Animal Farm by George Orwell Plot Summary

Introduction

George Orwell was an English critic, essayist, novelist, and journalist who wrote masterpieces such as 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four) and Animal Farm. From the views of Bernard Crick, his biographer, Orwell found his inspiration from his long trips to London that showcased poverty, and that crime was an everyday occurrence.

His novella Animal Farm deals with the errors of dictatorship and mocks the effects of the Russian Revolution by using the fable style with the addition of a self-named farm.

Summary

The story starts with the meeting of animals that takes place in the barn of Manor Farm, which is owned by Mr. Jones. A hog called Old Major gathers other animals to talk about the dream he had once.

According to the dream, no man would be able to exploit them, and they could live in peace by taking over the farm and driving the humans away for good. In the next few days, Old Major teaches them (other animals) a song called "Beasts of England", which depicts the maltreatment of working-class people in Europe. After a few days, Old Major dies. With great enthusiasm, the other animals follow in Old Major's footsteps and start a rebellion against Mr. Jones. In support of the philosophy they entitled Animalism, all animals join forces with three boars, Snowball, Squealer, and Napoleon. They are put in charge of all the dangerous schemes that could drive away humans. When one night, Mr. Jones fails to remember to feed the animals, they strike up the revolt. Mr. Jones and his crew run away, abandoning the farm, and the animals celebrate their first victory.

After the animals take over the farm, it is renamed the Animal Farm. The wall of the barn is sprayed with the Seven Commandments of the Animalism philosophy. With Major's vision in their head, the animals schedule a meeting every Sunday to discuss significant matters. The pigs are selected as their (animals') leaders due to their sagacity, which is ironic considering pigs are considered the most foolish and idle animals by humans.

On the other hand, a drayhorse (or carthorse), known as Boxer, decides to work harder than others so he can achieve prosperity before them. He proves to be of great value in accomplishing many chores. At first, the farm works well in the leadership of pigs. The pig named Snowball starts teaching the animals how to read and write. Napoleon coaches the animals about the doctrine of Animalism. When Mr. Jones comes back to repossess his land, he is defeated once again and leaves the country.

Soon, the power goes to Napoleon's head, and he starts scrounging cow milk and eating all the apples by himself. He teams up with Squealer, who convinces other animals that pigs are wise and warm-hearted animals who only want to take care of them. He gets more power-hungry and blames Snowball for his own wrongdoings. Tensions rise when Snowball suggests the construction of a windmill for the development of the farm and electricity purposes. He gives a speech about its advantages and requirements, and the voting starts on whether to take this project into consideration or not. Napoleon stands against this idea and gives an irrelevant reason for his opposition. To demonstrate his authority over others, he calls upon a pack of dogs to attack Snowball and chase him away from the farm.

Now, as the dictator of Animal Farm, Napoleon declares his complete control over its animals and harvest. He puts an end to the Sunday meetings. After pronouncing that the idea of a windmill establishment was stolen by Snowball, Napoleon orders to begin its construction. It takes more than a year in the completion of the windmill project. In the meantime, going against the principles of Animalism, Napoleon starts the business with neighboring farmers by hiring an intercessor. Due to the storm, the windmill collapses. The reason for its destruction is actually its very thin walls, but it gives Napoleon another mishappening to blame on Snowball. According to him, with the help of other animals on the farm, Snowball was able to destroy the windmill. He releases his hounds on any animal, showing suspicions of plotting against him and in favor of Snowball. Seeing the increasing eloquence of Napoleon, Boxer gets highly influenced and supports him completely.

Napoleon, acting like a narcissistic dictator, makes other animals confess forcefully, and once they do that, he ruthlessly kills them in front of all. With the assistance of his fellow pigs, he starts to depict Snowball as a heinous villain in history. He also adapts a new lifestyle by shifting into Mr. Jones' abandoned house, sleeping on his bed, and trying to act like a human. Squealer, the pig, makes various excuses to convince the animals that there is nothing wrong with Napoleon's treatment of them. Day by day, the animals grow overworked and undernourished as they don't get enough food to support their body.

Till August, the windmill gets rebuilt, and another misfortune occurs. Napoleon trades timber from his farm with John Fredrick, the neighboring landowner, who tricks him by exchanging bogus notes of money. One day, John attacks Animal Farm with the intention of acquiring control over it. In the process, a lot of animals get injured, and the windmill is demolished, but the animals win at last. Boxer, the horse, receives fatal injuries in the fight and becomes critical. Later that day, while working on re-establishing the windmill, Boxer falls from the height and sensates that he is not going to get through this. Therefore, he makes an offer to Napoleon to sell him off at a good price. Napoleon auctions off the valorous horse to the glue maker so that he can get money for whisky. Squealer reassures the other animals by feeding them a well-crafted tale of how Boxer was taken away by a vet and died contently at a hospital, and no one questions this scenario.

Over the next few years, Animal Farm broadens its horizons and progresses further in the rule of swine. Napoleon secures the lands from the neighboring farm owner, Pilkington. However, the conditions of the farm animals remain hopeless. Pigs behave completely like humans by wearing clothes, carrying leather flogs, and walking upright. The Seven Commandments of Animalism have been altered. For example- the main commandment was issued after the amendment stating that "all animals are equal, but some are more than others", which was previously stated as "all animals are equal". Meanwhile, Napoleon invites Mr. Pilkington to dinner to discuss the formation of an alliance between himself and the other farm owners to fulfill the need for the working class's labor force of animals and humans. At last, the name of the farm is changed back to Manor Farm. From the window of the farmhouse, outside animals look inside to catch a glimpse of the celebration. They weren't able to distinguish between animals and humans because both species now act similarly and abuse the ones considered inferior to them.

Significance

The story Animal Farm is inspired by the Russian Revolution that took place under the leadership of dictator Joseph Stalin. The expansion of Stalinist ideology among the Russians is similar to the control of pigs over other farm animals. Through publicity and manipulation, Stalin established communism in Russia and exploited the general public by worsening the conditions of the masses than they were in the last few years. The people gave up their personal possessions and independence, trusting their leader blindly, and were rendered vulnerable.

The whole setup of the animal farm portrayed the picture of totalitarianism in progress. Napoleon, whose main agenda from the beginning was to take over the farm, and his second in command, Squealer, who was clever enough to manipulate animals into perceiving the pigs as their well-wishers, are both portrayed perfectly. Boxer, the carriage horse, represented the lower class workers who believed that by working tirelessly, he would succeed in achieving equality and their land would prosper. However, the way he is sold to the glue boiler in exchange for whiskey money shows the real condition of lower-class workers, no matter how hard they work.

"Equality among the masses" was the vision of Karl Marx that is presented as Old Major's dream. His speeches and essays depict how the workers have to perform extensive labor that benefits only the upper-class population and the government. In Animal Farm, first, it was Mr. Jones who was enjoying the perks as an owner, and after him, Napoleon took over and began to abuse animals to maintain his power.

It spreads a message among the masses to not hand over the power to any one leader. It could lead to chaos, and most of the time, it does not work in the public's favor. At last, in the novella, there remained no difference between the pigs and the human farmer. The laboring animals were getting exploited and threatened. They resented the laws of their leader, be it Mr. Jones or Napoleon. It doesn't do anyone any good if the leader becomes greedy and starts letting down the people he or she is supposed to take care of. Some people see rebellion not as the new beginning to achieve a thriving future but to establish their control over the weak. It is important to be cautious of these people so that no country or group of people becomes a victim of tyranny and corruption.

Themes

The subject represented by George Orwell in this novella is deep and critical. In a nation where the government has complete control over the people and the leader has no sense of morality, the public has to live in fear as they cannot trust anyone. The various themes included in the mentioned novella are Stalinism, a parable on politics, manipulation, and language as a blessing or bane.

Stalinism

In the beginning, the aim of all animals was to introduce the values of equality, justice, and unity and to drive away their oppressor (Mr. Jones). Orwell discusses how the selected leaders can grow corrupt and competent. The focus may shift from their initial combined aims to personal success, as done by Napoleon, Mr. Jones, and Stalin. After the revolution ends, there is no one to lead a group of rebels toward enlightenment, so they have to follow someone who promises them improvement from their current state. According to Orwell's views, leadership develops into tyranny, and the public suffers abuse worse than the previous government they followed. The farm animals are divided, suppressed, and gaslighted, and eventually, the pigs and farmers join forces to use them as they like. Awareness and education are two major pillars of fighting corruption and suppression, but it was too late for the animals to acknowledge that.

Allegory

The allegory is a literary device that consists of hidden meanings on a critical subject such as economic, moral, or administrative. Animal Farm was published in 1945; after almost 20 years, the Russian Revolution ended and left the world in horror. In the novella, the animals supported the movement to take over the farm for the betterment of their life. However, they were only being used by the pigs to establish their authority.

The character of Mr. Jones was inspired by the last autocrat of Russia, Czar Nicholas II, who, when declared incompetent by the population, was exiled. Leon Trotsky was a Soviet politician and the originator of Trotskyism, similar to Marxism. Trotsky and Stalin opposed each other's ideas of communism, much like Snowball and Napoleon in the story. After Snowball was run off by the latter, everything went downhill.

Malversation

The prime factor of this story is how other animals became victims to conceited pigs, and corruption plays an important role in their degradation. Orwell was a radical who believed that power-hungry leaders like Stalin were the reason for turning the Russian Revolution into a nefarious movement. It was too easy for Napoleon and Squealer to feed on other animals' insecurities, ignorance, and fear that the animals forgot about their original dream of equality and were only seeking ways to survive in the reign of pigs. It is an interesting thought that it wasn't the influence of humans that caused pigs to go against their clan. It was this insatiable hunger for power over others that made them realize that class division was vital for a system to function smoothly and, so, equality would always remain a myth.

Abuse of Language

In this story, a great amount of focus was on propaganda that highly influenced all the animals on the farm. The first step of the inclination of pigs towards dictatorship was feeding people a dream that each one of them agreed upon. The dream was only stated by Old Major, but the idea was appealing to all. The speeches were made by the pigs, slogans such as Commandments of Animalism were introduced, and songs such as "Beasts of England" succeeded in getting the animals fired up for the revolution. With some effort, pigs convince other animals that they are much more educated and experienced than them. The way the Seven Commandments get altered, the condition of all animals also gets worse.

The story doesn't just simply present the similarities between animals and humans. It is a satire on the government, a system that makes us question our beliefs and, with them, our leaders.