Aminal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm

This remarkable book was written by George Orwell, whose real name is Eric Blair, and it is about the lives of farm animals who rebel against humans. The animals live on Manor Farm and are owned by Mr. Jones, who always seems to be drunk. The leader of the animals was an old pig named Old Major who one day had a dream about being free from the oppression of man.

One evening, Old Major assembled the animals of Manor Farm and talked to them about how they live hard, short lives in slavery to the humans and that they should rebel and become free. Old Major got the idea from a song which came to him in a dream, Beasts of England, that was sung when he was a young pig. The song talked about the animals being free one day.

No one knew when the rebellion that Old Major talked about would happen, especially after Old Major died three days after the meeting. The pigs, who were the smartest of the animals, picked the two most pre-eminent pigs to assume the leadership role that Old Major left. The two pigs names were Snowball and Napoleon. These two pigs got together and organized all of Old Major’s thoughts into a system called Animalism. This was taught at night during secret meetings that were held in the big barn and the animals slowly learned it.

Then one midsummer’s eve, the animals rebelled against Mr. Jones and his men because they had not been fed the whole day. This was not a planned attack, but the animals succeeded and kicked Mr. Jones and his men out. The animals were free.

The next morning the animals set up rules, The Seven Commandments, and changed the name of the farm from Manor Farm to Animal Farm. Then the animals went out in the field to gather the hay and did it more quickly than Jones and his men ever did. It was also the biggest harvest they had ever seen because there was absolutely no waste. Boxer, a large horse, was a great asset to the animals because he worked as hard as three horses put together and he kept pushing himself harder and harder.

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The animals heard that Jones might return and try to recapture the farm, so the animals started preparing for an attack. Then one day they saw Jones and his men marching up to Animal Farm with sticks and a gun ready to take over Animal Farm. Snowball, who was the leader of the animals, had studied the campaigns of Julius Caesar and formed battle plans from them. The animals eventually won, but they did not go unscathed. Snowball got wounded and some other animals got killed. The animals held a memorial service in their honor and sang The Beasts of England several times.

Winter came, and it was a harsh one. During the winter, Snowball came up with a plan for electricity and heat from a book he found in the house. The idea was to build a windmill that could provide power for the animals. Napoleon and Snowball disagreed on this issue just like they did on every issue. When it came time for the animals to vote on if they should work on the windmill or not, both pigs got up and made speeches. During Snowballs speech, Napoleon whistled and nine enormous dogs rushed into the room right towards Snowball. He escaped after the dogs chased him off the farm. Napoleon assumed the leadership role that Snowball left behind.

The spring came and the animals started plowing the fields. Napoleon announced that they were going to build the windmill after all and that it would require extra work and maybe less rations. All the animals agreed that they should work on the windmill, even though it will take two years to build. The animals were now working sixty hours a week and the harvest was less successful this year. The animals were also working on the windmill by hauling rocks up the hill to the site where the windmill is going to be. The animals worked harder than when Snowball was their leader, but they thought that just because of the extra task of building the windmill. Napoleon manipulated their thoughts and told them that some of the things that Snowball taught never happened and started changing the commandments behind their backs.

Autumn came and the animals were tired, but happy. They had a decent supply of food and supplies, but the windmill was about halfway done so that compensated for everything. Later on in November, the windmill was blown over by the strong winds which made the animals mad. Napoleon blamed Snowball for making the tower collapse. He told them that they will work through the winter and

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through whatever weather there is.

Winter came and it was a bitter one. They decided to take extra precautions in order to make the windmill more sturdy, so they made the walls an extra three feet thick. Napoleon then blamed Snowball for everything that