Animal Farm - Basic

George Orwell

Image made with Kaiber

If you need to read up on the movement this work belongs to you can click the following link: Postmodernism

Book beginning: page 1

Basic information

Old Major was 12 years old when he died (p1), which afterwards was the age they put for a horse’s retirement (p74).
Old Major caused mayhem and then died peacefully (p9).
Boxer’s loyalty was never repaid.
Science was mentioned twice: once to emphasise the need for food to go to the pigs for their well-being (p23), and the second to break the boulders with gravity (p40).
There are various humorous points within the novella, for example when the pigs are climbing the ladder for the first time (p15), and again when Squealer falls from the ladder changing the no alcohol law (p73), and when they think Napoleon is dying but he is in fact just hung over (p72).

Full circle

The story starts with Mr Jones’ drinking and ends with the pigs drinking.
The change of name from Manor Farm to Animal Farm and back again, shows the full cycle of dominance. It also indicates the final moment when the animals’ freedom is completely taken away (p15).
From the removal of Snowball onwards, everything is slowly going back to the way it was with Mr Jones, seen by how the dogs wagged their tails at Napoleon as they used to do to Mr Jones (p36).
In the end, five humans was a lot less to feed than all of the pigs (p42, p75).
Most things went the same way they came: in the Battle of the Cowshed, the humans retreated where they had come in (p27); the story ends much as it began.

The original dream

If old Major had not said anything about his dream, none of this would have happened (p1).
Old Major said “let us put it to the vote” (p6), something that was never heard again. Maybe if he had been around to oversee the process it could have been a success, but having to leave it all to new and ungoverned minds, a corrupt system was started.
Old Major was not wrong when he said “whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy” (p6).
When “Animalism” was given a name and complete system of thought (p10), it was forcing destiny into reality.
The original dream spoke of when man had vanished (p6). Since “man” was still very much in existence, does this indicate that this was not the rebellion he had dreamed of and another would come?
“The Rebellion was achieved much earlier and more easily than anyone had expected” (p11) perhaps because it was not the prophesised one.
Another indication that this was not the rebellion that old Major had dreamt of, is that the initial attack of “Battle of the Cowshed” was not an organised event but an act of desperation (p12).

Holding on to human traits

Strangely, a truly free and natural world would not need a voting system. The fact that they had a structure means that they never gave up all things human, they still ran the farm, did the harvest etc. The animals always showed signs of wanting to be an organised society and not a natural system that you would find in the wild (p19).
Snowball tried to categorise the animals with committees (p20), would this have been beneficial to them or have created even more separation between animals?
The animals wanted to remove all human aspects from their lives but quickly have ceremonies and awards after the Battle of the Cowshed (p27), also giving the battles names.
The concept of the animals being ‘free’ was always dependent on the current human laws and customs. When Mollie was told she could not have ribbons in her hair (p10), it was not for any other reason than because humans did it, proving she would not be truly free to do as she liked.
Again, the animals undid some of the customs they had simply because they were considered human. This is the case when Boxer put his hat into the fire which he used to keep the flies from his ears (p13), voluntarily suffering in a fight to be free.

Misconceptions of evil

Old Major says “remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever” (p4). The story, however, shows that it does not matter who you are or what your species, if power is to be had, someone will take it.
Old Major said Mr Jones will sell Boxer to the knacker (p5), but it was a fellow pig, Napoleon, that did it in the end (p82).
Old Major said that all evils of life spring from man which was true when he said it (p5).
Old Major said man serves no creature except himself (p5/6), which turned out to be true for any species. However, the feeling is reserved for family and loyal followers, given that some pigs were slaughtered (p56).
Hands were the supposed instrument of mischief as they were characteristic of humans (p22), however, this was not true as pigs managed mischief without them.
The humans assumed that “indiscipline would prevail” under the rule of animals, but they were completely wrong, as it turned out, the animals were even harsher than humans (p92).

Foreseen dangers

Old Major knew the dangers of the prophecy and warned the animals “we must not come to resemble [Man]” (p6), but without someone to enforce discipline, it did not matter.
Benjamin warned the animals that things would be as they had always been (p34) but no one listened to him.
Mr Jones died in an inebriates’ home (p85) showing the seriousness of the substance abuse which the pigs were now getting into. It was a foreseen danger they took no notice of, even though they had made a law against it.

Broken laws

The pigs broke every law and rule that was made: The Seven Commandments (p15); “four legs good, two legs bad” into “four legs good, two legs better” (p89); singing Beasts of England after it had been abolished (abolished p59, sung p72).

The Seven Commandments broken (p15):

The pigs learn to walk on two legs (p89).
Same as Commandment one.
The pigs were seen wearing the Jones’ old clothes and ribbons (p90, p76).
No animal shall sleep in a bed (p46).
The pigs were seen drinking whiskey and beer (p72, 76/7).
Many “traitors” were executed (p56/7).
The final governing law was “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” (p90).

Manipulating laws

Every law that came to pass was simply an alteration to the original, so much so, that the other animals were easily persuaded no change had been made.
Old Major said that “no argument must lead you astray” (p5). It was not written down, therefore animals did not remember it, but since the laws which were written down were changed, it may not have made any difference.
The same threat was used many times to scare the animals into supporting unfair laws: that Mr Jones would come back (p23, 37, 46).
One manipulation of the law was for a positive cause, when Snowball said to the birds that as wings were used for propulsion and not to cause mischief like human hands, it did not matter that they technically stood on two legs (p22).

Lies

Other farmers were scared of their animals rebelling in the same way Mr Jones’ animals did, so they spread lies to discourage them (p25). Napoleon is then seen to deceive Mr Whymper into thinking that they have plenty of food so he will spread the news, and the humans will not know of the animals’ starvation (p50).
Even the rumour spread by the animals “of a wonderful farm, where the human beings had been turned out and the animals managed their own affairs” (p25) was only true because it was so vague.
Squealer was getting more and more convincing with his lies, he even learnt how to cry on cue (p83).
The harder the leaders try to show honour, the bigger the lie they are covering up. Such is the case with Boxer’s memorial (p84).
The supposed wonderful treatment Boxer received when he fell ill and then the memorial when he died, helps the other animals not to worry about their own death’s, thinking it will be a calm and dignified event (p84).

Language

Boxer and Benjamin used to graze side by side without speaking, enjoying each others’ company without useless words to cheat one another (p2).
There are a lot of mishaps with ‘paint’ which show the defects of the written word, how easy it is to change and deceive, plus you have to be educated in the art to be able to use it: the documents to prove Snowball was in league with Mr Jones (p53, 78); the fake bank notes Napoleon was given by Frederick (p68); when Squealer fell off the ladder while rewriting a law on the barn (p73); and there is the slaughter van which came to take Boxer off (p83).
The pigs practically rewrote all of history to suit their needs (p53).
If you repetitively hammer minds with the same information, they will eventually come to believe it, and even in moments of doubt there would be nothing left to reference, so you are at most left confused. Squealer’s numbers for example, help the animals to believe things must be better than ever because truthfully they no longer remembered the old days (p87).

Squealer’s eloquence

The pigs were lucky to have Squealer who could turn “black into white” (p9), without him to pacify and deceive the animals, the pigs’ plan might not have worked. Of course, they would always have brute force, but the workers were so efficient because they had a sense of being free and working for themselves.
Squealer said the law stated that the animals may not sleep with sheets as those were human invention, so they slept under blankets, leaving confusion as they are also a human invention (p46).
When Squealer announces rations he says there is no shortage of food, so why ration the animals? (p75).

Secrets

The pigs revealed that they had spent three months teaching themselves to read and write, why were they only saying this now, shouldn’t they have told everyone so they could all get a head start? (p15).
The pigs knew that what they were doing was wrong and where they needed to cover up their tracks, shown by the fact that they took the sheep away from the other animals to teach them the new maxim in private (p88).

Positivity through negativity

A lot of the motivation given by pigs is that it would make the humans happy to see them fail. Was there not a more uplifting way to do it, something referencing their own end gain perhaps? (p49).
When they make toasts in the final chapter, they do so for the misfortunes of others, Mr Pilkington celebrates “low rations, the long working-hours and the general absence of pampering” for the animals (p93).

Keeping the animals uneducated and cut off

Snowball said that they would have more time to improve their minds by making the windmill, but Napoleon did not want them becoming cleaver by learning how to read (p32).
Since none of the animals understood Snowball’s plans for the windmill, none of them could contradict anything afterwards, they were simply impressed by everything (p33).
Given that no one else dealt with humans, it meant that only Napoleon had allies outside the farm (p43).
“The lower animals on Animal Farm did more work and received less food than any animals in the country” (p92) which was possible because Napoleon had kept them cut off from the outside world, so they did not know that this was the case.

Religion

A type of religion starts to bud from Moses’ talk of Sugarcandy Mountain, when the animals want to believe in a better place (p78).
Anything that brought the animals hope and made them continue under poor conditions was encouraged by the pigs which could be why Moses was allowed to stay (p78/9).

The makings of a successful leader

Mr Jones’ men were idle and dishonest (p11) which may have been why he was overthrown. The fact that the men did not feed the animals and then punished them for acquiring food was what propelled the animals to attack in unison (p12), and having no structured system in place, the humans were easily turned out.
When Mr Jones lost his farm he did not really do anything to regain it, and relied on the other farmers’ support to take action (p24).
Once the animals were free, the pigs immediately take charge, saying: “let us make it a point of honour to get in the harvest more quickly than Jones and his men could do” (p16), straight away making them work harder than ever and under false pretences.
When what to do with the milk first became an issue the pigs were extremely quick to take advantage of the situation. This contrasts with the fact that although many others had looked at it with interest, none of them took any, also showing the amount of trust they had in each other (p16).
Snowball showed no weakness when believing Boxer had killed a man in battle (p27), and as a leader he would not have been able to permit it. Boxer’s reaction meant that he is someone the other animals can look to for encouragement in hard times, but as a leader it is Snowball’s hardness that would cause them to survive.
Napoleon cheating during Snowball’s speeches by making the sheep bleat, shows you cannot be good at heart and fight a clean fight, if you wanted to be leader (p32).
The windmill was originally for comfort but Napoleon built it for more money (p32).
When Napoleon changed his mind to build the windmill, he gave no reasons for doing so (p38), setting a norm that explanations were not always necessary.
Napoleon got to where he did by always thinking ahead, in the long term success, although the plans he shared with the animals were short term.
You can talk the animals into anything, but with brute force there is no need to, and it is always 100% effective.

Evolution of the pigs’ dominance

Until the pigs got everything sorted out there was more leisure time which the animals most likely thought they would always have (p18). Sundays was originally a day of rest (p19).
Originally, everyone worked according to their capacity (p18).
The “voluntary work” suggested by the pigs was not so voluntary (p40).
Just after the Rebellion the animals were not worse off, but about the same (p42).
Spirits got lower as time went by, especially when the windmill was blown down. In the end, Boxer’s strength was their sole inspiration (p49).
Napoleon showed no sympathy at all for the destruction of the windmill, he only showed desperation to get construction back on track (p48). Was this because he always had plans to make a corn mill and maximise economical profit (p86) instead of generating electrical power to improve the living conditions for the animals?
The hen scandal was hushed up and excuses given for any collateral damage (p51).
The memory of Snowball was twisted and made to induce fear whilst Napoleon also used it to sniff out any law breakers (p52).
Napoleon shut himself in with the pigs (p62), surrounding himself with individuals who told him how great he was and were too afraid to oppose him.
Napoleon eventually had servants (p62).
Napoleon was the only one with a title.
Some of the ceremonious elements that Napoleon arranged for himself were quite ridiculous, such as the cockerel to announce when he was going to speak (p62).
Napoleon became friends with humans, at first only friendly (p64).
Whymper was supposedly negotiating the purchase of the machinery for the windmill (p66), but was he actually ever ordered to get it or had Napoleon known all along what he planned to do?
It was originally believed that “Napoleon was too clever for [Frederick]” (p67), but Napoleon was quickly found to have been tricked out of payment for the timber (p68).
For the Battle of the Windmill, all the animals said that they did not have the easy victory they had had in the Battle of the Cowshed, but it was only so easy because Snowball had studied a good strategy and they were now without that advantage (p68).
Why was Napoleon “at a loss” during the Battle of the Windmill? He had plenty of warning that the humans were going to attack (p68).
Giving courage to the animals during the Battle of the Windmill was about the only time Napoleon proved to be a good leader (p69).
Squealer says: “we have won back what we had before” (p71) whilst celebrating the success of the Battle of the Windmill. The animals never seem to make much progress, but just go around in circles, and when they do achieve something it only seems to make more work for them. In fact, in this case they were actually worse off as the windmill needed rebuilding, but the pigs insisted they had to celebrate.
When the animals rushed to see Boxer being taken away, they did so without waiting to get permission from the pig supervising, so they were still somewhat free at this point (p81).
At the end, there were three horses aside from Clover (p85) which means that Boxer’s work was that of three horses, although it is said that there were more animals than ever, so maybe an increase came due to the new amount of work.
The final chapter reads “the farm was more prosperous now, and better organised” (p86), showing that the pigs have learnt from their experiences.
By the final chapter, no one remembered Snowball or the Rebellion (except for Benjamin p87), no animal had retired, there were more animals than ever, the windmill was finally up and they were building a second, only one commandment existed: "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others" (p90), Napoleon wore animal skin, humans were invited to the farm to have dinner and play cards, the farm belongs legally and exclusively to the pigs, all Rebellion symbols were abolished, and the name was changed back to “The Manor Farm” (chapter X).
Also by the end, no one could remember the old ways as all of the evidence was erased: the Seven Commandments on the barn wall were replaced with one all encompassing law; the farmhouse as it had been in Mr Jones’ time was now inhabited by the pigs; the stories of battles were almost lost; and as the generation present during the Rebellion had almost all died off, there was no one left to reminisce. Gradually this situation would become completely normal and the only one anyone knew of (p87).
The pigs learnt social habits to fit in with humans, such as sitting on chairs and playing cards, and they looked completely at easy whilst doing it (p91).
“The title-deeds, which were in [Napoleon’s] own possession, were owned by the pigs jointly” (p93).
The farm was to be represented by a plain green flag (p94), possibly signifying their free rein over the farm.

Hierarchy

There is a new Hierarchical system after the Rebellion, even though it promised there wouldn’t be.
The animals represent lower society: “our lives are miserable, laborious and short” (p3). Eventually, pigs are not really considered to be animals.
“No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery” (p3). Something that continued to be true even after the Rebellion.
Man produces nothing “yet he is lord of all the animals” (p4). Proving you do not have to be like someone to rule them.
When old Major points out to Clover that her fouls were taken from her, and should have been her joy in old age, he is thinking of family which is a concept they cannot easily permit (p4).
Once the newer piglets had been born, Napoleon started separating them even more from the other animals, creating social classes (p76).
Not even in extreme ill health did the animals get offered a better bed, seen when “Clover and Benjamin had prepared a good bed of straw for [Boxer]” (p80). Under no circumstances were the classes to step out of their social standing.

Ceremonies and gestures

The animals are always there with their gestures, when Napoleon is supposed to be dying, they lay straw at his door, when most likely they need it for food or bedding (p72).
Napoleon tired himself out from so many ceremonies (p77).
When Boxer died and the pigs said they would hold a celebration in his honour, they did not actually invite anyone else, it was just an excuse to get drunk (p84).
Real connections do not need ceremonies and songs to honour them (p84).
The point of the constant ceremonies is to keep the animals’ sense of pride alive (p87).

Shady dealings

Mr Whymper was a sly-looking man and sharp enough to have realised Animal Farm would need a broker (p44), but this shows they only dealt with shady characters.
When Squealer was explaining about the paperwork, he says that they write it all up and quickly burn it, showing that their deals are most likely corrupt and that no honesty or respect lies in their leadership (p87).

Humans

Originally Mr Jones was a capable farmer, but he had fallen on evil times (p11), this was the cause of his drinking and shows that no matter how good you are, anyone can become bad.
There is not much said about humans in the story but the farmers that appear are each secretly looking to see what they can gain from Mr Jones’ misfortune (p24).
Humans could barely get themselves together to fight for their own interests (p24).
Every human being hated Animal Farm, and even more so when it was prospering (p44), and although the rumours of their failing were lies, the animals did fall on some hard times but they always managed to fight on through.
The original farm building rocked with the heavy storms, but the windmill fell down completely (p47). The Men who constructed the building knew how to build, but the animals who made the windmill were still learning.

The animals

The animals are naturally good farmers, as they understand the ground better than humans (p17).
The animals stayed loyal to each other (p17), or at least until harder times when some stole food.
There were days that the animals did not know what they would do without Boxer who was always where the hardest work was (p18), eventually he was replaced by three horses.
The animals showed some good instincts when the cat was telling the birds they could rest on her paw, but they decided to keep their distance (p20).
Right after Mollie left the farm there was a terrible winter “when the earth was like iron, and nothing could be done in the fields” (p31), and still the animals could not understand why she had left. Even under Mr Jones’ rule, she had never done work in the fields, she was not built for this type of ‘free’ life.

Benjamin and Boxer

They say Benjamin was full of cynical remarks but was he just more fine tuned to reality? (p2).
Old Major said he had acquired such wisdom and that he must share it (p3), however, Benjamin is the oldest on the farm and did not feel the need to share (p2).
Benjamin represents a slow methodical pace, the way life should be looked at, he is knowledgeable and never impulsive, knowing that there will always be plenty of work so not getting too carried away with volunteering, and above all he is not gullible (p19).
The only time anyone ever saw Benjamin gallop was when he came rushing to get help because they were taking Boxer away (p81). However, he was also included in the animals who were said to have run into war (p26, 69).
Although Benjamin was said to never want to meddle in affairs (p61), he did on a couple of occasions do so: when he said he would vote for neither Snowball nor Napoleon in the windmill debate, because “life would go on as it had always gone on-that is, badly” (p34); when Boxer was taken away, he read the words on the side of the van out loud (p81); and when he broke his rule of not reading the Commandments to Clover (p90).
What must Benjamin think of everyone else? (p61).
Why did Benjamin always refuse to say anything (p73), was it because he knew the animals would not listen or perhaps he feared for his life?
Boxer showed great spirit in trying to learn and always better himself, but he knew his academic limits and ceased studying when no higher level was required of him for the benefit of the Rebellion (p20).

Little evolution of characters

The sheep say the same mindless thing over and over again and they sound the same when saying “four legs good, two legs bad” as when they say “four legs good, two legs better”.
What was, was. No one changed once they got into the habit of something, with the exception of the sheep that could be taught a new maxim, but then they would repeat it until they were taught something new. The pigs, for instance, stuck to their story of Snowball repeatedly being a menace; Boxer had his two maxims; Benjamin had cryptic remarks; Moses always spoke of Sugarcandy Mountain.

Snowball vs. Napoleon

There were two possible leaders, Snowball and Napoleon, it is nature that there can only be one (p9).
Snowball most likely had the animals’ best interest at heart, when they could not all read and remember the Seven Commandments, he came up with one easy maxim for them so they would be safe from human influences “four legs good, two legs bad” (p21).
Napoleon showed talent for success when he knew the important thing was the future generations, not those already grown. Educating the young would lead to his power (p22).
Snowball would have made a good leader were there not someone more ruthless in the run, although he was quick to comply when it came to issues such as the pigs receiving the harvested apples (p22). However, he was certainly talented at war tactics (p26).
Each pig quickly had his own following, the animals were quickly divided (p31).
Napoleon offered nothing productive, just tyranny (p32).
Napoleon clearly had no respect for anyone or anything, when he urinated on the plans, he was always shaping up to be a poor leader (p33).
When Napoleon and Snowball were arguing about the defence of the farm, the former said “if they could not defend themselves they were bound to be conquered” and the latter said that “if rebellions happened everywhere they would have no need to defend themselves” (p34), could they not have done both? Given that the animals were always in agreement with whoever was speaking, it shows that they both presented logical ideas.
Napoleon’s guard dogs were not even fully grown when he overthrew Snowball (p36).

Napoleon

Napoleon eventually spent so much time alone that he convinced himself of a higher importance, even believing he needed guard dogs (p50).
Slowly he stopped socialising with any of the animals at all, not even going out to give them their orders for the week, he completely breaks away from reality (p50).
Napoleon had no heart, he did whatever he wanted for money, and did not have the animals’ interests in mind (p51) they did what he wanted or died.
Napoleon overthrowing Snowball with brute force mirrored when the farmers were jealous so they blew up the windmill (p64).

Human master vs. pig master

Mollie shows that not all animals were worse off in the old system, especially as she chose to go back to it (p31). In the new one, she was made to work far harder and not be able to take care of herself and looks as they were considered human customs. In general, she would have to change all her ways for something that was worse than what she originally had.
Mr Jones sometimes mixed in some milk with the hens’ mash, the pigs never did anything similar (p16).
Moses had always been present on the farm talking of Sugarcandy Mountain, it was only upon his return, when the animals were at an all time low, that they started to believe him because “was it not right and just that a better world should exist somewhere else?” (p78). In Mr Jones’ day, they never felt the need for this. However, before old Major had mentioned his dream, the animals had never thought about an alternative and happier way to live, they just accepted their lot.
In the end, the animals had better living conditions under Mr Jones, this is understood when Mr Pilkington says that now the animals “did more work and received less food than any animals in the country” (p92).

How much freedom did the animals ever have?

The pigs called the loyalty that the animals had shown towards Mr Jones “stupidity”. Even their valid worries about starvation were called “elementary” (p10).
As in the case of Mollie, anyone who did not comply felt the need to leave, even from the beginning when there was relative freedom. It was never a system that encompassed all.
Everyone was quite cruel to Mollie for not wanting to change, the others “reproached her sharply” (p14).
They gave the animals their freedom in the hope that it would tame them (p20).
The animals were supervised whilst working (p81) to make sure they were not slacking off, did they really need watching?

The evolution of harvest productivity

The first harvest, when everyone was optimistic, was the best one they had. As conditions got worse, so did their efficiency in work as they and their time were too stretched (p17).
The harvest is less successful every year because the animals are taking on too much work (p40).

The makings of another rebellion

Everything ran smoothly for the human farmers while the animals did not fight back (p12). But as soon as they rebelled together, they got their freedom.
When the animals fought well it was because they all felt it in their hearts (p12, 69).
“Starvation seemed to stare them in the face” (p50), however, the pigs were “putting on weight if anything” (p76). Since hunger was what caused the first rebellion, why are the animals so tame now, not fighting for their rights?
Not even the problem with the hens’ eggs made them rebel (p51).
Why did no one question Napoleon when he said that the best way to live was by working hard and being frugal, since they know he did not live by these rules? (p86).
The animals are holding on to something that does not exist, it is merely a hope for the future, instead of fighting for something now. The Rebellion only happened because they prepared for it and forced it into existence, the trick would be to fight back before the leaders get too strong (p88).
The animals revel in remembering “the old heroic days” (p88) back when they actually took action.
What helped the animals through the hard days’ work was that they were not like other animals, they were free (p88), but in the end they were no more so than any other.

Where things went wrong

“The work of teaching and organising the others fell naturally upon the pigs” (p9). Is this where the system went wrong, should they have shared out the responsibilities and all taken part? If there are instant leaders then it is easy to form a hierarchy.
“The animals hated Moses because he told tales and did no work” (p10), but they did not hate the pigs for doing the same thing.
The farmhouse was to be preserved as a museum (p14), had they have done this, maybe they would have remembered their old lives better, but everything from the past was erased.
The Commandments were written down first by the pigs and then explained (p16), idealistically they would have been discussed by everybody, voted on and then written down.
The pigs did not produce any economically beneficial products and they did not work in the fields (p17), they were like Moses and the humans.
“It was always the pigs who put forward the resolutions” (p19) which means the system was limited from the beginning.
It says “all the pigs were in full agreement” when deciding how to share out the apples, but why should that matter? All the animals should have been in agreement (p23).
“The importance of keeping the pigs in good health was all too obvious” (p23), but how about everyone else’s health? They were the ones that had to do all the work, believing they were less meant they did not fight for their share.
Why did all the animals just “assume” things? (p38) A lot of their downfall was due to their own impassiveness.
The animals worked like slaves (p40) but were supposed to be free.
When Squealer is convincing the animals of Snowball’s betrayal and has some letters of ‘proof’, he says: “I could show you this in his own writing, if you were able to read it” (p54), however, some of them could read, so why did the few that could not speak up?
After the bloodshed that took place due to the confessions, Boxer’s conclusion was that it must be their own fault that laws were being broken, and not due to the hard times that were being forced upon them (p57).
If the animals knew that Napoleon was prone to “deceiving” for later outcomes, why were they not wising up to it overtime? Not solely because they believed everything they were told but also because they were always surprised by his cunning (p66).

Consequences

All they really did with the Rebellion was get caught up in a mess, they were looking for a pure life but now they have corruption in their own ranks (p19), and it all seemed much worse because it was happening between themselves (p57).
Because the pigs were animals and knew the others so well, they were able to exploit them even more than the humans already did. So in their fight for freedom and equality, the animals left themselves open to be tricked into harder labour which was then shown to other farmers to exploit. Thus lowering the standard of life for all animals when it was already pretty harsh to begin with.
The animals “assumed as a matter of course” that the apples would be shared out between them (p22), but as they did not fight for the right, it was not given to them. They thought they only had to fight once and when their freedom was obtained, everything would fall into place, but it should have been one fight of many.
The fear of something worse stopped the animals from fighting for something better (p23).

In the end

The animals really thought that they would be lost without Napoleon when they thought he was dying (p72).
The pigs did not learn from their mistakes as drinking was too much fun (p73).
The land that was set aside for retirement was then used to grow barley (p73). The old suffering for the leader’s entertainment.
When Boxer dies it is clear that not all the animals are on equal terms like the Rebellion was supposed to achieve. Naturally when Boxer is lying on the floor, Clover is next to him while Benjamin squats flies off of him. However, when Squealer arrives to give Napoleon’s message, it is simply to pass along his sorrow for the downfall of a loyal worker, because that is all Boxer is to him. The reality should have been that Napoleon came personally and showed actual concern (p80).
In the end, instead of Boxer’s wish that Benjamin could keep him company in retirement (p80), Clover kept Benjamin company (p90). Clover, who was 14 when the story ends (p85), lived to an older age than Boxer who died at 12 (p74). But was watching their health to live longer, as they kept telling Boxer to do, really worth it? (p90).
At the end, the animals witness how there was not enough food for all of them to eat properly, neither enough money to procure more, but there was plenty of money to entertain guests (p91).

Questions

Would there have been the same happiness and celebration had the Rebellion taken place in winter? They celebrated by looking at how marvellous their land was, eating fresh summer grass and kicking the earth up (p13). However, in the winter it would have been so cold, no one would have rolled around, and kicking up the earth would have been impossible because it was always frozen (p49).
Except for Mollie and Snowball who never came back, the animals say no one had ever left the farm (p80), but do the birds not count, especially Moses who did come back? Or the cat that although she was never stated to have actually left the farm, she did disappear a lot. Do the animals perhaps refer only to those they trust?
What happens when you cannot count on your leaders not to break the law?

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Penguin Books, 2008.