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    Animal Farm

    by

    Orwell, George

    George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) is a satirical allegory of the Russian Revolution and Stalinist corruption. The animals of Manor Farm, inspired by Old Major’s vision of equality, overthrow their human oppressor, Mr. Jones, and establish a self-governing farm under the slogan “All animals are equal.” The pigs, led by Napoleon and Snowball, initially champion collective labor, but power soon corrupts them. Napoleon exiles Snowball, manipulates the other animals through propaganda, and gradually adopts human vices, betraying the revolution’s ideals. The novella critiques totalitarianism, illustrating how revolutionary ideals can be subverted by authoritarianism. Its enduring relevance lies in its exploration of power dynamics and political manipulation.

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    Animal Farm

    Chapter X

    by

    Orwell, George

    The chapter depicts the passage of time on Animal Farm, where most original Rebellion participants have died or been forgotten. Only Clover, Benjamin, Moses, and the pigs remain as living links to the past. The farm has expanded with new animals who know little of the Rebellion’s history, while the original ideals have eroded. Napoleon and the pigs live luxuriously, contrasting sharply with the other animals’ hard lives. The windmill, once promised to bring modern comforts, now serves only to enrich the farm materially while the animals’ living conditions remain unchanged.

    Despite outward prosperity with new machinery and buildings, only the pigs and dogs benefit materially. Squealer justifies the pigs’ administrative work with complex explanations, though they produce no food. The other animals endure hunger, cold, and exhausting labor, with no memory of whether life was better post-Rebellion. Benjamin alone maintains his cynical view that life never fundamentally changes. The animals cling to pride in their animal-run farm, though their revolutionary dreams have faded into distant hope rather than imminent reality.

    The animals maintain blind faith in their special status, taking pride in being England’s only animal-owned farm. They cherish memories of past victories while enduring present hardships, believing Major’s vision will eventually materialize—though not in their lifetimes. The banned “Beasts of England” is secretly remembered, symbolizing their suppressed revolutionary spirit. While their lives remain difficult, they find solace in not serving human masters and maintaining the principle that all animals are equal—at least in theory.

    The chapter concludes with mysterious behavior from Squealer and the sheep, hinting at coming changes. After a week of isolation where Squealer claims to be teaching them a new song, the animals are startled by Clover’s terrified neighing. This ominous ending suggests another pivotal moment may be approaching for the farm, continuing the cycle of hope and disillusionment that has characterized the animals’ experience since the Rebellion.

    FAQs

    • 1. How has the social hierarchy on Animal Farm changed since the early days of the Rebellion?

      Answer:
      The social hierarchy has become increasingly stratified, with the pigs and dogs occupying privileged positions while the other animals work harder without seeing benefits. The text notes that “the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer — except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.” Squealer justifies this inequality by claiming the pigs’ administrative work (like handling “files” and “reports”) is vital, though they produce no food. Meanwhile, the other animals live in the same poor conditions as under Jones, suggesting the revolution has merely replaced one oppressive system with another.

      2. What contradictions exist between the original ideals of Animalism and the current state of the farm?

      Answer:
      Several key contradictions emerge: (1) The promise of retirement (“setting aside a corner of the pasture for superannuated animals”) was abandoned, with old animals like Clover still laboring past retirement age. (2) The windmill, originally touted by Snowball as a source of labor-saving technology, now only generates profit through corn milling. (3) The egalitarian principle “All animals are equal” is undermined by the pigs’ luxury and control. (4) While the animals take pride in their human-free farm, their living standards remain unchanged, and the pigs increasingly resemble human oppressors in their behavior and privileges.

      3. How does the manipulation of history and memory function as a control mechanism on Animal Farm?

      Answer:
      The pigs maintain power by controlling historical narrative and exploiting the animals’ fading memories. Most animals born after the Rebellion know it only as “a dim tradition,” making them reliant on Squealer’s propaganda. When older animals try to recall if life was better post-Rebellion, “they could not remember” clearly. Squealer reinforces this with manipulated statistics “demonstrating that everything was getting better.” Only Benjamin remembers accurately but remains silent, highlighting how oppressive systems thrive when collective memory is erased or distorted. The chapter shows this historical manipulation prevents the animals from recognizing their exploitation.

      4. Analyze the symbolic significance of the sheep being taught a “new song” in isolation.

      Answer:
      The sheep’s secret training symbolizes the pigs’ increasing use of thought control. Their week-long isolation suggests indoctrination, foreshadowing later propaganda shifts (like the changing commandments). Historically, the sheep blindly repeated slogans (“Four legs good, two legs bad”), so this new song likely serves to manipulate groupthink further. The need for “privacy” implies the song will contradict established principles, requiring the sheep to internalize it without critical examination. This scene underscores how authoritarian regimes use rehearsed rhetoric to engineer mass compliance, replacing genuine discourse with pre-programmed responses.

      5. Why do the animals continue to believe in the Rebellion’s ideals despite their worsening conditions?

      Answer:
      The animals cling to the Rebellion’s ideals due to manufactured pride and selective perception. They take solace in being “the only farm in all England owned and operated by animals,” a distinction reinforced by rituals like the flag-raising. Their pride in past victories (e.g., “the expulsion of Jones”) blinds them to present failures. The text notes they measure progress only against Squealer’s skewed data, having “nothing to go upon” for real comparison. This reflects how oppressed groups often accept worsening conditions when fed a narrative of exceptionalism and when alternative perspectives are suppressed.

    Quotes

    • 1. “The talk of setting aside a corner of the pasture for superannuated animals had long since been dropped. Napoleon was now a mature boar of twenty-four stone. Squealer was so fat that he could with difficulty see out of his eyes.”

      This quote highlights the growing inequality and broken promises on Animal Farm, showing how the pigs have abandoned the original ideals of the Rebellion while indulging themselves. It marks a key turning point in the chapter where the corruption of power becomes visually undeniable.

      2. “The windmill, however, had not after all been used for generating electrical power. It was used for milling corn, and brought in a handsome money profit… Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Animalism. The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally.”

      This reveals the pigs’ manipulation of the animals’ labor and their redefinition of Animalism to suit their own interests. The quote captures the central hypocrisy of the regime, where original revolutionary goals are abandoned while being framed as ideological purity.

      3. “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer — except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.”

      This concise statement perfectly encapsulates the economic exploitation occurring on the farm, representing the chapter’s main critique of how revolutionary systems can reproduce the inequalities they sought to overthrow.

      4. “Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse — hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life.”

      Benjamin’s cynical wisdom provides a crucial counterpoint to the animals’ fading hopes, representing the chapter’s philosophical tension between idealism and disillusionment. His perspective foreshadows the inevitable cycle of oppression.

      5. “All animals were equal. One day in early summer Squealer ordered the sheep to follow him, and led them out to a piece of waste ground… teaching them to sing a new song, for which privacy was needed.”

      The juxtaposition of the foundational principle “All animals were equal” with the pigs’ secretive manipulation of the sheep perfectly captures the chapter’s central irony. This quote shows both the enduring myth of equality and its active subversion by those in power.

    Quotes

    1. “The talk of setting aside a corner of the pasture for superannuated animals had long since been dropped. Napoleon was now a mature boar of twenty-four stone. Squealer was so fat that he could with difficulty see out of his eyes.”

    This quote highlights the growing inequality and broken promises on Animal Farm, showing how the pigs have abandoned the original ideals of the Rebellion while indulging themselves. It marks a key turning point in the chapter where the corruption of power becomes visually undeniable.

    2. “The windmill, however, had not after all been used for generating electrical power. It was used for milling corn, and brought in a handsome money profit… Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Animalism. The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally.”

    This reveals the pigs’ manipulation of the animals’ labor and their redefinition of Animalism to suit their own interests. The quote captures the central hypocrisy of the regime, where original revolutionary goals are abandoned while being framed as ideological purity.

    3. “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer — except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.”

    This concise statement perfectly encapsulates the economic exploitation occurring on the farm, representing the chapter’s main critique of how revolutionary systems can reproduce the inequalities they sought to overthrow.

    4. “Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse — hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life.”

    Benjamin’s cynical wisdom provides a crucial counterpoint to the animals’ fading hopes, representing the chapter’s philosophical tension between idealism and disillusionment. His perspective foreshadows the inevitable cycle of oppression.

    5. “All animals were equal. One day in early summer Squealer ordered the sheep to follow him, and led them out to a piece of waste ground… teaching them to sing a new song, for which privacy was needed.”

    The juxtaposition of the foundational principle “All animals were equal” with the pigs’ secretive manipulation of the sheep perfectly captures the chapter’s central irony. This quote shows both the enduring myth of equality and its active subversion by those in power.

    FAQs

    1. How has the social hierarchy on Animal Farm changed since the early days of the Rebellion?

    Answer:
    The social hierarchy has become increasingly stratified, with the pigs and dogs occupying privileged positions while the other animals work harder without seeing benefits. The text notes that “the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer — except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.” Squealer justifies this inequality by claiming the pigs’ administrative work (like handling “files” and “reports”) is vital, though they produce no food. Meanwhile, the other animals live in the same poor conditions as under Jones, suggesting the revolution has merely replaced one oppressive system with another.

    2. What contradictions exist between the original ideals of Animalism and the current state of the farm?

    Answer:
    Several key contradictions emerge: (1) The promise of retirement (“setting aside a corner of the pasture for superannuated animals”) was abandoned, with old animals like Clover still laboring past retirement age. (2) The windmill, originally touted by Snowball as a source of labor-saving technology, now only generates profit through corn milling. (3) The egalitarian principle “All animals are equal” is undermined by the pigs’ luxury and control. (4) While the animals take pride in their human-free farm, their living standards remain unchanged, and the pigs increasingly resemble human oppressors in their behavior and privileges.

    3. How does the manipulation of history and memory function as a control mechanism on Animal Farm?

    Answer:
    The pigs maintain power by controlling historical narrative and exploiting the animals’ fading memories. Most animals born after the Rebellion know it only as “a dim tradition,” making them reliant on Squealer’s propaganda. When older animals try to recall if life was better post-Rebellion, “they could not remember” clearly. Squealer reinforces this with manipulated statistics “demonstrating that everything was getting better.” Only Benjamin remembers accurately but remains silent, highlighting how oppressive systems thrive when collective memory is erased or distorted. The chapter shows this historical manipulation prevents the animals from recognizing their exploitation.

    4. Analyze the symbolic significance of the sheep being taught a “new song” in isolation.

    Answer:
    The sheep’s secret training symbolizes the pigs’ increasing use of thought control. Their week-long isolation suggests indoctrination, foreshadowing later propaganda shifts (like the changing commandments). Historically, the sheep blindly repeated slogans (“Four legs good, two legs bad”), so this new song likely serves to manipulate groupthink further. The need for “privacy” implies the song will contradict established principles, requiring the sheep to internalize it without critical examination. This scene underscores how authoritarian regimes use rehearsed rhetoric to engineer mass compliance, replacing genuine discourse with pre-programmed responses.

    5. Why do the animals continue to believe in the Rebellion’s ideals despite their worsening conditions?

    Answer:
    The animals cling to the Rebellion’s ideals due to manufactured pride and selective perception. They take solace in being “the only farm in all England owned and operated by animals,” a distinction reinforced by rituals like the flag-raising. Their pride in past victories (e.g., “the expulsion of Jones”) blinds them to present failures. The text notes they measure progress only against Squealer’s skewed data, having “nothing to go upon” for real comparison. This reflects how oppressed groups often accept worsening conditions when fed a narrative of exceptionalism and when alternative perspectives are suppressed.

    Note