Animal Farm – George Orwell – Review Summary Notes

Animal Farm is one of the two most important works by George Orwell, the other is from 1984. Animal Farm makes satirical allegories of totalitarian communism in Soviet Russia. The novel is considered one of the best of all time ever written by any author.

Animal Farm is a novel of revolution betrayed. It presents the corruption that followed the revolution led by Lenin.

In Animal Farm, the characters are animals and humans. Among the animals, many of them are pigs, which in most cases are rulers. Apart from the pigs, we see three main horses, a donkey, a goat, some cubs, rats, the sheep (plural number), a crow, a cat and chickens.

The animals are more allegorical than real. Interpretation of meanings is often left to the reader, but generally the consensus is that they represent different classes. Again, humans represent another class. Therefore, the novel demonstrates multiple classes.

All animals are the same, but some are more equal that the others.

All animals are supposed to be of the same class, but in reality, some animals are of a higher class.

Pigs: The old major represents Lenin / Marx. He had introduced the animals to the song. Beasts of england. Napoleon (allusion to Stalin), the villain, a Berkshire boar, gradually grows more powerful, with the help of the cubs he uses as a secret policeman. He expels Snowball (allusion to Trotsky) from the farm and uses dogs to impose his dictatorship. Change the commandments to allow him to have privileges like eating at a table. He and the other pigs learn to walk upright and behave like those humans they had rebelled against. Snowball, an allusion to Trotsky, was working for the good of the farm and had won the hearts of most of the animals, but was driven out by Napoleon and his dogs. Napoleon had also spread negative rumors about Snowball. Squealer (allusion to Molotov) is Napoleon’s propaganda minister and his chief assistant for all practical purposes. He uses the statistics to confuse the animals and show that they have improved their quality of life, and the animals, with little memory of life before the revolution, accept. Minimo is a poetic pig who represents all the admirers of Stalin inside and outside Russia.

Humans: Mr. Jones, a heavy drinker, the willing Tsar. His attempt to take back the farm is thwarted by the Battle of the Stable (Russian Civil War). Interestingly, Napoleon eventually becomes as drunk as Jones. Frederick, the tough owner of Pinchfield, a neighboring farm, represents Hitler and his farm represents the Nazi Party. Mr. Pilkington is apparently nice but canny. He and Napoleon draw the Ace of Spades (the highest card in a card game) and start a bad fight, symbolizing the tensions between the United States and Russia. Mr. Whymper (unattractive Western intellectuals) is hired by Napoleon to represent Animal Farm in human society.

Horses: Boxer is the entity that works the most on the animal farm. It is dedicated to the success of the estate. Boxer invests all his being loyal, kind and dedicated to the “good” of the farm, as described by the farm leaders. His helmets eventually split off and Napoleon sends him to his death when he could no longer work (and Napoleon spread the rumor that he died peacefully in a hospital). “I will work harder” was Boxer’s motto in any difficult situation, and his utmost confidence showed that “Napoleon is always right.” Clover is Boxer’s partner. She works with Boxer and loves and cares for him, and blames herself when Boxer breaks her helmet. She is deeply respected by the three youngest who eventually take on the role of Boxer. Mollie is a third horse, a self-centered mare, who wears ribbons in her mane and eats lumps of sugar (she lives a luxurious life), and is pampered by humans. Later he goes to another farm in search of better comfort.

Other animals: Benjamin, the wise donkey who could also read, represents the Jews and lives until the end of the novel. Muriel is a friendly and wise goat like Benjamin, but dies early in the novel due to her old age. The cat represents laziness, the rats represent some arbitrary roaming people, the sheep represent the masses (and Napoleon manages the sheep in such a way that he is supported and believed by them), and the chickens represent the wealthy peasants. Moses is an old raven (bird) who sometimes visits the Sugarcandy Mountain farm, a place where working animals go after death, he claims. The cubs are the ones that Napoleon especially raises and makes of them a secret police. They become one of the pillars of Napoleon’s power at the Animal Farm.

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