Animal Farm

Themes

Jenni

YouLearn

Totalitarianism and Corruption:

The novel illustrates how revolutions, even those with noble intentions, can degenerate into oppressive regimes. The pigs, particularly Napoleon, gradually seize power, exploit the other animals, and establish a totalitarian state.

Corruption of Power:

The pigs gradually adopt human behaviors, moving into the farmhouse and sleeping in beds. Napoleon becomes increasingly authoritarian, using dogs for protection and rarely appearing in public. The pigs eventually start wearing human clothes and walking on two legs, completely betraying their original principles

Propaganda and Manipulation:

The pigs, especially Squealer, use propaganda to control information, manipulate the animals' perception of reality, and justify their actions. They twist language, create false narratives, and suppress dissent.

Manipulation and Propaganda:

Squealer acts as the propaganda machine, capable of "turning black into white" through his persuasive speaking. The pigs rewrite history and manipulate memories, convincing animals that their recollections of rules against trade and living in houses are false

Social Class and Inequality:

Despite the initial goal of equality, the novel depicts how social hierarchies reemerge. The pigs become the ruling class, enjoying privileges while the other animals toil under their control.

Class and Inequality:

Despite the initial promise of equality, a new hierarchy emerges with the pigs at the top. The animals work hard while their leaders enjoy privileges, showing how "some animals are more equal than others"

Hope and Disillusionment:

The animals' initial hope for a better future under Animalism contrasts sharply with their eventual disillusionment as the pigs' tyranny takes hold.

Revolution and Its Betrayal:

The initial rebellion is driven by idealistic principles and hope for a better life. Over time, the revolutionary ideals are corrupted as the new leaders become similar to those they replace

The Abuse of Power:

Animal Farm serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked power. The pigs' gradual transformation from liberators to oppressors highlights how power corrupts.

Fear and Control:

Napoleon maintains control through fear, using fierce dogs as guards. Animals who oppose the leadership face death threats, as seen when animals are threatened with death for helping the rebellious hens

Characters

Old Major	Old boar whose visions of the future for the animals inspires the rebellion. Old major is principled. He lays down clear rules for the other animals to follow. Represent Lenin, the communist leader of the revolution who became leader of Russia after the revolution but died after only 7 years in charge. Majors speech echoes famous socialist Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto which criticises capitalism. Marx believed that capitalism was flawed, because rich business-owners profited from the labour of the working classes, who received very little for that profit. Marx’s work inspired Lenin’s leadership style/qualities.
Napoleon	Fierce boar who becomes the leader of the farm. Napoleons desire for power turns him into a corrupt leader. He is intelligent a cunning, able to manipulate the other animals and build power for himself. Represents Stalin who became leader of Russia after Lenin’s death. He outmanoeuvred his opponents and killed millions of his people.
Snowball	Brave cleaver pig who leads the animals to victory in the Battle of the Cowshed. Snowball is idealistic and struggles to engage the other animals. Napoleon sees snowball as a threat to his leadership and chases him of the farm. Represent Trotsky who was the leader of he communist red party, Stalin outplayed him and he was deported, wen into hiding in Mexico and was killed by one of Stalin’s agents with an ice axe.
Squealer	Napoleon’s right-hand man. Squealer is a very persuasive speaker. He takes charge o propaganda and uses his skills to manipulate the truth. represents the PRAVDA (‘truth’) which was the communist newspaper which was only able to print news form the communist party HQ.
Boxer	Hard working horse who tries his best for the farm. Boxer isn’t very clever and he trusts napoleon completely. His solution to problems on the farm is to work harder.
Mollie	Pretty but vain horse. Mollie doesn’t have much interest in the rebellion . She’s more interested in her ribbons and sugar cubes, which are banned under animalism. Represent the bourgeoisie which was the middle class people who owned businesses or land, many left Russia after the revolution to move to the west so they didn’t have to live under communism.
Dogs	Represent the secret police which was set up by Lenin but use extensively by Stalin to uncover evidence of people plotting against him.
Benjamin	Cynical donkey. Benjamin deliberately works no harder than he needs to. He’s intelligent but chooses not to use his knowledge to stop Napoleon and the pig’s rise to power.
Clover	Kind, maternal horse. Clover looks after the other animals on the farm. She isn’t very clever and is a loyal follower of animalism, so she’s manipulated easily by the pigs.
Moses	Raven who tells animals about a place called ‘Sugar candy Mountain’. The story gives the animals hope for a better afterlife. The pigs disagree with Moses, but let him stay on the farm because his story helps distract the animals from their situation. Represents the church which was powerful before the revolution . The communist were atheist and banned the church thought many people still worshipped in secret.
Hens	The hens rebel against the pigs, but fail and then become obedient.
Sheep	A mindless flock which spread propaganda for the pigs.
Mr Jones	The original owner of the Manor farm. He is a cruel drunkard who doesn’t look after his animals- as a result, they rebel against him and chase him off the farm. Represents Tsar Nicholas II who was the emperor of Russia. He abdicated after the 1917 revolution when his palace was stormed, was later murdered with his entire family.
Frederick (Pinch field farm)	The owner of a small well-kept farm. He is dishonest and is rumoured to treat his animals cruelly. Represent Hitler (Germany) Signed Non-Aggression pact with Stalin in 1939, 2 years later he turned against Russia and invaded. Germany was eventually defeated by Russia and the allies in 1945.
Pilkington (Foxwood farm)	An old-fashioned farmer. His farm is shabby and neglected. Represents Churchill (Britain) Allied with Russia from 1941 and at the end of the war Churchill and Stalin met to discuss the partition of Germany.
Whymper	A solicitor who helps Napoleon engage in trade with other humans. He only works with the animals for their money.

Chapter review

Chapter 1

Social class - while gathered in the barn the pigs the best spot suggesting they think they are superior already showing inequality between the animals.
OLD MAJOR’S SPEECH - sows seed of rebellion and sets the plot in motion
‘ All men are enemies. All animals are comrades. ’ - fundamentals of old major’s beliefs, suggests humanity is the only enemy animals need to worry about
Power - all animals have a say in deciding whether wild creatures are considered comrades but as the cat votes for both shows that democracy can be manipulated
Power - pig’s intelligence hints at the power that shall come with it.

Chapter 2

Education - pig’ intelligence is initially seen as a positive thing as they can lead preparations for the rebellion
‘ ‘‘Comrade,’’ said Snowball, ‘‘those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons?’’ ‘ - animalism is about animal freedom, denying Mollies freedom to wear ribbons is hypocritical
Education - Boxer and Clover spread the pig’s teachings without question, this becomes problematic later.
KICKED OUT JONES POWER - animals remove Jones from the farm and secure their freedom.
Education and Social class - pig’s teaching themselves to read gives them an advantage over the others increasing their power and status.
THE SEVEN COMANDMENTS - principles of animalism turned into rules by the pigs, pigs are acting as authority and that they are in charge.
‘‘ Never mind the milk, comrades!’’ - first time Napoleon speaks in novella, later he aims to distract the animals to steal the milk, reader’s first insight to his selfishness

Chapter 3

Power - Although there is still is a democracy, the pigs ultimately control what happens on the farm due to there intelligence
‘‘ Four legs good, two legs bad.’’ - this statement aims to simplify animalism for the less intelligent animals. However, its purpose and meaning is manipulated later in the story.
Power - napoleon recognises that the young are easier to influence and that having them on his side will provide him with greater power in the future.
THE MILK ANS APPLES - clearest incident yet of the pigs abusing their owner and is the first time squealer’s propaganda is used to influence the animals, the pigs aren’t acting in the animals’ best interests.
Propaganda - used to persuade the animals that the pigs are taking the milk and apples to benefit the farm

Chapter 4

Propaganda - Fred and Pilk spread rumours to discourage their own animals from rebelling, this reflects the fears of world leaders who worried their people might rebel like the Russians.
THE BATTLE OF THE COWSHED - shows the animals can overcome the humans when they work together, shows animalism at its most successful, represents the civil war in Russia between Bolsheviks and those loyal to the Tsar, Bolsheviks lead by Trotsky won
‘‘War is war. The only good human being is a dead one.’’ - snowball’s desire for animal freedom makes him cold-hearted and violent
Social class - medals establish an inequality amongst the animals, snowball and boxer are seen to be a higher class of animal
Power - the gun, which symbolises power and control, is now in the possession of the animals rather than humans.

Chapter 5

Power - Napoleon is compare to Jones which suggests he is also corrupt
SNOWBALL KICKED OUT - napoleon has taken full control and Animal farm is no longer a democracy
Power - napoleon takes away the animals freedom of speech, without this they have now power
‘Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments.’ - lack of intelligence means they are unable to speak out against napoleon
Propaganda - squealer makes i sound like napoleon is doing the animals a favour, even though he is taking away their rights and power. this encourages the animals to feel sympathy for napoleon instead of anger
‘‘Napoleon is always right,’’ - boxer spreads propaganda on behalf of the pigs, due to his lack of education doesn't know he’s been brainwashed
Propaganda - squealer takes actual events and finds a way to present them to fit napoleons purpose, doesn’t contradict what the animals have seen making th lies more believable

Chapter 6

PIGS INTERACT WITH HUMANS - marks the beginning of the boundaries between pigs and humans becoming blurred
Propaganda - pigs link anything disagreeable to Snowball who is presented as the enemy of Animal farm and implies to animals that anyone who disagrees with Napoleon is evil
Education - animals’ inability to record events makes it easy for the pigs to manipulate their memory
Power - Napoleon now has the title ‘Leader’ instead of ‘Comrade’ setting him apart as superior to the other animals
Social class - pigs see the animal homes as inferior to human homes
PIGS TWEAK WORDS IN THE COMMANDMENTS - they do this to fit their needs, the commandments are seen as an ‘‘unalterable law’’ pg16 so animals believe them
Propaganda - snowball is made as a scapegoat for napoleon’s failures, unties animals against Snowball instead of Napoleon.

Chapter 7

Propaganda - used to deceive the humans and the animals by making them think they had more food than what they actually had
HENS REBELLING - the closest the animals have come to rebelling against napoleon so far, it is short-lived being described in one paragraph, shows napoleons power as he can stop the rebellion quickly without much fuss
Propaganda - against snowball is so successful that the animals believe he is responsible for any bad thing on the farm, even when it is clearly not him
Education - Squealer suggests it’s Boxers fault he doesn’t understand because he cant read aiming to make the less intelligent animals feel stupid and less powerful
Propaganda - napoleons control is growing as he can change their memories of significant events using propaganda
ATTEMPT AT ATACKING BOXER - napoleon let the dog live implying that he ordered the attack on boxer and that the dogs weren’t attacking on their own accord, boxer is no longer in napoleons favour foreshadowing his downfall, shows napoleons ruthlessness as he will turn on even his most loyal followers as soon as they disagree with him, paranoia
THE PURGES - animals keep confessing despite them getting killed showing how brainwashed they are, suddenness and scale of the killings shows napoleons ruthlessness and cruelty of his regime
‘There was no thought of rebellion or disobedience in her mind’ - after seeing her friends killed Clover still has no intention to rebel, highlights the extent of the brainwashing the animals have received
Power - Beasts of England was a song about the animals dream of freedom from work and tyranny, banning it ensures the song wont be used against Napoleon

Chapter 8

Power - animals are encouraged to see napoleons birthday as an event that is as significant as the animal’s victory over the humans
Propaganda - animals have been influenced into crediting napoleon for things he has no control over, spreading propaganda on their own accord
Propaganda - poem is a visual reminder to the animals of napoleons importance as if his glory is just as important as the rules of animalism
Propaganda - rumours are similar to the ones the humans spread about animal farm when it was first formed, pigs are using the same tactics as the humans, becoming increasingly similar to them
Propaganda - changed the animals’ views of Snowball from a hero to a coward
Social class - juxtaposition of napoleon’s minor wound with the list of dead animals highlights the inequality between the animals, lower class animals are on the front lines dying while the ruler stays at the rear barely getting hurt
WINDMILL IS DESTROYED - complete destruction of the windmill symbolises the end of the animal’s hopes for a better life under animalism

Chapter 9

“Jones and all he stood for had almost faded out of their memories“ - hard for animals to compare what it is like now so they assume things must be better
Power - napoleon fathering so many pigs almost guarantees that the power of animal farm will remain in his family for a long time
Education and social class - young pigs get access to education and are separated from other animals widening the intelligence gap between classes for next generation making control easier for the pigs
Social class - pigs are openly treated as higher class animals now
Power - pigs have many newborns where hens struggle to increase numbers leading to greater proportion of pigs on the farm meaning control is easier to maintain
Propaganda - no justification for the pigs drinking beer, so powerful that then no longer ger feel the need to pretend they're following the rules of Animalism
Propaganda - parades are successful as they make the animals feel like they are working for their own benefit when the pigs are profiting
Propaganda - animals memories on the battle of the battle of the cowshed have been changed completely over the course of the novella, manipulation can happen slowly without anyone noticing
BOXER IS SENT AWAY TO DIE - one of the most loyal animals yet the pigs send him to the slaughterhouse as soon as be is unable to work, emphasises how little the pigs care about the animals no matter how hard working and loyal they are
Propaganda - animals believe squealers lies possibly because it is easier to accept that boxer died happy than to face the truth
Propaganda - napoleon exploits boxers death as an opportunity to encourage the other animals to be as obedient and loyal as he was

Chapter 10

Social class - many animals have either died or deteriorated the pigs have gained weight, gap between Social classes has grown
Education - new animals are unintelligent, less likely to realise the pigs are taking advantage of them or challenge their authority
Propaganda - nothing to compare squealer’s lies to, the animals situation seems unlikely to ever change for the better
“Four legs good, two legs better” - similar sounding to old chant but promotes the opposite of what Animalism stands for
“ALL ANIMALS ATE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS” - doesn't make sense and shows how much napoleon has corrupted language
ANIMALS FULLY ACT LIKE HUMANS - rebellion has come full circle, pig have become like humans in physical appearance and attitude, animals have gone back to being oppressed
Power - when first gained control napoleon was quick to stamp out challenges to his rule, now he doesn’t notice the animals at all, isn’t worried about being caught in his corruption, shows how secure his power is
“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.” - pigs becoming indistinguishable from the humans show that life fot the animals is no better after the rebellion