Animal Farm begins by introducing Mr. Jones, the master of an English farm,
who is too drunk to shut the popholes in the henhouse. The owner of Manor
Farm also forgets to milk the cows, a biologically-serious omission, and is
irresponsible toward the rest of his animals. (Later yet, the pigs will also
forget the milking, an ironic parallel that reveals the subsequent corruption
of the revolution.) One of the cows breaks into the store shed and Mr. Jones
and his helpers try to fight off the hungry animals. "A minute later
all five of them were in full flight down the cart track that led to the main
road, with the animals pursuing them in triumph." Then, "almost
before they knew what was happening, the Rebellion had been successfully carried
through - Jones was expelled, and the Manor Farm was theirs." Yet with
the revolution secured, there are graver dangers than the threat of invasion
and counter-revolution. The ultimate corruption of the revolution is presaged
immediately:
"They raced back to the farm building to wipe out the last traces of
Jones' hated reign... the reins, the halters, the degrading nosebags, were
thrown onto the rubbish fire which was burning in the yard. So were the whips."
Their reaction is understandable, but the description of the inevitable and
immediate violence foreshadows the fate of the rebellion: reactionary cruelty,
the search for the scapegoat, and the perversion of the ideals of the revolution.
[6]
Nevertheless, the animals are too overjoyed with their sudden success. Snowball,
one of the pig leaders (the other is Napoleon), with the assistance of Squealer,
the pigs' public-relations "man," crosses out the name "Manor
Farm" and climbs a ladder and writes these words on the end wall of the
big barn:
The Seven Commandments:
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.
Thus the ideals of the revolution are spelled out in writing and yet these
same ideals are perverted almost immediately. With the task of harvesting
the hay presenting itself to the animals, Snowball cries, "... to the
hayfield! Let us make it a point of honor to get in the harvest more quickly
than Jones and his men could do." All the animals proceed directly to
the hayfield, but the pigs, rather than working, direct and supervise the
others. "With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should
assume the leadership." The pigs' managerial role foreshadow the perversion
of the Seventh Commandment.
In this period of bliss, there are brewing far more horrible situations for
the animals of Animal Farm. While Snowball is organizing "The Egg Production
Committee" for the hens and the "Clean Tails League" for the
cows, Napoleon, the sinister pig tyrant, is carefully educating a few puppies
for his own evil purposes. Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick, the owners of
the farms adjoining Animal Farm, spread rumors of cannibalism, torture with
red-hot horseshoes, and polygamy. On the other hand, there are rumors of a
"wonderful farm, where the human beings had been turned out and the animals
managed their own affairs" - in short, a paradise. Neither set of rumors
is true - for is not the social situations of conflicting ideologies that
Orwell concerns himself with, but the misrepresentation, the falsification,
and the distortion of fact which leads unfortunately to disaster and misery.
The way fact is distorted and misrepresented is graphically portrayed in
the rivalry between Snowball and Napoleon over the construction of a windmill.
During a meeting, Snowball has almost swayed the animals to his side, that
is, for the construction of the windmill, when suddenly nine huge dogs, the
product of Napoleon's evil efforts, chase Snowball off the farm. Snowball
becomes the scapegoat in Napoleon's plans, and everything that comes to harm
Napoleon's regime will be blamed on Snowball. The remainder of Animal Farm
is a chronicle of the consolidation of Napoleon's power through clever politics,
propaganda, and terror. On the third Sunday after Snowball's expulsion, the
animals hear that Napoleon wants the windmill to be built after all:
"The evening Squealer explained privately to the other animals that
Napoleon had never in reality been opposed to the windmill. On the contrary,
it was he who had advocated it in the beginning, and the plan which Snowball
had drawn on the floor of the incubator shed had actually been stolen from
among Napoleon's papers... He had seemed to oppose the windmill, simply as
a maneuver to get rid of Snowball, who was a dangerous character and a bad
influence."
The animals are not sure of Squealer's explanation but a few of Napoleon's
dogs growl so threateningly that the animals accept it without question. This
developing state of tyranny and oppression will ultimately transform the "unalterable"
Seven Commandments into Napoleon's own laws.
The windmill soon becomes the means by which Napoleon exerts control. He
uses it to direct the animals' attention away from the growing shortages and
inadequacies on the farm, and the animals ignorantly concentrate all their
efforts on building the windmill. The symbolic nature of the windmill is itself
important - it suggests an empty concentration, a meaningless, unheroic effort,
for the idea is literally misguided.
It is about this time that the rest of the animals notice that the pigs have
taken residence in the farmhouse, and contrary to what they believe has been
ruled against, the pigs have begun to sleep in beds. Clover the horse is doubtful,
but she reads the Fourth Commandment on the barn wall, and concludes that
she was mistaken after all: "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets."
Beginning with this small but significant change in the unalterable Laws of
Animalism, there will be an even greater and more profound change - the blatant
alteration of history.
Half-finished, the windmill is suddenly destroyed, at the hands, so says
Napoleon, of the traitor, Snowball. Work on the windmill resumes, this time
with less rations for the animals. Almost "sure" of Snowball's secret
collaboration with some of the animals, Napoleon calls together the entire
population of the farm.
"Napoleon stood sternly surveying his audience; then he uttered a high-pitched
whimper. Immediately the dogs bounded forward, seized four of the pigs by
the ear and dragged them squealing with pain and terror, to Napoleon's feet...
When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats
out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had
anything to confess."
Before long, there is a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon's feet and
the air is heavy with the smell of blood. Even so, the terror and senseless
death are both shattering experiences, but they are at least comprehensible;
far more terrifying is the overt alteration of consciousness which follows
the slaughter, the blatant misrepresentation of the past, which goes unchallenged.
[9] Lacking the right words to express her thoughts after the slaughter, Clover
begins to sing Beasts of England, the patriotic song of the Rebellion. Squealer
stops her and tells her that Beasts of England is of no use anymore, because
the better society portrayed in the song has already been achieved. The irony
in this statement is almost absurd, yet the animals have failed to grasp its
meaning.
Rebuilt completely, the windmill is once again destroyed, this time by Frederick
and his followers who try to retake Animal Farm, but are defeated, inflicting
many casualties on both sides. To celebrate their victory, the pigs get drunk
off a case of whiskey found in the cellar of the farmhouse. A few days later,
the animals realize that they have remembered another Commandment incorrectly.
It now read: "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess." With so
little opposition to this outright alteration of fact, nothing stands in the
way of the pigs.
Boxer, the strongest and hardest-working animal, falls ill. Though the van
in which the dying Boxer is taken away has the words "Horse Slaughterer"
painted on the sides, Squealer assures the other animals that the veterinary
surgeon had just recently bought it, and did not have time to paint the old
name out. Boxer, devoting his unceasing labor to the pigs, outlives his usefulness,
and is rewarded by being sent to the glue factory.
Years pass, and most of the animals involved in the Rebellion have been forgotten.
The only Commandment left on the barn wall is this:
All Animals are Equal
But some animals are more equal than others.
The name "Animal Farm" is changed back to "Manor
Farm." A deputation of neighboring farmers meet the pigs and tours the
farm. Toasting each other's prosperity, Pig and Human alike proceed to play
a game of cards. Suddenly:
"Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they
were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs.
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."
This part illustrates the essential horror of the human condition
- there have been, are, and always will be pigs in every society, and they
will always grab for power. It is the "human nature" of the animals
that defeats them.
___________________________
