Animal Farm - Analysis

Chapter 10:

Chapter ten tells the story of Animal Farm many years after the events of chapter nine. Most of the animals in the first chapters were now dead, except for Clover, who is now very old, and the donkey, Benjamin. In this last chapter the pigs start wearing clothes, and walking on their hind legs. At this point it can be noticed that the pigs have gone against all of the commandments they originally came up with. Instead, they replaced them with two maxims. FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BETTER, and ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. These two slogans definitely show the level of corruption in Animal Farm, now called The Manor Farm. In the final segment of the chapter, the animals, while spying on the pigs and the humans, notice that they can no more tell the difference between them; which is a metaphor referring to how power has corrupted the original revolutionaries, making them into a copy of what they once intended to get rid of.

Chapter 9:

Chapter nine is by far one of the saddest chapters in the book. In this chapter, Boxer, the beloved horse, dies. While he is helping build the windmill, Boxer falls to the ground and is unable to move. The pigs call in for an "ambulance" for him, but they actually send him to the knacker's. Boxer is an allegory of the faithful, yet dim-witted people that were on Stalin's side, but ended up being betrayed by the Stalinists.

In this chapter we also see Moses' comeback. Moses represents the Orthodox Church. Because of World War II, many soviets needed a  source of inspiration and comfort, which was the church. Although Stalin did not like it, he let the church stay on the USSR because he knew that people needed it. In the book, Napoleon lets Moses stay on the farm because he gives the other animals hope.

Chapter 8:

In chapter eight, one of the most important scenes develop: The Battle of the Windmill. The animals are faced with yet another invasion from humans, and under Napoleon's command, they fight against them in a long and violent battle. In the end, the animals win, however this can be defined as nothing more than a pyrrhic victory; a victory with such devastating cost that the heavy toll or the detrimental outcomes negate any sense of achievement. The terrible consequences of this battle were, besides the destruction of the windmill, a great death toll, and a good deal of injured animals; the animals don't feel they have won, since the farm was already theirs. Or, as Boxer simply puts it, "We have won back what we had before." The Battle of the Windmill represents an allegory of the Battle of Stalingrad (now called Volgograd), which was one of the most damaging battles fought in World War II. That battle, along with the Battle of Moscow, were won by the USSR however, they were won at a great cost; thousands of soldiers and civilians died, and important military centres were destroyed. 

Later in the chapter, the pigs discover alcohol. Napoleon, and the pigs drink whiskey, and start acting strange. Napoleon apparently drank more than the rest of the pigs, so the animals, very confusedly mistook the symptoms of a hungover, and thought Napoleon was dying. Napoleon, of course, did not die, and once he was able to work again, he instructed Squealer to change the fifth command from "No animal shall drink alcohol." to "No animal shall drink alcohol in excess." This furthermore represents the increasing corruption, and control that the pigs, especially Napoleon, have over the truth; changing this commandment (thus making the animals believe they read the original statement wrong) is an example of how, in the story, George Orwell's maxim "He who controls the past, controls the present. He who controls the past, controls the future." is shown to be true.

Chapter 7:

Chapter seven is the most gruesome and bloody of all. In this chapter, Napoleon carries out terrible executions against certain animals who claimed to have conspired against Napoleon's rule. This executions resemble the Great Purge, a communist movement that trapped certain groups of people (such as LGBT groups, prostitutes, afro-russian people, catholics, etc) and sent them to prison.

The animals continue to rebuild the windmill, but they are faced by various difficulties. This represents one of the Pyatiletka, or the Five-Year Plans for the National Economy, which were a series of plans that Stalin came up with to promote economic development. This plans were all unsuccessful, as the plans to build the windmill are unsuccessful too.

Chapter 6:

With Snowball out of the way, Napoleon lead Animal Farm on his own, taking full control of everything in the farm. Using Squealer as his spokesperson, he makes the animals believe in everything he says. The animals start the construction of the windmill, which was originally Snowball's idea. However, the windmill falls down after a storm. Napoleon, and the pigs, blame Snowball. 

In this chapter, the character of Napoleon takes over the farm, which can be compared to when Stalin took over the control of the USSR after a long feud with Trotsky. Stalin slowly, but steadily, started to get full control of the USSR, just as Napoleon started to get full control of Animal Farm. Napoleon's govern slowly starts to resemble a totalitarianism, with Napoleon having complete and utter power.

Chapter 5:

Chapter V is much longer than the other chapters, and a lot happens in it. First of all, some tension builds up around the character of Mollie, as she is seen by Clover talking to a human, and after she is confronted bout it she escapes. Mollie is an allegory of the aristocratic and rich people that lived in Russia before the Revolution. They were usually of noble ancestry, with some sort of connection to the Tsar. After the Revolution, many of them sided with Lenin, though it was only because they felt threatened by him and the revolutionary movement, and shortly after the Revolution took place, most of them fled to England, and France. Mollie does the same, as she flees the farm, deciding to live with humans, rather than without them.

In chapter V, another very important event happens: Napoleon throws Snowball out of the farm. Snowball had been working with the other animals to build a windmill which, he said, would make the production faster and easier. Napoleon disagreed, but most people in the farm had sided with Snowball. Then, Napoleon uses the puppies (which were now almost fully grown) he stole at the beginning of the Revolution to attack Snowball, who flees the farm quickly. Later on, Squealer talks to the other animals, and convinces them that Snowball was a bad influence, and Napoleon should be in charge.

As previously stated, Napoleon is a character that represents Yosef Stalin, while Snowball represents Leon Trotsky. Both of these real-life characters had a feud, after which Stalin threw Trotsky out of Russia, and later killed him, in order to have the power. Squealer is a character based in two historical figures: Vyacheslav Molotov, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Stalin, and Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda for Adolf Hitler. Although this novel is an allegory of communist Russia, the character of Squealer draws many traits that were present in Goebbels, who was responsible of the political propaganda for the Third Reich. Goebbels alone used his tactics to convince the German people that war was needed to restore their country’s honour. Goebbels was also known for his hate of capitalism, or in the novel, humans; he was also known for his loyalty and devotion towards Hitler, as Squealer is loyal to Napoleon.

Chapter 4:

In chapter four, there is a major battle, christened The Battle of the Cowshed,  in which the animals defend their farm against Mr. Jones and his allies, who were trying to regain control over the animals. They are ambushed and ridden away by the animals in the farm which, guided by Snowball, executed a mastermind strategy to remain in control of their territory. This event is an allegory of the Kronstadt rebellion of 1921, one of the major revolts against the Bolshevik rule in early Communist Russia. This riot was unsuccessful, and it only served to boost Lenin's and his allies' belief in communism (just as mirrored in this chapter).

Chapter 3:

In chapter three, the animals start organizing themselves under Snowball's and Napoleon's supervision. They instruct the animals (especially Snowball) on reading and writing, as well as organizing the work-hours and chores of each of the animals. In this chapter we can start comparing certain characters for real-life people. Snowball, for example, can be regarded as a "counterpart" to Vladimir Lenin or Leon Trotski (leader and founder of the Red Army, and member of the Politburo), following Major's ideals (a representation of Karl Marx's ideals). The flag described in the novel, namely "[a] green tablecloth... [which] had painted on it a hoof and a horn in white.". This description of the banner, greatly resembles the Russian flag, which has a hammer and sickle.

Chapter 2:

In chapter two, the animals start spreading word of Major's ideals (who had deceased by he first few lines of the chapter). Although they encounter some disbelief from certain animals, most of the farm was convinced that animal-power over human was the right ideology. Throughout the chapter, the animals start an attack on the humans because of their hunger (the farmer had forgotten to feed them), taking over the farm. This works as an allegory of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, as the first attack against humans, representing the attack against the Russian absolutist monarchy. At the end of the chapter, however, as the animals start distributing the food, the ones that took an active part on the mutiny/revolution kept more food than the others, therefore the corruption started to show in the farm. This can be directly associated with Communist Russia, as the citizens of this country lived in utter poverty, while the political leaders benefited from them.

Chapter 1:

In chapter one, we are introduced to all the characters from the farm. The oldest, and "cleverest" of them, old Major, gives a speech to the other animals, telling them that they should have the same rights as humans, and therefore should not be treated as slaves. At the end of the chapter, many of the animals in the farm concur with Major. This event mirrors one of the many political speeches that Vladimir Lenin gave as leader of the Socialist-Democratic Party (Russian Communist Party), which tried to convince the working class to fight for their rights and overthrow the Czar (just as Major encourages the animals to fight for their rights, and overthrow the farm's owner). All this events later led to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, which established Communist Russia.