Animal Farm, by George Orwell: a summary of the plot

George Orwell (real name Eric Blair, 1903-50) never joined any political party but regarded himself as a man of the left. He fought on the Republican (i.e. Communist-led) side during the Spanish Civil War that began in 1936, during which he was nearly killed, but became disillusioned with the political infighting of the various factions that were arrayed against the Fascists. In particular he noted how the Stalinists regarded everyone else as an enemy. This experience led to his writing of Animal Farm as a satirical portrayal of the corruption of Communist ideals by Stalin and his cronies in the Soviet Union.

Animal Farm was completed in 1944 but not published until August 1945, having been turned down by four publishers who were concerned that it was unwise to publish a book that was clearly an attack on one of Britain’s wartime allies. However, since its publication Animal Farm has been immensely successful, never out of print, and rightly regarded as a 20^th century classic.

Animal Farm takes the form of a novella of little more than 41,000 words that can therefore be read in a single sitting. Its brevity means that the characters and incidents make an immediate impact that stays in the mind. The corruption and hypocrisy that form the main drivers of the plot therefore strike the reader with considerable force, and that is why the book has proved to be so effective and memorable.

The setting is Manor Farm, somewhere in England, that has been badly managed for many years by Mr Jones, who has worked the animals too hard and kept them short of food, and been drunk most of the time. In the allegory of the book, Mr Jones represents the Tsarist regime of old Russia.

Old Major, the most senior pig on the farm, calls a meeting at which he delivers a speech that stirs the animals to action. He gives the animals a revolutionary song to sing, called “Beasts of England” that promises a wonderful future with less toil and more food, once “tyrant man” has been overthrown. Old Major represents Karl Marx, with possibly a bit of Vladimir Lenin thrown in, and “Beasts of England” (which bears more than a passing resemblance to Shelley’s revolutionary “Men of England”) can be seen as the animals’ equivalent of the socialist hymn, the “Internationale”.

When Old Major dies three days later, the revolution takes place and Mr Jones is driven out. The leaders of the revolt are two younger pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, who represent Stalin and Trotsky respectively. They immediately assume leadership of the animals and state the principles by which the farm, now renamed Animal Farm, will be run in future. These, the “Seven Commandments”, are written on the side of the barn:

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.

This is the pure form of “Animalism” (or Communism) to which every animal willingly subscribes, at least to start with. As most of the animals are unable to read, these principles are soon reduced to the mantra “Four legs good, two legs bad”.

The “common man” is represented by Boxer, a carthorse who does not have the brains to work things out for himself but is incredibly hard-working and loyal to Napoleon, whom he trusts to always do the right thing.

At first things run smoothly, with plenty of food for everyone, thanks mainly to the hard work of the animals, under Snowball’s leadership, in bringing in the first harvest. Snowball also attempts to improve the level of education on the farm by teaching the animals to read and write.

However, the pigs soon become the elite, and extra food supplies are diverted in their direction. Napoleon trains the pups of the farm dogs to become his personal guard, or secret police, with the emphasis on viciousness.

Mr Jones, aided by his farmhands, makes an attempt to retake the farm (the equivalent of the Russian Civil War in which Tsarist, anti-Communist and international forces attempted to defeat the Bolsheviks) but is repulsed at the “Battle of the Cowshed”. After this, he makes no further attempts to return.

Snowball believes that the farm will prosper if the animals are able to build a windmill to generate electricity, but Napoleon objects to the idea. The disagreement between Snowball and Napoleon turns violent and results in Napoleon setting his attack dogs on Snowball and chasing him off the farm, just as Stalin had Trotsky exiled from Russia.

Now that his leadership is unquestioned, Napoleon makes some changes around the farm, including removing all vestiges of democracy, such as the regular general meetings of the farm animals. Instead, a committee of pigs will make all the decisions.

Napoleon is now in full favour of building the windmill, claiming that, all along, it was his idea which Snowball stole. This of course means that the farm animals will have to work harder still, none more so than the ever-loyal Boxer.

However, the unfinished windmill is blown down in a storm, at which Napoleon takes the opportunity to blame the absent Snowball, although the neighbouring (human) farmers point out that, under Napoleon’s management, the windmill had been built with too-thin walls.

Napoleon and his mouthpiece Squealer (equivalent to Molotov) now institute a purge of animals who express any sympathy with Snowball.

Now that the pigs are firmly in control, life is made increasingly difficult for the other animals. Changes are made to the Seven Commandments, so that, for example, “No animal shall sleep in a bed” has the words “with sheets” tacked on to the end, thus justifying the breaking of the original rule by the pigs, who are now living in Mr Jones’s farmhouse (and drinking his whisky). The old anthem “Beasts of England” is banned and replaced by “Comrade Napoleon”, which praises Napoleon to the hilt for all the benefits he has showered upon the animals, those benefits being explained by statistics invented by Squealer, who also justifies the luxurious lifestyle that the pigs are now leading.

A neighbouring farmer, Mr Frederick, attempts to trade with Napoleon for wood but swindles him, then invades the farm and attacks the windmill, which is being restored. The “Battle of the Windmill” is won by the animals, but at great cost. Mr Frederick is clearly the equivalent of Adolf Hitler, who had at one time entered an alliance with Stalin but then invaded Russia. There is even a reference to the Holocaust, in that Mr Frederick is believed to have thrown his own dogs into a furnace.

One of the casualties of the Battle of the Windmill is Boxer, who is wounded and later collapses when, once again, working to repair the windmill. Napoleon sends for a van to have Boxer taken to the vet, but one of the donkeys, who is able to read, notices that the van is labelled “Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler". The animals are unable to rescue Boxer, but Napoleon claims that the vet had recently bought the van and not had time to repaint it. In all events, Boxer is never seen again but the pigs are suddenly able to afford to buy more whisky.

As time passes, the pigs under Napoleon disown every one of their previous principles, to the extent that they now walk on two legs and wear clothes, as well as having already slept in beds, drunk alcohol, and killed their opponents. The Seven Commandments are reduced to one, suitably amended, that reads: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”.

At the end of “Animal Farm” the pigs invite the neighbouring farmers to a dinner party, at which the human farmers congratulate the pigs on how well they are running things, for example by giving the animals as little food as they can possibly get away with. Napoleon plays poker with Mr Pilkington (who represents the capitalist west) and both appear to have the Ace of Spades. Somebody is clearly cheating, but it really doesn’t matter who it is because, as the other animals peering through the window discover to their horror, it is now impossible to distinguish pigs from humans as they all look exactly the same.

Orwell’s book is a brilliant satire not just of Communism under Stalin but of all dictatorships that pretend to be one thing and turn out to be completely different. It is therefore a precursor to his “1984” in which hypocrisy, double-dealing and the abuse of power are projected into the future.

© John Welford