Animal Farm Summary - eNotes.com Animal Farm Summary Trivia Animal Farm Summary In Animal Farm, Old Major convinces the animals of Manor Farm to rebel against their farm’s owner. After Old Major's death, the pigs take control of the farm animals, to disastrous results. Animal Farm summary key points: Old Major dies and is succeeded by pigs Snowball and Napoleon, who rally the animals and drive all the humans off the farm. The pigs produce seven commandments to ensure equality on Animal Farm, but soon begin to award themselves special privileges. After a power struggle, Napoleon drives Snowball off the farm. He relies on fear and propaganda to keep the animals working on the windmill project. Life for all animals but pigs becomes brutal; the pigs kill dissenting animals, stand on two legs, drink alcohol, and move into Mr. Jones’s house. link Link Summary of the Novel The animals of Manor Farm have always been miserable under Mr. Jones and his men. They have come to accept their difficult lives as part of the natural order of things. It is Old Major, a prize-winning boar, who shares his dreams with the other animals. He tells them that the cause of all their suffering is man.

With man gone, the animals would enjoy the abundance the land provides and build a new society based on equality. He says that Jones has no concern for the animals—that he uses them until they are no longer productive. He butchers the pigs and drowns the dogs when they get old. Old Major predicts that Jones will even sell Boxer, the horse, and the hardest and most faithful worker on the farm, to the slaughterhouse once he is no longer able to work. He encourages the animals to work for this revolution. He warns them never to become like man and to always treat each other as equals. Three nights later, Old Major dies, and the task of preparing the animals for the revolution falls to the pigs, who are smarter than the others and who later teach themselves to read. Three young pigs, the intellectual Snowball, the domineering Napoleon and the eloquent Squealer, organize Old Major’s dream of the future into a political philosophy called Animalism. When the drunken Mr. Jones fails to feed the animals one night, the animals drive him and his men off the farm.

They change the name to “Animal Farm,” and the pigs, who seem to have assumed leadership, write the principles of Animalism, reduced to Seven Commandments, on the barn wall. These are to be the unalterable rules by which the animals will live ever after: 1. 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. At first the revolution seems to be a success. All of the animals, directed and supervised by the pigs, work hard to bring in the harvest. But there are indications from the beginning that the pigs treat themselves specially. They remain the supervisors, doing no physical labor, and they take extra food (mild and windfall apples) for themselves instead of sharing with the others. Meanwhile Jones, with the aid of his neighbors, tries to retake the farm. They are driven off at the “Battle of the Cowshed” by the military tactics of Snowball and the strength of Boxer.

Both are decorated as heroes for their roles in the victory. A power struggle for control of Animal Farm develops between Snowball and Napoleon, and it culminates with the building of a windmill. When the animals seem about to vote in favor of the project, Napoleon, who opposes the plan, unleashes nine dogs he has been training secretly to follow his orders without question. Snowball is chased off the farm, barely escaping the jaws of the dogs. In a turnabout, Napoleon orders that work on the windmill begin. The work is difficult, and the animals suffer in the process. When a storm blows the windmill down, Napoleon blames the exiled Snowball and condemns him as an enemy. Napoleon exploits the animals’ fear that Jones will return and their fear of his fierce dogs to consolidate his power. He uses Squealer to lie to the animals and convince them that things aren’t what they seem. As work on the second windmill begins, Napoleon and the pigs become more and more corrupt. They change the commandments, move into Jones’s house, and drink whisky. Napoleon even kills other animals who dare to stand up to his authority.

The second windmill is blown up in an attack by Frederick, after he steals wood from Animal Farm, by paying for it with counterfeit money. But Napoleon pronounces this defeat to be a great victory, and work begins on a third attempt to build a windmill. None of the promises of leisure time and comfort come true—no heat or electricity in the barn, no machines to do their hard work. In fact, life grows harder for all of the animals, except the pigs, and food is scarcer. When Boxer, the hardest worker on the farm, is hurt, Napoleon sells him to the horse slaughterer. Squealer convinces the others that Boxer died in the hospital after getting the best treatment. Old Major’s prediction about Boxer has come true, but it is Napoleon who is the villain. In the end, the pigs completely subvert the ideals of Animalism. They are the new masters. They walk on two legs. They violate and change each of the Seven Commandments. Ultimately, these commandments are erased and replaced with only one: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” In the final scene, Mr. Pilkington comes for a tour and Napoleon announces some changes.

The name is changed back to “Manor Farm,” and a new level of understanding is reached between pig and man. The book ends when someone cheats in a card game. The animals, watching from outside, cannot tell the difference between the pigs and the men. The Life and Work of George Orwell George Orwell was born Eric Hugh Blair in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, India. He was the second of three children, and the only boy, born to Richard and Ida Blair. His elder sister, Marjorie, and his younger sister, Avril, completed this middle-class Anglo-Indian family. His dour, discouraging father was an agent in the Opium Department of the British Civil Service. As was the custom with such middle-class children born abroad, he was sent back to England for his education. His mother, a modern, rather left-wing woman and militant suffragette, accompanied him. Orwell attended the best English schools, including Eton College (1917-1921), a school that epitomized “traditional” British education. Poorer than the other students and feeling insecure about himself, he never quite fit in with the rest of his classmates.

Politically, he had difficulty accepting the world of British imperialism that surrounded him. These feelings of being an “outsider,” coupled with Orwell’s firm belief (which he expressed early in his life to friends and family) that he felt fated to become a “great writer,” affected the course of his entire life. Influenced by his mother’s “revolutionary” politics and charged by his own political ideas, Orwell ultimately turned to a writing career. However, when he graduated from Eton College in 1921, Orwell briefly followed the family tradition and entered civil service as a member of the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. He served in this position from 1922 to 1927, gathering material for his two most famous essays, “On Shooting an Elephant” and “A Hanging.” During these five years, he witnessed and participated in the British policies of colonialism. A Socialist at heart, Orwell came to the conclusion that British imperialism was futile and destined to come to an end. Orwell returned to England to devote his time to writing and supported himself in this period of fairly severe poverty with a series of temporary jobs and journalistic writing assignments.

An account of these difficult years was recorded in his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933). His novel Burmese Days (1934) came from his Far East experiences. It was followed by A Clergyman’s Daughter (1935) and Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936), which expressed his negative attitudes toward British society. An assignment covering the lives of the miners of northern England enabled Orwell to share the experiences and hardships of these working-class people. Orwell married Eileen O’Shaughnessy in the summer of 1936. At the end of that year, he and his new wife left for Spain where he joined a “Trotskyist” unit of the militia and fought in the Spanish Civil War. What he witnessed there shook his Socialist ideals. He was appalled by the brutal tactics employed by the Communists who were armed by the Soviet Union and turned loose against Stalin’s political enemies in Spain. Orwell was wounded in Spain and diagnosed with tuberculosis upon his return to England. An account of his Spanish experiences is the subject of Homage to Catalonia (1938), an autobiographical work.

During World War II, Orwell was kept out of active service because of his worsening health. He continued to contribute to the war effort through his writing and his broadcasts to India over the BBC. When his wife died in 1943 during a minor operation, Orwell left London and went to the Hebrides Islands with his adopted son. From November 1943 to January 1944, he worked on Animal Farm, which he published in 1945 as the war was coming to an end. His tuberculosis grew worse but his writing continued. He completed 1984, a political novel which he began in 1948 and saw published in 1949, just six months before his death on January 21, 1950, at the age of 46. Estimated Reading Time Animal Farm is a relatively short book of about 130 pages in 10 chapters. Each chapter is approximately 12 pages long. By breaking your reading time into five half-hour segments, two chapters at a sitting, you can read the book in three hours.

More Content: Summary (hide) SparkNotes: Animal Farm: Study Questions & Essay Topics Study Questions & Essay Topics Study Questions 1. Compare and contrast Napoleon and Snowball. What techniques do they use in their struggle for power? Does Snowball represent a morally legitimate political alternative to the corrupt leadership of Napoleon? As Joseph Stalin did, Napoleon prefers to work behind the scenes to build his power through manipulation and deal-making, while Snowball devotes himself, as Leon Trotsky did, to winning popular support through his ideas, passionate speeches, and success in debates with his opponent. Snowball seems to work within the political system, while Napoleon willingly circumvents it. Napoleon, for instance, understands the role of force in political control, as is made clear by his use of the attack dogs to expel Snowball from the farm. Despite Napoleon’s clearly bullying tactics, Orwell’s text doesn’t allow us to perceive Snowball as a preferable alternative. Snowball does nothing to prevent the consolidation of power in the hands of the pigs, nor does he stop the unequal distribution of goods in the pigs’ favor—he may even, in fact, be complicit in it early on.

Furthermore, the ideals of Animal Farm—like Orwell’s ideal version of socialism—are rooted in democracy, with all of the animals deciding how their collective action should be undertaken. For any one animal to rise to greater power than any other would violate that ideal and essentially render Animal Farm indistinguishable from a human farm—an unavoidable eventuality by the end of the novella. Though their motives for power may be quite different—Napoleon seems to have a powerful, egocentric lust for control, while Snowball seems to think himself a genius who should be the one to guide the farm toward success—each represents a potential dictator. Neither pig has the other animals’ interests at heart, and thus neither represents the socialist ideals of Animal Farm. 2. Why do you think Orwell chose to use a fable in his condemnation of Soviet communism and totalitarianism? Fiction would seem a rather indirect method of political commentary; if Orwell had written an academic essay, he could have named names, pointed to details, and proven his case more systematically. What different opportunities of expression does a fable offer its author?

Historically, fables or parables have allowed writers to criticize individuals or institutions without endangering themselves: an author could always claim that he or she had aimed simply to write a fairy tale—a hypothetical, meaningless children’s story. Even now, when many nations protect freedom of speech, fables still come across as less accusatory, less threatening. Orwell never condemns Stalin outright, a move that might have alienated certain readers, since Stalin proved an ally against Adolf Hitler’s Nazi forces. Moreover, the language of a fable comes across as gentle, inviting, and unassuming: the reader feels drawn into the story and can follow the plot easily, rather than having to wade through a self-righteous polemic. In writing a fable, Orwell expands his potential audience and warms it to his argument before he even begins. Because fables allow for the development of various characters, Orwell can use characterization to add an element of sympathy to his arguments. Especially by telling the story from the point of view of the animals, Orwell draws us in and allows us to identify with the working class that he portrays. Thus, a fable allows him to appeal more intensely to emotion than a political essay might enable him to do.

Additionally, in the case of Animal Farm, the lighthearted, pastoral, innocent atmosphere of the story stands in stark contrast to the dark, corrupt, malignant tendencies that it attempts to expose. This contrast adds to the story’s force of irony: just as the idyllic setting and presentation of the story belies its wretched subject matter, so too do we see the utopian ideals of socialism give way to a totalitarian regime in which the lower classes suffer. Finally, by writing in the form of a fable, Orwell universalizes his message. Although the specific animals and events that he portrays clearly evoke particular parallels in the real world, their status as symbols allows them to signify beyond specific times and places. Orwell himself encourages this breadth of interpretation: while the character of Napoleon, for example, refers most directly to Stalin in deed and circumstance, his name evokes his resemblance to the French general-turned-autocrat Napoleon. 3. From whose perspective is Animal Farm told? Why would Orwell have chosen such a perspective? Animal Farm is not told from any particular animal’s perspective; properly speaking, it doesn’t have a protagonist.

Rather, it is told from the perspective of the common animals as a group: we read, for example, that “[t]he animals were stupefied. . . . It was some minutes before they could take it all in.” This technique enables Orwell to paint a large portrait of the average people who suffer under communism. Through this choice of narrative perspective, he shows the loyalty, naïveté, gullibility, and work ethic of the whole class of common animals. In this way, he can effectively explore the question of why large numbers of people would continue to accept and support the Russian communist government, for example, even while it kept them hungry and afraid and even after its stated goals had clearly and decisively failed. Suggested Essay Topics 1. How does Orwell explore the problem of rhetoric in Animal Farm? Paying particular attention to the character of Squealer, how is language used as an instrument of social control? How do the pigs rewrite history? 2. Discuss Boxer. What role does he play on the farm? Why does Napoleon seem to feel threatened by him?

In what ways might one view the betrayal of Boxer as an alternative climax of the novel (if we consider Napoleon’s banishment of Snowball and the pigs’ initial consolidation of power as the true climax)? 3. Do you think Animal Farm’s message would come across effectively to someone who knows nothing about Soviet history or the conflict between Stalin and Trotsky? What might such a reader make of the story? 4. Of all of the characters in Animal Farm, are there any who seem to represent the point of view of the author? Which of the animals or people do you think come(s) closest to achieving Orwell’s perspective on Animal Farm? More Help Napoleon (a pig) in Animal Farm Character Analysis Don't Look Now Napoleon is smart—smart enough not to play much a role in the initial rebellion. It's only after the animals have rebelled that he takes a leadership role. When we meet him, we learn that he's "a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar , the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his way" (2.2). In other words: Snowball may win Miss Congeniality, but Napoleon wins the crown.

(Click the character infographic to download.) Not that Napoleon is into democratic elections, or anything. Nope. He operates through cruelty and treachery. Take his little private army: when Napoleon takes nine puppies from their parents and begins raising them himself, no one knows why… until then the dogs suddenly appear, fully grown, to chase Snowball off the farm. What do these dogs do? They "wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr. Jones" (5.15). Napoleon may not have as many ideas as Snowball, but he's got enough of them. With Snowball gone, Napoleon is the big man on campus. He doesn't need to talk, because he has the aptly named Squealer do his speaking for him. He doesn't need to worry about protests, because he gets rid of public meetings. He doesn't need to worry about sharing power, because he names himself head of every committee. He doesn't need to worry about being popular, because he's got a great PR plan: In these days Napoleon rarely appeared in public, but spent all his time in the farmhouse, which was guarded at each door by fierce-looking dogs.

When he did emerge, it was in a ceremonial manner, with an escort of six dogs who closely surrounded him and growled if anyone came too near. (7.5) But why doesn't anyone protest? (Well, aside from those dogs, of course.) Well, a lot of the animals are just dumb. It's true. When Napoleon re-writes history to make Snowball into a villain and himself into a revolutionary hero, most of the animals—like Boxer—are gullible enough to believe him. And the ones who don't, like Benjamin the donkey, just can't be bothered to care. Oh, and there's also the thing where he has a herd of sheep chant loudly whenever anyone questions his version of history. Socio-Pig Napoleon's first eyebrow-raising act comes when he unleashes his private dog army on Snowball. The second comes when he squashes the hen rebellion by cutting off their food rations, causing a number of hens to die of starvation. And then the false confessions start. What happens is, Napoleon demands that various animals make false, public confessions about how they're traitors or how they used to be in league with Jones.

And there's no such thing as forgive-and-forget on Animal Farm: after these false confessions, "the dogs promptly tore their throats out" (7.25). (Well, you have to admit that it's an effective way to get rid of your enemies.) In this way, Napoleon knocks off his four pig rivals and the hens who acted as ringleaders in the rebellion. It's pretty gruesome: And so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon's feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown there since the time of Jones. (7.26) So, what's this bloody pile of corpses doing in the middle of Orwell's "Fairy Tale"? The whole episode alludes to the 1930s Great Purge, a.k.a. the Great Terror (we'll say). During the Great Purge, Stalin cleaned house. Thoroughly. Some people just disappeared; others were sent to the Gulag prison camps ; others had to confess publicly to crimes they'd never committed.

Officially, he was getting rid of "counter-revolutionaries"; unofficially, he was getting rid of anyone who disagreed with him. (Check out "Symbols, Imagery, Allegory" for more details on the hen rebellion and Stalin's purges.) Key fact: Napoleon's preferred method of execution is to have his dogs tear out throats. Aside from being totally brutal and gross, this is Orwell's way of getting in a little extra dig at Stalin. See, Napoleon forces the animals to tell lies about themselves before they die and he makes them afraid to speak the truth—he robs them of free speech. That sounds a lot like tearing out their throats, no? One thing: dictators often do horribly violent things. That's kind of in their job description. What's bizarre about Stalin is just how horrible his actions were. He seems to have been fueled by paranoia rather than any desire—at all—to work for the good of his country. By making Stalin into a pig, Orwell shows us just how horrific—and absurd—these purges were. Money or Power? Why Choose! As soon as Napoleon seizes power, we realize that he has very little interest in Old Major's prophecy.

Napoleon doesn't care much if all animals are equal or if they control the means of production, so what keeps him ticking? The same things that motivate most evil dictators: power and greed. Almost as soon as Napoleon and Snowball seize power, Napoleon starts squirreling away the cows' yummy milk all for himself. And then the pigs start sleeping in the humans' beds. And then they start drinking whiskey and having rowdy parties. By the end of the novel, Napoleon and Squealer wear human clothes and walk around on two legs. To make sure all of this floats with the other animals, Napoleon keeps shifting the Commandments to make them say what he wants them to say. Squealer explains that the commandment didn't say that you couldn't sleep in a bed, only that you couldn't sleep in a bed with sheets. And it's not that you can't drink alcohol—you just can't drink it to excess. But only if you're a pig. For all the other animals, Napoleon says, "the truest happiness lay in working hard and living frugally" (10.4). In other words, Napoleon has taken the idea of prosperous living and kept it all for himself. Hmph. Some pig .

Not Just A Pig: Napoleon as Joseph Stalin If all this is sounding a little familiar, it should: Napoleon is a double for real-life dude Josef Stalin , who served as the General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party from 1922 until his death more than 30 years later. In other words, Stalin was the big man on campus. Er, Russia. Let's check out some parallels: Like Napoleon, Stalin was a master at pulling strings behind the scenes. Like Napoleon, he had his own little secret police force, the NKVD (later the KGB). The NKVD assassinated Stalin's rival Leo Trotsky , a.k.a. Snowball, a.k.a. the guy who really was trying to look out for the working class. Like Napoleon, Stalin kept tight control over the media. Napoleon could take lessons from this guy. He commissioned paintings of himself surrounded by adoring children. He essentially re-wrote Russian history, inserting himself into the Russian Revolution of 1917 and later suggesting that he was solely and personally responsible for winning World War II. And, at the same time he was making himself into Russia's #1 Savior, he wanted to make sure that he was remembered for his modesty.

Lol, Stalin. You kill us. Like Napoleon, Stalin basically destroyed Russia's economy. Animal Farm's productivity nose dives when Napoleon's in control, so he decides to fill the granaries with sand to hide the smaller harvest. In 1928, Stalin disrupted agricultural production with his Five-Year Plans . When the Plans caused widespread famine across Russia, Stalin covered up the famines to convince people that everyone that A-OK. (See "Symbols, Imagery, Allegory" for more details about this little disaster.) Like Napoleon, Stalin lived a lavish lifestyle while everyone else was starving. By constantly changing the rules so that he and his friends are exempt, Napoleon totally makes a mockery Old Major's ideas—just like Stalin messed up Karl Marx's ideas. The "worker's state" that actually existed under Stalin was more like a horrible, dark parody of what Marx thought a communist state would be. In fact, it looked a lot like the exact opposite of communism: fascism. A Pig By Any Other Name Some people name their pigs Wilbur and Babe. Other people (ahem, Mr. Jones) apparently name their pigs after monomaniacal dictators. Napoleon Bonaparte is kind of a big deal.

He fought in the French Revolution (1789-1799), and then consolidated power for himself by constructing a French Empire that looked suspiciously like the monarchy that France had just overthrown. (Oh, and then he tried to take over all of Europe in the bonus round.) When Karl Marx was writing The Communist Manifesto (1848), he was inspired by the ideas at the heart of the French Revolution : liberty, equality, and fraternity. (Liberté, égalité, fraternité, if you're feeling fancy. Or French.) He really believed that communism would create a utopia with all those nice qualities. Unfortunately, no communist state has quite pulled it off—and the French Revolution didn't quite pull it off, either. (There was a little hitch with the guillotine and a lot of nasty executions.) So, with Napoleon the pig, Orwell seems to be saying something along the lines of, "Hey Marx, didn't you notice how the French Revolution ended?" In other words, Orwell seems to be arguing that idealist thinkers can dream all the dreams they want, but some self-interested pig is always going to come along to ruin it for everyone. Thanks, Napoleon.

Animal Farm by George Orwell Knowledge Base > Literature > English Animal Farm by George Orwell Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917, and then on into the Stalin era in the Soviet Union. Orwell, a democratic socialist, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and hostile to Moscow-directed Stalinism. Student at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in Rehab Science/Pre-Occupational Therapy. Curated Facts George Orwell’s (1946) Animal Farm was a symbolic tale in which the an- imals overthrew the cruel owner of a farm and began to run it them- selves according to very positive, egalitarian principles. So that the new governing rules could be viewed daily, the animals wrote the seven commandments on the side of the barn. The last and most important of these commandments read, “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL.” At the end of this yarn of good gone bad, the pigs have taken over and given them- selves more rights and privileges than the other animals.

Accordingly, the other animals awaken one morning only to find that their normally comforting commandments now have been abridged to read, “ALL AN - IMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.” Using this Animal Farm analogy, I see Nansook Park, Christopher Peterson, and Martin E. P. Seligman (this issue) as conclud - ing, on the basis of their data, that “ALL STRENGTHS ARE EQUAL.” My view of their data, taken together with the previous results on hope, is that “ALL STRENGTHS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME STRENGTHS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.” × Amazon Results Through ‘Animal Farm’, Orwell uses characters representative of the players in the Russian Revolution to retell the revolution in a sugar coated metaphor. Early on in the novel, Major(Karl Marx), introduces to the animals the ideas of communism, later to be called Animalism by the dictating pigs, as well as a Revolution, which he labelled ‘Rebellion’. Using simplistic language, Orwell simplifies and clarifies human behaviour. This simplistic approach allows people to stand back and mostly ignore the characters, to focus more on the issues that are involved.

‘Animal Farm’ is presented to readers as a world so unlike our own, to show that it is exactly like our own. Article: Animal Farm - Themes :: ... In the story, Napoleon gains power saying he will do what best for the animals but he soon begins to do what is beneficial for himself. An example of his better life would be, It was also more suited to the dignity of the Leader (for of late he had taken to speaking of Napoleon under the title of "Leader") to live in a house than in a mere sty.(page 79) Also the quote, "And the news soon leaked out that every pig was now receiving a ration of a pint of beer daily, with half a gallon for Napoleon himself, which was always served to him in the Crown Derby soup tureen. (page 117) Power can be a good thing at times but people cant handle power and do things or the good of every one. Article: Animal Farm Theme Essay In his self-proclaimed "fairy-story," Orwell uses his allegorical farm to symbolize the communist system. Though the original intention of overthrowing Mr.

Jones (who represents the Czars), is not inherently evil in itself, Napoleon's subsequent adoption of nearly all of Mr. Jones' principles and harsh mistreatment of the animals proves to the reader that indeed communism is not equality, but just another form of inequality. The pigs and dogs take most of the power for themselves, thinking that they are the best administrators of government. Eventually the power corrupts them, and they turn on their fellow animals, eliminating competitors through propaganda and bloodshed. This is of course a reference to Stalin, who murdered many of his own people in order to maintain his dictatorship of Russia. Thanks in part to Animal Farm, much of the Western world finally realized the danger of communism. Soon a Cold War began between the world's greatest superpowers- the Soviet Union and the United States. In the end, America would prove that capitalism and democracy could outlive a system of government-mandated equality. Article: Animal Farm: Theme Analys... The novel can also be taken as a more general attack on the search of power and the way in which corrupt figures gain and manipulate power for their own purposes. Animal farm is a satire on political power.

Lord Acton observed that: ‘power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ As the pigs gain power, it accordingly becomes harder and harder for them to resist the temptations of enjoying an easier life for themselves, especially as the other animals are presented as being too naive to prevent themselves from being manipulated. Napoleon is driven by power and slowly descends into tyranny. He is driven by power and throughout the novel all he does is plan how to take it. Article: Power Corrupts Animal Farm shows how the minority in power uses vague language, propaganda, and misinformation to control the thoughts and beliefs of the majority in the lower classes. The pigs, especially Squealer, become extremely sophisticated and effective in their attempts to rewrite the rules of Animal Farm and Animalism. They even revise the farm’s entire history in order to mislead the other animals into believing exactly what they say. By the end of the novel, the animals on the farm believe Snowball fought against them at the Battle of the Cowshed even though they saw him fight with them. They believe life on the farm has improved even though they have less food than ever, and that Napoleon has their best interests at heart even though he kills those who disagree with him.

As the only literate animals on the farm, the pigs maintain a monopoly on information that they use to build and hold their power. Article: Animal Farm: Themes 33 Knowledge Cards A theme that is evident in this book is that language is extremely powerful. The use of propoganda has the power to persuade entire countries and even regions of the world of one idea. This idea can cause major hostility, war, and conflict. This book makes it very apparent that being very intellectually spoken can get you almost anything you want. Reply Animal Farm depicts a revolution in progress. Old Major gives the animals a new perspective on their situation under Mr. Jones, which leads them to envision a better future free of human exploitation. The revolution in Animal Farm, like all popular revolutions, arises out of a hope for a better future. At the time of the revolution, even the pigs are excited by and committed to the idea of universal animal equality. Article: Animal Farm: Themes Initially in the novel, the animals are excited about a revolution, thinking this would be best for them. They were misled, bringing them to become less free than originally. This represents the misdirection of the Soviet government. Reply Exploitation is the issue around which the animals unite.

Initially, the animals do not realize Jones is exploiting them. For this reason, Old Major’s speech is a revelation of momentous proportions. Major explains to the animals that they are enslaved and exploited and that Man is to blame. He teaches them not only what exploitation means, but also the fact that it is not inevitable. Orwell suggests that exploitation is, in fact, bound to happen when one class of society has an advantage over another. The opposite of exploitation, according to Major, is the state of being “rich and free.” Major’s ideas about animal rights symbolize the importance—and scarcity—of human rights in an oppressive regime. Gaining freedom does not necessarily lead people also to become rich, but it is better to be poor and free than poor and exploited. Article: Animal Farm Themes Animal Farm is a satire of totalitarian governments in their many guises. But Orwell composed the book for a more specific purpose: to serve as a cautionary tale about Stalinism. It was for this reason that he faced such difficulty in getting the book published; by the time Animal Farm was ready to meet its readers, the Allies were cooperating with the Soviet Union. The allegorical characters of the novel represent specific historical figures and different factions of Imperial Russian and Soviet society.

These include Karl Marx (Major), Vladimir Lenin (Major), Leon Trotsky (Snowball), Joseph Stalin (Napoleon), Adolf Hitler (Frederick), the Allies (Pilkington), the peasants (Boxer), the elite (Mollie), and the church (Moses). The resemblance of some of the novel’s events to events in Soviet history is indubitable. For example, Snowball’s and Napoleon’s power struggle is a direct allegory of Trotsky’s and Stalin’s. Frederick’s trade agreement with Napoleon, and his subsequent breaking of the agreement, represents the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact that preceded World War II. The following Battle of the Windmill represents World War II itself. Article: Animal Farm Themes The symbolism in this book is outstanding. Orwell turns a simple concept: a farm into a recreation of one of the most major government upsets in history. Reply Animal Farm begins with a very drunk Mr. Jones (owner of Manor Farm) doing a really crumby job of, you know, his job. The neglected animals listen to a wise old pig, old Major, who encourages them all to rebel and run the farm themselves. Above all, he says, everyone should be equal. Then he dies.

Everyone is excited except for Benjamin, a cynical donkey whose main job in life is to be, well, cynical.The animals do rebel, and the pigs, being the smartest animals, naturally take the leadership role (so much for that equality business). There is some immediate conflict between two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon wants to sit around and be in charge of everything, while Snowball wants to teach the other animals (Imagine!) and build a windmill. Napoleon uses nine ferocious and enormous dogs (which he stole when they were young) to become the All Powerful Dominant Boss Leader Chief Pig. He doesn’t call it that, but it’s in the back of his mind somewhere. So Snowball is out of the picture, which is convenient for blaming everything on him.The pigs exploit the other animals shamelessly, breaking all the rules that they had established after the Rebellion. Things fall apart: life on the farm gets worse and worse, the animals forget old Major’s original dream, and the pigs make some poor management decisions when dealing with the neighboring farms. The culminating miserable moment comes when the pigs send Boxer, a hardworking and loyal horse who is ready for retirement, to his death.

Article: Animal Farm Summary SparkNotes: Animal Farm: Key Facts Animal Farm full title · Animal Farm: A Fairy Story author · George Orwell (pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair) type of work · Novella genre · Dystopian animal fable; satire; allegory; political roman à clef (French for “novel with a key”—a thinly veiled exposé of factual persons or events) language · English time and place written · 1943–1944, in London date of first publication · 1946 publisher · Harcourt Brace & Company narrator · Animal Farm is the only work by Orwell in which the author does not appear conspicuously as a narrator or major character; it is the least overtly personal of all of his writings. The anonymous narrator of the story is almost a nonentity, notable for no individual idiosyncrasies or biases. point of view · The story is told from the point of view of the common animals of Animal Farm, though it refers to them in the third person plural as “they.” tone · For the most part, the tone of the novel is objective, stating external facts and rarely digressing into philosophical meditations.

The mixture of this tone with the outrageous trajectory of the plot, however, steeps the story in an ever-mounting irony. tense · Past setting (time) · As is the case with most fables, Animal Farm is set in an unspecified time period and is largely free from historical references that would allow the reader to date the action precisely. It is fair to assume, however, that Orwell means the fable to be contemporaneous with the object of its satire, the Russian Revolution (1917–1945). It is important to remember that this period represented the recent past and present at the time of writing and that Orwell understands the significance of the story’s action to be immediate and ongoing rather than historical. setting (place) · An imaginary farm in England protagonist · There is no clear central character in the novel, but Napoleon, the dictatorial pig, is the figure who drives and ties together most of the action. major conflict · There are a number of conflicts in Animal Farm—the animals versus Mr. Jones, Snowball versus Napoleon, the common animals versus the pigs, Animal Farm versus the neighboring humans—but all of them are expressions of the underlying tension between the exploited and exploiting classes and between the lofty ideals and harsh realities of socialism.

rising action · The animals throw off their human oppressors and establish a socialist state called Animal Farm; the pigs, being the most intelligent animals in the group, take control of the planning and government of the farm; Snowball and Napoleon engage in ideological disputes and compete for power. climax · In Chapter V, Napoleon runs Snowball off the farm with his trained pack of dogs and declares that the power to make decisions for the farm will be exercised solely by the pigs. falling action · Squealer emerges to justify Napoleon’s actions with skillful but duplicitous reinterpretations of Animalist principles; Napoleon continues to consolidate his power, eliminating his enemies and reinforcing his status as supreme leader; the common animals continue to obey the pigs, hoping for a better future. themes · The corruption of socialist ideals in the Soviet Union; the societal tendency toward class stratification; the danger of a naïve working class; the abuse of language as instrumental to the abuse of power motifs · Songs; state ritual symbols · Animal Farm; the barn; the windmill foreshadowing · The pigs’ eventual abuse of power is foreshadowed at several points in the novel.

At the end of Chapter II, immediately after the establishment of the supposedly egalitarian Animal Farm, the extra milk taken from the cows disappears, and the text implies that Napoleon has drunk it himself. Similarly, the dogs’ attack on Boxer during Napoleon’s purges, in Chapter VII, foreshadows the pigs’ eventual betrayal of the loyal cart-horse. More Help Animal Farm Essay - Animal Farm, George Orwell - eNotes.com Animal Farm Essay - Animal Farm, George Orwell See also 1984 Criticism and George Orwell Criticism. (Pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair) English novelist, essayist, critic, journalist, and memoirist. The following entry presents criticism of Orwell’s short novel Animal Farm, which was published in 1945. Animal Farm (1945) is considered one of Orwell's most popular and enduring works. Utilizing the form of the animal fable, the short novel chronicles the story of a group of barnyard animals that revolt against their human masters in an attempt to create a utopian state. On a larger scale, commentators widely view Animal Farm as an allegory for the rise and decline of socialism in the Soviet Union and the emergence of the totalitarian regime of Joseph Stalin.

Critics regard the story as an insightful and relevant exploration of human nature as well as political systems and social behavior. After its translation into Russian, it was banned by Stalin's government in all Soviet-ruled areas. Plot and Major Characters The story opens as the barnyard animals of Manor Farm discuss a revolution against their master, the tyrannical and drunken farmer Mr. Jones. Old Major, an aging boar, gives a rousing speech in the barn urging his fellow animals to get rid of Jones and rely on their own efforts to keep the farm running and profitable. Identified as the smartest animals in the group, the pigs—led by the idealistic Snowball and the ruthless Napoleon—successfully plan and lead the revolution. After Jones and his wife are forced from the farm, the animals look forward to a society where all animals are equal and live without the threat of oppression. But soon, the pigs begin to assume more power and adjust the rules to suit their own needs. They create and implement an ideological system, complete with jingoistic songs and propaganda as well as strict rules. Once partners and friends, Napoleon and Snowball disagree on several issues regarding the governing of the farm.

Snowball's attempted coup is repelled by a pack of wild dogs—controlled by Napoleon—who also enforce punishment against the other animals when they oppose or question Napoleon's rule. Before long, the pigs separate themselves from the other animals on the farm and begin to indulge in excessive drinking and other decadent behavior. Under the protection of the dogs, they consolidate their iron-fisted rule and begin eliminating any animal they consider useless or a threat to their power. Animal Farm ends with the majority of the animals in the same position as in the beginning of the story: disenfranchised and oppressed under a corrupt and brutal governing system. Major Themes Critics note that like many classical animal fables, Animal Farm is an allegory—in this case, of the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalin's tyrannical government. It is generally accepted that Orwell constructed his story to reflect this purpose: Manor Farm represents Russia; Mr. Jones is the tsar; the pigs represent the Bolsheviks, the bureaucratic power elite; Snowball is Leon Trotsky, who lost a power struggle with Stalin; Napoleon is Stalin; and Napoleon's dogs are Stalin's secret police, known as the GPU. The corruption of absolute power is a major theme in Animal Farm.

As most of the animals hope to create a utopian system based on the equality of all animals, the pigs—through greed and ruthlessness—manipulate and intimidate the other animals into subservience. Critics note that Orwell was underlining a basic tenet of human nature: some will always exist who are more ambitious, ruthless, and willing to grab power than the rest of society and some within society will be willing to give up power for security and structure. In that sense Animal Farm is regarded as a cautionary tale, warning readers of the pitfalls of revolution. Critical Reception Animal Farm is regarded as a successful blend of political satire and animal fable. Completed in 1944, the book remained unpublished for more than a year because British publishing firms declined to offend the country's Soviet allies. Finally the small leftist firm of Secker & Warburg printed it, and the short novel became a critical and popular triumph. It has been translated into many languages but was banned by Soviet authorities throughout the Soviet-controlled regions of the world because of its political content. As a result of the book's resounding commercial success, Orwell was freed from financial worries for the first time in his life.

A few years after its publication, it attracted critical controversy because of its popularity amongst anticommunist factions in the United States; Orwell was alarmed that these forces were using his short novel as propaganda for their political views. In the subsequent years, Animal Farm has been interpreted from feminist, Marxist, political, and psychological perspectives, and it is perceived as an important and relevant book in the post-World War II literary canon. Moreover, it is considered one of Orwell's most lasting achievements. More Content: Animal Farm, George Orwell (hide) Napoleon (Animal Farm) | Villains Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [ show ] Biography After Old Major's death, Napoleon and Snowball assumed control and orchestrated a revolution, successfully overthrowing their irresponsible farmer and his "regime" that had been oppressing the animals in the farm. Napoleon was initially considered a war hero; unfortunately, he soon became extremely corrupt, selfish, and greedy, chasing Snowball away in order to declare himself leader of Animal Farm and enacting changes to the administration structure of the farm by replacing communal meetings with a committee of pigs who had the power to pass laws.

As he grew more powerful, he began employing cruel methods to dispose of animals whom he deemed a threat and adopted tyrannical policies almost identical to those used by the humans, even making hypocritical changes to the sacred Seven Commandments of Animalism which was Animal Farm's core belief system. Throughout the book, Napoleon constantly slandered Snowball, branding him a traitor who was working for Mr. Jones . His acts of villainy include exercising despotic control over his fellow animals, killing his own "comrades" who were allegedly allied with Snowball, seizing nine puppies with the selfish intent of raising them as his personal killer guard dogs, and ordering multiple indiscriminate executions of his farm citizens. During the story, (and movie adaptations) Napoleon saw both Snowball and Boxer as a threat and eventually succeeded in removing the both of them from his farm state. By end of the book, Napoleon and his fellow pigs (minus Snowball, who ran afoul of Napoleon and was disposed of) and human allies are so corrupt that the other animals can no longer tell the difference between the pigs and the humans. Film Adaptations In the 1954 adaptation, it shows Napoleon and his fellow pigs (again, minus Snowball) drunk and yelling.

Just like the book, the animals could no longer tell the difference between the pigs and the humans. Napoleon, as he appears in the animated film. Napoleon's fate varies in adaptations. In the animated movie, (Animal Farm: 1954) he and the other pigs are killed by the rebelling animals when they stampede into their dining hall. In the live-action version of the book, (Animal Farm: 1999) his exact fate is unknown, but his government collapsed and a family of humans purchased the farm. Personality Napoleon is a greedy, selfish, ruthless, oppressive, and hypocritical dictator defined by his unquenchable thirst for power. Napoleon is remorseless, uncompromising, and possibly psychopathic, so he abuses his power as soon he obtains it and is only concerned with furthering his own selfish goals rather than benefiting Animal Farm. He is extremely manipulative and charismatic, able to inspire the other animals to turn against Snowball's vision of a peaceful Animal Farm, although it could be argued that Snowball had visions of dictatorship himself.

Although he initially presents a façade of self-effacing modesty, describing himself as "a practical pig of few words" who would "work hard and say little", Napoleon predominantly uses words to manipulate others and is a supercilious and narcissistic elitist, ordering many poems and songs be written about himself, singing his praises as the savior and leader of Animal Farm and insisting that it revert to its original name of Manor Farm after he had established himself as its dictator and succeeded in rallying the other farmers to his cause. He is also a hedonistic and parsimonious alcoholic who sired many illegitimate piglets. Whilst obviously intelligent, knowledgeable, and self-confident, Napoleon rarely contributes any ideas of his own, preferring to discredit the ideas of his opponents and then claim those ideas as his own once he had driven out his rivals. Napoleon is persuasive, vengeful, and bitter, having had to fight his way to power through cruelty and cunning as a result of being the smallest of his litter of pigs. He sees the world as a socially Darwinistic place where the ends always justified the means.

Despite his vicious, heartless, and misanthropic nature, Napoleon could be rapturous, charming, and affable in the presence of humans and other animals. Appearance Napoleon is described as a mature stud boar, although he was the runt of his litter and had to fight for food growing up in order to become big and strong, contributing to his socially Darwinistic view of the world and of his place in it. During his reign over the farm, he becomes quite overweight due to his excessive eating and alcoholism. In the animated film, he is depicted as bipedal, sneering and imperious, wearing dark, double-breasted suits. In the live action film, he is depicted with black and white fur. Videos

Question: Napoleon and Snowball appear in which 1945 novel?
Answer: Animal Farm