Animal Farm

Animal Farm — Selected Passages and Analysis by George Orwell (1945)

Preface: A Fable for All Ages

George Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1944, but no British publisher would touch it until 1945 — because it was unmistakably a satire of Stalin's Soviet Union, and at the time the Soviet Union was Britain's war ally. When it was finally published, it became one of the most widely read political fables of the twentieth century, and its core insights remain as relevant as they were on the day Orwell completed the manuscript.

Part One: Old Major's Dream

Old Major, the prize-winning boar of Manor Farm, calls all the animals together one midnight in the barn. He is old and he knows he will die soon. He wants to share with them the vision that has been forming in his mind throughout his long life.

"Comrades," he begins, "what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end, we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty."

He describes a world without Man — a world where animals control their own lives and the produce of their own labour. He teaches the animals a song: "Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland, Beasts of every land and clime, Hearken well and spread my tidings of the golden future time."

Three days later, Old Major dies. But his dream outlives him.

Part Two: The Rebellion

The animals of Manor Farm drive out their drunken, neglectful owner, Mr. Jones, in a spontaneous uprising. They rename the farm "Animal Farm." The pigs, being the cleverest animals, take the lead in organising the new society.

Two pigs emerge as the principal leaders: Snowball, who is vivid and quick in speech, and Napoleon, who is not much of a talker but has a reputation for getting his own way.

The Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall:

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.

The animals work together with extraordinary energy and enthusiasm in the first harvest. Everything they produce belongs to them. The future seems limitless and bright.

Part Three: The Corruption

Napoleon raises a litter of puppies in secret, away from the other animals. When Snowball — the brilliant organiser of the windmill plan, which would bring electricity to the farm — presents his case at the weekly meeting, Napoleon gives a signal. Nine enormous dogs, the puppies he has raised, burst into the barn and chase Snowball off the farm. He is never seen again.

From this point forward, Napoleon alone leads. He announces that meetings will no longer be held — decisions will be made by a committee of pigs and delivered to the other animals as orders. Squealer, Napoleon's chief propagandist, smooths over every objection: "Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones to come back?"

One by one, the commandments on the barn wall are quietly altered: "No animal shall sleep in a bed" becomes "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets." "No animal shall drink alcohol" becomes "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess." "No animal shall kill any other animal" becomes "No animal shall kill any other animal without cause."

The animals remember vaguely that something used to be different, but Squealer assures them their memories are faulty. They work harder and harder while the pigs eat better and better. Boxer, the enormous cart-horse whose motto is "I will work harder," and whose second motto is "Napoleon is always right," works until his lungs begin to fail.

When Boxer collapses, Napoleon sells him to the knacker for slaughter. He tells the animals that Boxer has been taken to a veterinary hospital. Squealer weeps publicly and praises Boxer's service. The animals believe him — or try to.

Part Four: The Final Betrayal

Years pass. The farm has changed beyond recognition. The pigs walk on two legs, carry whips, subscribe to farming magazines, and drink with the neighbouring human farmers. The commandments on the barn wall have been erased and replaced with a single sentence:

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

At the final dinner scene, the animals watching through the farmhouse window look from pig to man and from man to pig — "but already it was impossible to say which was which."

Key Passages for Analysis:

"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." — The novel's final sentence is one of the most devastating closing lines in political literature. It completes the circle of corruption: the revolutionaries have become identical to those they replaced.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." — Orwell's most famous line is a logical impossibility — "more equal" is a grammatical and mathematical absurdity — which is precisely the point. It illustrates how language can be bent to justify what it plainly contradicts, how ideology can override meaning.

Boxer as the loyal worker class: Boxer never questions, never doubts, and works until he collapses — only to be sold for slaughter the moment his productivity ends. He is not a fool; he is loyal and hardworking. But his virtues, without critical thinking, make him an instrument of his own oppression.