the farm when the animals rebel.
Mr. Whymper: A solicitor hired by Napoleon to act as an intermediary in Animal Farm's
trading with neighbouring farms.
Mr. Pilkington: The owner of Foxwood, a neighbouring and neglected farm. He eventually
sells some of his land to Napoleon and, in the novel's final scene, toasts to Napoleon's
success.
Jones; Mr. Frederick: An enemy of Pilkington and owner of Pinchfield, another neighbouring
farm. Known for "driving hard bargains," Frederick swindles Napoleon by buying timber from
him with counterfeit money. He later tries to attack and seize Animal Farm but is defeated.
,Book Summary:
One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones' Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig,
describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human
masters. Old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals — inspired by his philosophy of
Animalism — plot a rebellion against Jones. Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, prove themselves
important figures and planners of this dangerous enterprise. When Jones forgets to feed the
animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is
renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall.
Initially, the rebellion is a success: The animals complete the harvest and meet every Sunday to
debate farm policy. The pigs, because of their intelligence, become the supervisors of the farm.
Napoleon, however, proves to be a power-hungry leader who steals the cows' milk and a number of
apples to feed himself and the other pigs. He also enlists the services of Squealer, a pig with the
ability to persuade the other animals that the pigs are always moral and correct in their decisions.
Later that fall, Jones and his men return to Animal Farm and attempt to retake it. Thanks to the
tactics of Snowball, the animals defeat Jones in what thereafter becomes known as The Battle of the
Cowshed. Winter arrives, and Mollie, a vain horse concerned only with ribbons and sugar, is lured off
the farm by another human. Snowball begins drawing plans for a windmill, which will provide
electricity and thereby give the animals more leisure time, but Napoleon vehemently opposes such a
plan on the grounds that building the windmill will allow them less time for producing food. On the
Sunday that the pigs offer the windmill to the animals for a vote, Napoleon summons a pack of
ferocious dogs, who chase Snowball off the farm forever. Napoleon announces that there will be no
further debates; he also tells them that the windmill will be built after all and lies that it was his own
idea, stolen by Snowball. For the rest of the novel, Napoleon uses Snowball as a scapegoat on whom
he blames all of the animals' hardships.
Much of the next year is spent building the windmill. Boxer, an incredibly strong horse, proves
himself to be the most valuable animal in this endeavour. Jones, meanwhile, forsakes the farm and
moves to another part of the county. Contrary to the principles of Animalism, Napoleon hires a
solicitor and begins trading with neighbouring farms. When a storm topples the half-finished
windmill, Napoleon predictably blames Snowball and orders the animals to begin rebuilding it.
Napoleon's lust for power increases to the point where he becomes a totalitarian dictator, forcing
"confessions" from innocent animals and having the dogs kill them in front of the entire farm. He
and the pigs move into Jones' house and begin sleeping in beds (which Squealer excuses with his
brand of twisted logic). The animals receive less and less food, while the pigs grow fatter. After the
windmill is completed in August, Napoleon sells a pile of timber to Jones; Frederick, a neighboring
farmer who pays for it with forged banknotes. Frederick and his men attack the farm and explode
the windmill but are eventually defeated. As more of the Seven Commandments of Animalism are
broken by the pigs, the language of the Commandments is revised: For example, after the pigs
become drunk one night, the Commandment, "No animals shall drink alcohol" is changed to, "No
animal shall drink alcohol to excess."
Boxer again offers his strength to help build a new windmill, but when he collapses, exhausted,
Napoleon sells the devoted horse to a knacker (a glue-boiler). Squealer tells the indignant animals
that Boxer was actually taken to a veterinarian and died a peaceful death in a hospital — a tale the
animals believe.
, Years pass and Animal Farm expands its boundaries after Napoleon purchases two fields from
another neighbouring farmer, Pilkington. Life for all the animals (except the pigs) is harsh.
Eventually, the pigs begin walking on their hind legs and take on many other qualities of their former
human oppressors. The Seven Commandments are reduced to a single law: "All Animals Are Equal /
But Some Are More Equal than Others." The novel ends with Pilkington sharing drinks with the pigs
in Jones' house. Napoleon changes the name of the farm back to Manor Farm and quarrels with
Pilkington during a card game in which both of them try to play the ace of spades. As other animals
watch the scene from outside the window, they cannot tell the pigs from the humans.
Chapter One
After Mr. Jones, the owner of Manor Farm, falls asleep in a drunken stupor, all of his animals meet in
the big barn at the request of old Major, a 12-year-old pig. Major delivers a rousing political speech
about the evils inflicted upon them by their human keepers and their need to rebel against the
tyranny of Man. After elaborating on the various ways that Man has exploited and harmed the
animals, Major mentions a strange dream of his in which he saw a vision of the earth without
humans. He then teaches the animals a song — "Beasts of England" — which they sing repeatedly
until they awaken Jones, who fires his gun from his bedroom window, thinking there is a fox in the
yard. Frightened by the shot, the animals disperse and go to sleep.
Analysis
Several of the novel's main characters are introduced in this chapter; Orwell paints their dominant
characteristics with broad strokes. Jones, for example, is presented as a drunken, careless ruler,
whose drinking belies the upscale impression he hopes to create with the name of his farm. In
addition, Jones' very name (a common one) suggests he is like many other humans, and the tyranny
of all mankind is an important theme of Major's speech. His unsteady gait (suggested by the
"dancing lantern" he carries) and snoring wife mark him immediately as the epitome of all that
Major says about mankind's self-absorption and gluttony. Indeed, the first chapter presents Jones as
more of an "animal" than the animals themselves, who reacts to any disruption of his comfort with
the threat of violence, as indicated by his gunfire when he is awakened from his drunken dreams.
The animals assembling in the barn are likewise characterized by Orwell in quick fashion: Major is
old and wise, Clover is motherly and sympathetic, Boxer is strong yet dim-witted, Benjamin is
pessimistic and cynical, and Mollie is vain and childish. All of these characteristics become more
pronounced as the novel proceeds.
However, Major's speech is the most important part of the chapter, and through it Orwell displays
his great understanding of political rhetoric and how it can be used to move crowds in whichever
direction the speaker wishes. By addressing his audience as "comrades" and prefacing his remarks
with the statement that he will not be with the others "many months longer," Major ingratiates
himself to his listeners as one who has reached a degree of wisdom in his long life of twelve years
and who views the other animals as equals — not a misguided rabble that needs advice and
correction from a superior intellect. This notion that "All Animals Are Equal" becomes one of the
tenets of Animalism, the philosophy upon which the rebellion will supposedly be based.
Major's speech seems to initially echo the thoughts of Thomas Hobbes, the seventeenth-century
English philosopher who wrote (in his work Leviathan) that men in an unchecked state of nature will
live lives that are "poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Unlike Hobbes, however, who felt that a strong,
authoritative government was required to keep everyone's innate self-interest from destroying
society, Major argues that the earth could be a paradise if the tyranny of Man was overthrown; he
