1. The Seven Commandments
1.1. 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
1.1.1. How it changes by the end: 1. Four legs good, two legs better • Napoleon begins to trade with humans. • Squealer walks on hind legs. • Humans visit Animal Farm.
1.2. 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
1.2.1. How it changes by the end: • Dogs attack Snowball • Dogs attack Boxer (even though Napoleon did not order them to but they got easily out of control.)
1.3. 3. No animal shall wear clothes.
1.3.1. How it changes: • Napoleon puts on Mr Jones hat. • Pigs put green ribbons on their tails on Sundays reminding us of Mollie. • Dogs wear collars.
1.4. 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
1.4.1. How it changes: 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets. • Pigs sleep in the farmhouse bed with blankets, which is still a human action.
1.5. 5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
1.5.1. How it changes: 5. No animal shall drink alcohol to excess. • Pigs drink beer and whisky.
1.6. 6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
1.6.1. How it changes:6. No animal shall kill another animal without cause. • Pigs send Boxer to his death Napoleon kills many in the Great Purges
1.7. 7. All animals are equal.
1.7.1. 7. All animals are equal and some are more equal than others. • This was always a problem as the pigs were more intelligent thus the inequality immediately arose. • This is the only commandment that is left • Pigs take milk and apples • Pigs get up and an hour later • Rations later reduced except for pigs and dogs.
2. Humans
2.1. Mr. Jones
2.1.1. Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov, the last tsar of Russia.
2.1.1.1. Both Mr. Jones and the Tsar were disliked for their incompetence. Just as Mr. Jones was overthrow by the pigs and the other animals, Nicholas was overthrown by the Bolsheviks. The fact that Jones re-appears to lead the Battle of Cowshed is a sign that he is not only a symbol for Nicholas II but for the Russian old guard at large. Nicholas II died before the Russian Civil War began, but many of those who fought against the Bolsheviks in the White Army would have been relatively sympathetic to the old tsar.
2.2. Mrs. Jones
2.2.1. Alexandra Romanov, Tsar's wife
2.2.1.1. Same as Mr. Jones
2.3. Mr. Frederick
2.3.1. Hitler, Chancellor of Germany
2.3.1.1. Initially, Frederick, like Pilkington, is worried about the Rebellion on Mr. Jones’s farm. He suspects that such revolutionary ideas may spread to his own animals. Napoleon changes things though. He has a pile of timber that he needs to sell, and after promising it to Pilkington, he suddenly switches and decides to sell it to Frederick. He has Squealer explain that he was playing the two farmers off against one another in order to drive up the price of the timber. But it turns out that Frederick has a trick up his sleeve and got the wood for free. This is an allusion to the broken non-aggression pact that Stalin signed with Hitler in 1941. The pact allowed Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany – which had been bitter enemies up to that time – to divide Eastern Europe between themselves. But the Nazi-Soviet agreement didn't last. Just like Mr. Frederick, Hitler broke the pact.
2.4. Mr. Whymper
2.4.1. Capitalists who did business with the Slavic state
2.4.1.1. Whymper is an allusion to all those Westerners that catered to Soviet interests and helped spread the Soviet myth. As the harvests begin to shrink on Animal Farm, Napoleon uses Whymper to spread rumours that all is still going well. Similarly, Whymper conveniently hears nothing when Napoleon squashes out the Hens’ Rebellion by starving several of the hens.
2.5. Mr. Pilkington
2.5.1. Composite of all the leaders of England
2.5.1.1. He is on bad terms with the other neighbour, Mr. Frederick; This makes much more sense when you realize that Mr. Pilkington is a symbol for the West – both the United States and the United Kingdom – and the neighbour he quarrels with is a stand-in for Germany.
3. Horses
3.1. Boxer
3.1.1. the Working Class
3.1.1.1. Why? Boxer has a very strong work ethic, often saying "I will work harder." He has an undying loyalty to Napoleon and it quite simpleminded. Boxer is meant to stand for the Russian proletariat, the powerful but often simple-minded working class. Through characters like Boxer, it is clear that the narrator has little respect for the average working man’s intelligence and sees him as a pawn of the Soviet regime.
3.2. Mollie
3.2.1. Upper Class
3.2.1.1. Why? Mollie was always pampered by Mr. Jones just as the Upper Class of Russia were pampered by the Romanov monarchs. After the revolution, Mollie complains about not having sugar cubes or ribbons that Mr. Jones had once given her. By the end, she has already left to live with other humans.
3.3. Clover
3.3.1. Female Working Class
3.3.1.1. Same as Boxer
4. Dogs
4.1. The Army, the "Dogs of War"
4.2. Puppies
4.2.1. Stalin's secret police/ bodyguards (NKVD)
4.2.1.1. Why? Napoleon steals the puppies when they are first born and keeps them hidden from everyone else. Later he brings them out and they are full grown and completely brainwashed to follow Napoleon.
5. Birds
5.1. Pigeons
5.1.1. Comintern
5.1.1.1. Why? The pigeons fly out each day and spread word about Animalism just as Comintern did about Communism
5.2. Cockerels
5.2.1. Stalin's bodyguards/announcer
5.2.1.1. Why? Napoleon has one who marched in front of him and acted as a kind of trumpeter just as Stalin had many bodyguards/announcers.
5.3. Black Minorca Pullets
5.3.1. Ukranian Leaders of revolution
5.3.1.1. Why? The leaders of the Hen's resistance who made a determined effort to thwart Napoleon's wishes. Like the Ukrainian peasant leaders during the Ukrainian resistance.
5.4. Moses, the Raven
5.4.1. Russian Orthodox Church
5.4.1.1. Why? Moses was Mr. Jones's pet who fled the farm shortly after the revolution but eventually returned but didn't work at all. The Russian Orthodox Church had been overly present during the tsarist regime, it was the tsar's 'pet'. After the revolution, it not allowed and only returned near the end of Stalin's reign but with little power or influence.
5.5. Hens
5.5.1. Peasant Farmers/Ukranian Peasants
5.5.1.1. Why? Napoleon calls for the hens to surrender their eggs. This is a reference to Stalin's attempt to collectivize the peasant farmers. The hens attempted to resist at first, just as the peasant farmers of Ukraine. But, just as in real life, they were eventually starved into submission.
5.6. Ducks
5.6.1. Peasant Fishermen
5.6.1.1. Same as the Hens
6. Other Animals
6.1. Old Benjamin, the Donkey
6.1.1. Both Old men and the people who despised Communism but did nothing to battle against it.
6.2. Muriel, the White Goat
6.2.1. Old women
6.3. Cat
6.3.1. Shady members of society: con men, circus folk, gypsies
6.3.1.1. Why? The cat doesn't actually do any work. It tried to convince the birds to join it on its paw. It joined the re-education committee but didn't actually commit.
6.4. Rats and Rabbits
6.4.1. Thieves and Beggers
6.4.1.1. Why? The rats and rabbits were considered non-comrades before the revolution. There was a debate between whether or not they could be considered comrades like everyone else.
6.5. Sheep
6.5.1. Masses at large
6.5.1.1. Why? The sheep most often agree to everything being said, it doesn't matter who actually says it.
7. Pigs
7.1. Napoleon
7.1.1. Joseph Stalin, the second leader of the Soviet Union
7.1.1.1. Why? Though always present at the early meetings of the new state, Napoleon never makes a single contribution to the revolution. He never shows interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself, only in the strength of his power over it. He exiles snowball and take complete control of the farm. He would rarely appear at any of the later meetings, and always had his puppies that he had trained in front of him for protection. He has squealer re-write the history of the farm to make himself look like the hero of the revolution. Later in the novel, he kills anyone who confesses to having done something wrong. This is the same for Joseph Stalin, who Napoleon represents. Stalin didn't gain power until much later after the revolution. He exiled Trotsky, who represents Snowball. He had a secret army called the NKVD, which is symbolized by Napoleon's puppies. He had the Russian media alter the view of him in order to be more pleasing to the public. He killed off thousands of people in his "great purges" just as Napoleon killed off the majority of the people on the farm.
7.2. Old Major
7.2.1. Karl Marx, father of Communism
7.2.1.1. Old Major leaves his animals with a revolutionary message. He even gives them "Beasts of England" to remember it by. Yet three days later, he dies, and the slow process of distorting his ideas and ruining his legacy begins. This follows with the order of events in which Karl Marx's ideal form of Communism was taken and distorted.
7.3. Snowball
7.3.1. Leo Trotsky, one of the original revolutionaries
7.3.1.1. When Stalin came to power Trotsky became one of his biggest enemies. Trotsky was not only exiled in body but in the minds of the Russian people-his historical role was altered.
7.4. Squealer
7.4.1. Russian Media
7.4.1.1. Squealer continually distorts reality to fit the needs of the Communist party. Basically, Squealer brainwashes the animals so that they are in favour of Napoleon, just as Stalin did, using the Russian Media. He often had movies made of himself, through the media, that told his version of history rather than reality.
8. Things
8.1. Animalism
8.1.1. Communism
8.2. Old Major's Dream
8.2.1. The Communist Manifesto
8.3. "Beasts of England" song
8.3.1. Ideology of Communism. Also represents the song Internationale
8.4. Windmill
8.4.1. Stain's five year plans
8.4.1.1. Why? Just as the windmill promised to make the animal's lives easier, so had the five-year plan said. When the windmill had to be rebuilt it was just how Stalin kept churning out new five year plans.
8.5. Drinking of Alcohol
8.5.1. Intoxicating effects of power
8.6. Hoof and Horn
8.6.1. Hammer and Sickle
8.6.1.1. Why? The hammer and sickle are the symbols of communism. The two tools are the tools of the working class and the peasantry. So Communism is trying to show that it has to two working together in unity.
8.7. Animal Committes
8.7.1. Soviet Committes
8.8. "Animal Farm" song
8.8.1. National Anthem of the Soviet Union/ Evidence of Stalin's more controlling power
8.8.1.1. Why? The "Animal Farm" song replaces the "Beasts of England" song. This demonstrates the alteration of Communist Marxist ideals to fit Stalin's idea of Communism.
8.9. "Comrade Napoleon" song
8.9.1. As Napoleon becomes more powerful, he replaced "Animal Farm!" with another anthem, called "Comrade Napoleon". The anthem praised and glorified Napoleon, attributing many of the successes on the farm to him, even though he had little or no role in them. The poem marked the general happy feeling towards the rule of Napoleon at the time in the book and was painted on the wall of the big barn opposite the Seven Commandments.
9. Events
9.1. The animal revolt, the "Rebellion"
9.1.1. The Russian Revolution
9.1.1.1. When Major dies, two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, take charge and see it as their duty to prepare for the Rebellion. The animals' rebel, driving the inebriated and irresponsible Mr. Jones off the property and renaming it "Animal Farm." This represents the Russian Revolution, in which communists, or pigs, depose the monarchy, or humans, and rename "Russia" the "Soviet Union."
9.2. Battle of Cowshed
9.2.1. The battle of the tsarist forces against the bolshiviks. The Russian Civil War.
9.2.1.1. Mr. Jones returns with several men and battles the creatures in the book. In actuality, the tsar was already dead, but it was fought by tsarist monarchist soldiers.
9.3. The Meeting
9.3.1. The soviet, pre-bolsheivik provisional government
9.3.1.1. Elderly Major, the old boar on the Manor Farm, summons the farm's animals to a conference, during which he compares people to parasites and teaches the animals the revolutionary song 'Beasts of England.'
9.4. Selling of wood to Frederick
9.4.1. Nazi-Soviet Pact
9.4.1.1. Napoleon made a deal with Frederick, just a Stalin made a deal, a pact, with Hitler.
9.5. Battle of the Windmill
9.5.1. Battle of Stalingrad-German invasion of Russia during WWII.
9.5.1.1. In the Battle of the Windmill, Animal Farm has its own tiny version of World War II. As Frederick's soldiers advance, they seize a pasture and blow up the Windmill. A lot of animals are slaughtered, and Boxer uses his hoofs to stomp on the men's skulls.
9.6. Mass executions
9.6.1. The Great Purges of 1936-1938
9.6.1.1. Soon after, Napoleon convenes a grand assembly, and the dogs pull numerous pigs out. The pigs admit that they were working with Snowball and Mr. Frederick before being murdered by the dogs. Following that, the same thing happened to the other chickens from the uprising, as well as numerous other animals. Finally, there is "a heap of bodies and Napoleon's feet." This is a reference to the Great Purges, which occurred between 1936 and 1938. Many individuals who might be labeled "anti-Soviet" were killed or transferred to Gulag labor camps as Stalin worked to eradicate any traces of dissent. Estimates of how many people perished in the purges range from 500,000 to 2 million.
9.7. End Meeting w/ the Pigs and the Humans
9.7.1. The Tehran Conference
9.7.1.1. Why? The Tehran Conference was intended to map out a strategy after World War II
9.8. During the last meeting, when the ace of spades hits the table
9.8.1. Beginning of the Cold War
9.8.1.1. Why? At the moment, the West opted to play cards with the Soviet Union; they were willing to go to any length to beat the Germans. But the wartime partnership of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin was a marriage of convenience; when the war ended, it broke apart in a shambles of mutual suspicion, leading straight to fifty years of stalemate, fifty years of such enormous tension between Russia and the West.
10. Places
10.1. Animal Farm
10.1.1. The Soviet Union
10.2. Manor Farm
10.2.1. Russia (name before the rev)
10.3. Foxwood
10.3.1. England
10.4. Pinchfield
10.4.1. Germany
10.5. Willingdon
10.5.1. Europe
10.6. England
10.6.1. The whole world
10.7. Sugar Candy Mountain
10.7.1. Heaven
11. Quotes
11.1. "Four legs good, two legs bad"
11.1.1. Meaning animals good, humans bad. Or Communists good, monarchies and capitalists bad. Changes in the end so that Napoleon is walking on two feet and it changes to "two feet ok"
11.2. "Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself."
11.2.1. Criticizing Monarchies and Capitalists
11.3. "No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
11.3.1. Squealer brainwashing the other animals into supporting Napoleon.
11.4. "Napoleon is always right."
11.4.1. Brainwashing the other animals in favor of Napoleon (Stalin)
11.5. "No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. 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." Chapter 10, pg. 118
11.5.1. The Pigs begin to resemble the very humans that they had overthrown.
12. Themes
12.1. Power
12.1.1. When the pigs take over they claim that their goal is to preside over a farm of equal animals, all working together to support one another. Yet power quickly proves to be too much for a pig. Small privileges quickly bloom into full-scale corruption, and the pigs begin to resemble the humans they were trying to replace.
12.2. Lies
12.2.1. The pigs lie to the other animals about the past, convincing them that certain events did or did not occur. They deceive them as to the present, pretending that their situation is better than it really is. And they lie to them about plans for the future, telling them their dreams will come true.
12.3. Foolishness
12.3.1. Foolishness in Animal Farm takes its root in the lower class animals, who are duped into a life of hardship because of their lack of intellect. They fail to recognize the horrible nature of their oppression, the greed of the pigs, or the worsening of their lives.
12.4. Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
12.4.1. Animal Farm, though it can be viewed as an allegory for the Russian revolution, More broadly can be seen as a criticism of utopian ideas in general. It is easy to see that the dreams instilled in the animals by Old Major are corrupted as time goes on, and you wonder if it were ever possible to fulfill them in the first place. and also it is important to animal farm specifically because that is what motivated the animals to rebel against Mr.Jones without dreams and hopes the animals would not have any purpose to live.
12.5. Cunning and Cleverness
12.5.1. Squealer is always very clever as he tricks the animals into believing that Napoleon is doing what is right for them. He, and the other pigs, take advantage of the other animals' lack of intelligence, and gradually brainwash them and dupe them into a life of hardship.
12.6. Violence
12.6.1. Violence in Animal Farm is a tool of political oppression. Not only do we see actual violence used to kill and to exile enemies of the leadership, but there is also a threat of violence. If any animal rebels or questions the pigs’ leadership, he or she can expect to face violence as a punishment
12.7. Pride
12.7.1. Pride serves to unite the animals in some form of camaraderie. The animals take pride in banding together to overthrow their oppressive leader. Yet Napoleon, himself an extremely vain pig, quickly learns how to use the animals’ pride as a tool of manipulation. They are also so proud of their animal-run farm that they are blind to the fact that it is failing and corrupt.