Animal Farm Chapter Notes

Animal Farm – Chapter Notes

Chapter 1
Mr. Jones – Owner of Manor Farm – alcoholic
Old Major – Prize Middle White Boar – calls a meeting – animals come because he is highly regarded by the other animals
The animals come to meeting in following order: dogs: Bluebell, Jessie, Pincher, pigs, hens, pigeons, sheep and cows, two horses – Boxer and Clover, Muriel – white goat and Benjamin – old Donkey, ducklings Mollie, and then the Cat. All except for Moses the Raven
Old Major explains he is dying, the cruelty and inequality from the humans, how they don’t know happiness – live miserable, laborious, and short lives, and how man is evil, and his dream of the Rebellion
Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove man and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever
Teaches them Beasts of England – a song for the animals about the freedom they will have
***Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs or has wings is a friend. And when fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble him. No animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or some tobacco, or tough money, or engage in trade. All habits of man are evil. ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
Chapter 2
Old Major – dies
The pigs – Snowball and Napoleon – take charge and prepare for the Rebellion. Came up with the term Animalism to describe Old Major’s teachings. Most faithful to Animalism were Boxer and Clover
Rebellion had come soon – Mr. Jones lost money in court case so resorted to Drinking. One day went to Red Lion in Willingdon on Saturday didn’t come back till Sunday. The other workers milked the cows then went rabbiting, didn’t feed the animals - Animals chased Jones and his men out onto the road and closed the gate. Destroyed everything that reminded them of Jones. Napoleon then served a double ration of corn to everybody, with two biscuits for each dog
Farmhouse – preserved as a museum
Snowball and Napoleon called a meeting – tells them they taught themselves to read and write. Painted over Manor Farm to Animal Farm
Created Seven Commandments from Animalism: (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
Milk situation – Cows weren’t milked, pigs milk them, then Napoleon tells the animals that he will take care of the milk and to follow Snowball to the harvest… Milk disappeared
Chapter 3
With Jones gone the animals had to finish harvest on their own. Pigs did no work at all just directed and supervised the others
Boxer and Clover would harness themselves to the cutter of the horse rake and the pigs would walk behind them yelling Gee, up comrade! All animals did their part – took two days less to finish the harvest then Jones and his men
Boxer adopted motto “I will work harder” admiration of all animals pg.18
Mollie and the cat did no work – first to show up at meal times. Old Benjamin unaffected
No work on Sundays – ceremony – hoisting of flag – green – represent the green fields of England – hoof and horn signified the future Republic of the Animals which would arise when the human race had been finally overthrown.
Napoleon and Snowball can never agree – at Meetings -ended in Beasts of England – created Animal Committees – Egg Production Committee for the hens, Clean Tails League for the cows, the Wild Comrades’ Re-education Committee to tame the rats and rabbits, Whiter Wool movement for the Sheep – on the whole projects failure
Reading and writing classes started – success to some degree every animal was literate. Dogs could read fairly well, Muriel could read better, Benjamin could read as well as the pigs but never exercised his faculty, Clover learned whole alphabet but couldn’t put words together, Boxer couldn’t go beyond the letter D, Mollie only learned the five letters that spelt her name.
Seven Commandments reduced to “Four legs good, two legs bad”
Napoleon disagreed in Snowball’s committees- felt that young education was more important than anything – took Jessie and Bluebell’s nine puppies and took them to the loft of the harness room with seclusion from the rest of the farm
Mystery of the milk – mixed into the pigs mash, apples ripening – animals thought it would be distributed equally – however it was for the pigs only – Squealer convinces them that it was because they are the brainworkers and if they do not have them Mr. Jones will come back
Chapter 4
News of what happened on Animal Farm has spread across half the country – Snowball and Napoleon sent out flights of pigeons to share stories of Rebellion and teach them tune of Beasts of England
Mr. Jones complained at Red Lion in WIllingdon about the takeover on his farm
Foxwood – Pilkington and Pinchfield – Frederick both frightened over the Rebellion on Animal farm. Human beings were in rage when hearing Beasts of England, secretly trembled in it a prophecy of their future doom
October – Jones and all his men, and half a dozen others from Foxwood and Pinchfield entered Animal farm with sticks and guns
Snowball lead the attack sending 35 pigeons over the men’s heads dropping their “dung” on the human, geese rushed out from hedge and pecked at the calves of their legs. Then Muriel, Benjamin and all the sheep lead by Snowball rushed forward at the humans butting and prodding the men. Squealer called off retreat as a trick, then took three horses, the three cows and the rest of the pigs from the cowshed and charged at the humans. Men rushed out of the yard. Boxer had hit someone with a hoof thought he was dead – upset at the fact. Mollie missing – hiding in stall
Animals created a military decoration “Animal Hero, First Class and Animal Hero, Second Class
Name Battle – Battle of the Cowshed – found Mr. Jones’s gun and set the gun up at the foot of the flagstaff where it would be fired twice a year - twice on October 12th and once on Midsummer Day
Chapter 5
Mollie not showing up for work on time – Clover claims she saw a human stroking her nose – Talks with Mollie – Mollie denies it and gives her word
Clover went to her stall and flipped over the straw and found a pile of lump sugar and several bunches of ribbon of different colours
Three days later, pigeons saw her in front of a public house where a man was stroking her nose and feeding her sugar
Snowball and Napoleon still disagreeing
Snowball looks through Jones’s book Farmer and Stock Breeder and comes up with an idea to build a windmill for the electricity – light the stalls, and warm them in the winter, and would also run a circular saw, a chaff-cutter, and mangel-slicer and an electronic milking machine
Drew the plans on the ground in the shed – Napoleon urinated on them
Vote over the Windmill at meeting – nine dogs come in chased Snowball out of farm , all animals frightened, Napoleon takes complete charge and explains that their will be no more Sunday meetings – snowball is criminal Squealer tells the animals
Boxer adopts motto Napoleon is always right
Napoleon announces Windmill will be built after all – tells the animals it was his idea the whole time
Chapter 6
Animals now worked a sixty-hour week and on Sunday afternoons – voluntary – however if they didn’t rations would be deducted
Windmill problems – stones too big dragged them to the top of the quarry then dropped them, slow and laborious
Boxer woke up three-quarters of an hour earlier now instead of half an hour
Napoleon introduces a new policy – Animal Farm would engage in trade with the neighbouring farms not for commercial purpose but to obtain the necessary materials – hens would have to sacrifice the eggs for sale
Mr. Whymper – mediary between Animal Farm and the Outside World
Napoleon starting to sleep in beds – clover remembers the commandment and asked Muriel what the Fourth Commandment was which read No animal shall sleep in a beds with sheets
Windmill breaks because of Wind – Napoleon blames it on Snowball – Napoleon exclaims they must rebuild the windmill to teach the traitor that he cannot undo their work