Animal Farm Chapter Notes

Haag/Marcason

Chapter One

• Mr. Jones is the cruel, drunk owner of Manor Farm

• Old Major, large pig, inspires the Animals to revolt through the song Beasts of England. – He says Man is greedy, selfish, and lazy–Man is an enemy to Animals– Animals need to overthrow Man to be

free

Chapter Two

• Old Major dies in his sleep• The pigs hold meetings at night to discuss Old Major’s ideas

– they call this Animalism• Mr. Jones has been depressed since he lost money in a

lawsuit – drinks a lot– Goes out drinking on Midsummer’s Eve– Barn hands milk the cows, but let the animals starve– When Jones returns the animals break into the house to beat him– Jones and his men go to attack the animals with whips, but the

animals fight back– The animals chase the humans off the farm and destroy/burn

everything that represents human oppression (harnesses, reins, chains)

– They create The Seven Commandments

The Seven Commandments“Four Legs Good – Two Legs Bad”

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 clothes4. No animal shall sleep in a bed5. No animal shall drink alcohol6. No animal shall kill another animal7. All animals are equal

Chapter Three

• The pigs taught themselves how to read and write- they are the only animals that can read and write besides Muriel and Benjamin– They don’t do physical labor -> their job is to supervise the

farm work

• Animals work more efficiently than Jones• Sunday is a day of rest -> hold meetings, listen to

debates, and sing Beasts of England.– Snowball and Napoleon argue the most– Plan to send out pigeons to spread word of the rebellion to

other farms

• Only pigs can eat the milk and apples because they need it to stay strong– Threaten that Jones will come back if they get too weak

Chapter Four

• Mr. Jones gets other humans to help him take back Animal Farm

• Jones and men attack in the Battle of Cowshed– Jones shot at Snowball and killed a sheep– Animals chase humans off the farm

• Other farmers fear their animals might revolt, but secretly hope they can overpower Animal Farm and take it for themselves.

Chapter Four

Foxwood (Pilkington)• Large, unkempt, old• Mr. Pilkington is easy

going • Likes to hunt• Hates Fredrick

Pinchfield (Fredrick) • Smaller, but kept

clean• Fredrick is cheap• Drives hard bargains• Always involved in

lawsuits• harsh

Chapter Five

• Mollie is caught letting humans pet her – disappears from farm and is seen pulling a carriage in town

• Snowball makes plans to build a windmill– Used to run machinery to improve production and easy

workload– Run electricity and heat

• Napoleon does not like the Windmill idea– Has his guard dogs chase Snowball off the farm during a

debate about the windmill– Said he did it so the other animals wouldn’t make a bad

choice by voting for Snowball– Gives Napoleon complete power over the farm

Chapter Five

• Napoleon makes some changes:– No Sunday meetings -> they were

unnecessary – Committee of pigs would make decisions

about farm – Napoleon presided over this committee

• Napoleon says the windmill will be built– Claims Snowball stole his idea and that was

why he was against it in the beginning

Chapter Six• Animals work hard, but the effort is paid off in food

production– Have to work on Sunday afternoon to work on both the field

and the windmill

• Napoleon decides to trade with humans for items they need– Mr. Whymper is the human who does negotiations between

Napoleon and other farms– Squealer tells animals there was never a rule in Animalism

against trading – LIE! Major said that was one of the faults of Man!

• Pigs move into the farm house and sleep in beds– Squealer tells them they are not sleeping on sheets which is

what the 4th rule said was not allowed

• The windmill is destroyed and Snowball is to blame

Chapter Seven• Animals lives are worse than before

– Overworked and underfed– Little food– Napoleon tricks Mr. Whymper into believing they have a lot of food

by filling the food barrels up halfway with sand.– They need more money so Napoleon wants to sell the hen’s eggs -

> the eggs are almost ready to hatch to the hens try to revolt, but Napoleon starves them for 5 days. 9 hens die during this time.

• Napoleon hides in farm house with his guard dogs• Napoleon says Snowball is sneaking onto the farm to cause

mischief – he is behind all the bad things happening on the farm– Squealer announces that Snowball has spies and agents hidden on

Animal Farm– Napoleon kills the animals that confess to helping/aiding Snowball

• Animals can no longer sing Beasts of England because the rebellion is over– Napoleon really doesn’t want the animals to be inspired by the

song to revolt against him

Chapter Eight• The animals are upset about the public killings

– Muriel reads the rules aloud and now it says “Animals shall not kill another animal without cause”

• Napoleon disappears from the public eye – Napoleon is now has multiple titles: “Our Leader, Comrade

Napoleon” , “Father of All Animals”, “Terror of Mankind”– A poem is written about Napoleon and is put on the barn wall along

with the Seven Commandments and a portrait of him

• Napoleon is trying to sell timber to either Fredrick or Pilkington – Planned to sell it to Pilkington and spread rumors about Fredrick

aiding Snowball– Fredrick offered more money than Pilkington and Napoleon now

claims that Snowball is hiding on Pilkington’s farm– Fredrick tricked Napoleon by giving him fake money so he got the

timber for free

Chapter Eight • Fredrick and his men attacked Animal Farm with guns• Animals retreated to the barn and Fredrick and his men blew

up the windmill– Animals attacked the men in anger

• There were causalities and injuries among the animals• Boxer lost a shoe, split a hoof, and had pellets in his hind leg• The men fled from the farm

– Napoleon claims that this was a victory even though the windmill was destroyed and that they will just have to rebuild it again.

• The animals celebrated their victory and the pigs drank whiskey that they found in the house– The next day Napoleon claimed to be dying – but was really just

hungover from drinking so much! – and claimed that any animal drinking alcohol would be put to death!

• Squealer was found on the ground next to a broken ladder by the seven commandments with a paintbrush and white paint – A few days later the Fifth Commandment now read “No animal

shall drink alcohol to excess”

Chapter Nine• Boxer’s split hoof is still hurting him but he wants to see the

windmill started before he retires the next year– Retirement on Animal Farm: Horses and Pigs retired at age 12; Cows

retire at age 14; Dogs retire at age 9; Sheep retire at age 7; Hen and Geese retire at age 5. Retired animals get pension paid in food and hay

• There is little food but Squealer tells them it is still more than Jones gave them

• There are more animals on the farm now – 4 female pigs had 31 babies in total. Most of the pigs were most likely fathered by Napoleon

• Napoleon announced he would teach the young pigs himself• New Rule: all animals were to step aside when a pig was walking

by them. Pigs could also wear green ribbons on their tails on Sundays

• Pigs took all the barley to make beer for themselves

Chapter Nine • Spontaneous Demonstration: once a week the animals would

march around the farm with a banner, sings songs and recite poems about Napoleon, and hear speeches about all the work they are doing

• In April, Animal Farm became a “republic” where they could vote for a President – Napoleon was the only candidate and won unanimously

• It was announced that Snowball had fought on Jones’ side during the Battle of Cowshed and that Napoleon, not Jones, had injured him

• Moses still talks about Sugarcandy Mountain where there were fields of clovers and sugar cubes growing on trees– Many animals believed him now because they needed to believe there

was a better place than where they lived now– The pigs declared that Moses was lying, but gave him an allowance of

a cup of beer per day

Chapter Nine• Boxer is suffering from being overworked and underfed but

continues to work hard before his retirement– Boxer went to move stone by himself and fell. – Napoleon said he made arrangements for Boxer to be sent to

an animal hospital in Willingdon• When the “vet” comes to take Boxer the side of the van said “Alfred

Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler”

– Squealer announces Boxer’s death three days later and claims to have been at his bedside at the vet when he passed away• He said any animal that believed the horse slaughter rumor was

stupid and the vet had bought the truck from a horse slaughterer but did not have time to white out the name

– Napoleon says there will be a banquet in Boxer’s honor for the pigs to attend. A van from the grocer dropped off a barrel of whiskey that the pigs bought with the money the made from selling Boxer to the slaughterer.

Chapter Ten• Several years pass and the farm is doing well, but the animals don’t see

this wealth– Clover, Benjamin, Moses, and few pigs are the only ones who remember the

Rebellion – Jones is dead (died from alcoholism)– No one remembers Snowball or Boxer– Napoleon and Squealer are both fat and happy– Animals from other farms were brought to Animal Farm

• The windmill is completed and they are trying to build a second one• Two fields were purchased from Pilkington• The dogs and pigs reproduced the most

– They were the only ones who benefited from the increased profit of the farm

• The pigs start walking on two legs – Napoleon now walks on two legs with a whip in one hand– The sheep now say “Four legs good, Two legs better!”

• The Seven Commandments are gone and only “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS”

• Pigs start carrying whips and wearing clothes from Mr. Jones’ closet

Chapter Ten• Neighboring farmers are invited to inspect the farm • The animals watch from the window of the farm house as the humans and pigs hold a

meeting. Mr. Pilkington gives a speech:– The farmers now respected Animal Farm because the lower animals worked harder and received

less food than on their own farms• They plan to change that once they return to their farms

– The farmers and the pigs were equal because they had the same problem (too many workers wanting too much food/pay)

– Congratulated Napoleon on the long working hours, lower rations, and not pampering the lower animals

– Said lower animals were equal to the lower class of the human world

• Napoleon’s speech:– Denies trying to stir up rebellions in other farms– Animals will not call each other Comrade any more (relates too much to the rebellion) – No more passing by Old Major’s skull on Sunday mornings (Napoleon claims to not know why

this was started)– The hoof and horns on the Animal Farm flag were to be removed – Announces that the name Animal Farm was changed to The Manor Farm (the original name)

• Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington begin to argue because they both tried to play the ace of spades in poker (meaning someone is cheating!)– The animals are unable to tell who is human and who is a pig because they all look and act the

same now.

The New Commandments

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy Four legs good – two legs better

2. Whatever goes upon four legs or has wings is a friend

3. No animal shall wear clothes4. No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets5. No animal shall drink alcohol to excess6. No animal shall kill another animal without

cause7. All animals are equal but some are more equal

than others