Old Major is the inspiration which fuels the Revolution and the book. According to one interpretation, he could be based upon both Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. As a socialist, George Orwell may have agreed with much of Marx, and even respected aspects of Lenin. According to this interpretation, the satire in Animal Farm is not of Marxism, or of Lenin's revolution, but of the corruption that occurred later. However, according to Christopher Hitchens: in the book, "the aims and principles of the Russian Revolution are given face-value credit throughout; this is a revolution betrayed, not a revolution that is monstrous from its inception." Though Old Major is presented positively, Orwell does slip in some flaws, such as his admission that he has largely been free of the abuse the rest of the animals have had to suffer. Old Major introduces the animals to the song Beasts of England.

Napoleon, a Berkshire boar, is the main tyrant and villain and is based upon Joseph Stalin. Napoleon begins to gradually build up his power, using puppies he took from mother dogs Jessie and Bluebell, which he raises to be vicious dogs as his secret police. After driving Snowball off the farm, Napoleon usurps full power, using false propaganda from Squealer and threats and intimidation from the dogs to keep the other animals in line. Among other things, he gradually changes the Commandments to allow himself privileges and justify his dictatorial rule such as eating at a table.

From the very beginning of the novella, Napoleon emerges as an utterly corrupt opportunist. Though always present at the early meetings of the new state, Napoleon never makes a single contribution to the revolution—not to the formulation of its ideology, not to the bloody struggle that it necessitates, not to the new society's initial attempts to establish itself. He never shows interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself, only in the strength of his power over it. Thus, the only project he undertakes with enthusiasm is the training of a litter of puppies.

Snowball is Napoleon's rival. He is an allusion to Leon Trotsky. He wins over most animals, but is driven out of the farm in the end by Napoleon. Snowball genuinely works for the good of the farm and devises plans to help the animals achieve their vision of an egalitarian utopia but is chased from the farm by Napoleon and his dogs, and rumours are spread about him (by Napoleon) to make him seem evil and corrupt and that he is secretly sabotaging the animals' efforts to improve the farm. In his biography of Orwell, Bernard Crick suggests that Snowball was as much inspired by POUM leader Andrés Nin as by Trotsky. Nin was a similarly adept orator and also fell victim to the Communist purges of the Left during the Spanish Civil War.

Squealer, a small fat porker, serves as Napoleon's right hand man and minister of propaganda. Inspired by Vyacheslav Molotov and the Soviet paper Pravda, Squealer manipulates the language to excuse, justify, and extol all of Napoleon's actions. He represents all the propaganda Stalin used to justify his own heinous acts. In all of his work, George Orwell made it a point to show how politicians used language. Squealer limits debate by complicating it and he confuses and disorients, making claims that the pigs need the extra luxury they are taking in order to function properly, for example. However, when questions persist, he usually uses the threat of Mr. Jones's return as justification for the pigs' privileges. Squealer uses statistics to convince the animals that life is getting better and better. Most of the animals have only dim memories of life before the revolution; therefore, they are convinced.

Minimus is a poetic pig who writes the second and third national anthems of Animal Farm after the singing of "Beasts of England" is banned, representing admirers of Stalin both inside and outside the USSR such as Maxim Gorky. As Minimus composed the replacement of "Beasts of England", he may equate to the three main composers of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union which replaced The Internationale – Gabriel El-Registan, Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, and Sergey Mikhalkov.

The Piglets are hinted to be the children of Napoleon (albeit not truly noted in the novel), and are the first generation of animals to actually be subjugated to his idea of animal inequality.

Mr. Jones represents Nicholas II of Russia, the deposed Czar, who had been facing severe financial difficulties in the days leading up to the 1917 Revolution. The character is also a nod toward Louis XVI. There are also several implications that he represents an autocratic but

ineffective capitalist, incapable of running the farm and looking after the animals properly. Jones is a very heavy drinker and the animals revolt against him after he drinks so much that he does not feed or take care of them. Ironically, Napoleon himself becomes almost obsessed with drinking and eventually changes the commandments to suit his needs. Toward the end of the book, the pigs become the mirror image of Jones, though they thirst for more power than ever before.

Mr. Frederick is the tough owner of Pinchfield, a well-kept neighbouring farm. He represents Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in general.

Mr. Pilkington is the easy-going but crafty owner of Foxwood, a neighbouring farm overgrown with weeds, as described in the book. He represents the western powers, such as the United Kingdom and the U.S.. The card game at the very end of the novel is a metaphor for the Tehran Conference, where the parties flatter each other, all the while cheating at the game. The irony in this last scene is present because of all of the Pigs being civil and kind to the humans, defying all for which they had fought. This was present in the Tehran Conference with the Alliance that the Soviet Union formed with the United States and the United Kingdom, capitalist countries that the Soviet Union had fought in the early years of the revolution. At the end of the novel, both Napoleon and Pilkington draw the Ace of Spades (which in most games, is the highest-ranking card) at the same time and begin fighting loudly, symbolising the beginning of tension between the U.S. and Soviet superpowers.

'Mr. Whymper' is a man hired by Napoleon to represent Animal Farm in human society. He is loosely based on Western intellectuals such as George Bernard Shaw and, especially, Lincoln Steffens, who visited the U.S.S.R. in 1919.

Horses: There are two horses and one mare: Clover & Boxer and "Mollie the mare"

Boxer is one of the main characters. He is the tragic avatar of the working class, or proletariat: loyal, kind, dedicated, and physically the strongest animal on the farm, but naïve and slow. His ignorance and blind trust towards his leaders leads to his death and their profit. In particular, his heroic physical work represents the Stakhanovite movement. His maxim of "I will work harder" is reminiscent of Jurgis Rudkus from the Upton Sinclair novel The Jungle. His second maxim, "Napoleon is always right" is an example of the propaganda used by Squealer to control the animals. It was not adopted until later in the book. Boxer's work ethic is often praised by the pigs, and he is set as a prime example to the other animals. When Boxer is injured, and can no longer work, Napoleon sends him off to the knacker's and deceives the other animals, saying that Boxer died peacefully in the hospital. When the animals cannot work, Napoleon tosses them aside, for they mean nothing to him.

Clover is Boxer's mother and a fellow draft horse. She helps and cares for Boxer when he splits his hoof. She blames herself for forgetting the original Seven Commandments when Squealer had actually revised them. Clover is compassionate, as is shown when she protects the baby ducklings during Major's speech; albeit made out to be somewhat vain in the opening of the novel by the narrator, who remarks that she never "recovered" her figure after giving birth to her fourth foal. She is also upset when animals are executed by the dogs, and is held in great respect by three younger horses who ultimately replace Boxer.

Mollie is a self-centred and vain white mare who likes wearing ribbons in her mane, eating sugar cubes (which represent luxury) and being pampered and groomed by humans. She represents upper-class people, the bourgeoisie and nobility who fled to the West after the Russian Revolution and effectively dominated the Russian diaspora. Accordingly, she quickly leaves for another farm and is only once mentioned again.

Benjamin is a wise, old donkey that shows slight emotion. The animals often query him about his lack of expression but always answers with: 'Donkeys live a long life. None of you have ever seen a dead donkey.' He is dedicated to Boxer and is sorely upset when Boxer is taken away. Benjamin has known about the pigs' wrongdoing the entire time, though he says nothing to the other animals. He represents the cynics in society. It has also been speculated that Benjamin

could also represent the role of Jews in society, although this is unlikely since so many of the early supporters of the Russian Revolution were Jews. Another possibility is that Benjamin is an allegory for intellectuals who have the wisdom to stay clear of the purges. Yet another representation is possibly that Benjamin is an allegory of the author himself.

Muriel is a wise, old goat who is friends with all the animals on the farm. She, like Benjamin and Snowball, is one of the few animals on the farm who can read, which helps Clover know that the commands have changed. She possibly represents the same category as Benjamin. The only difference is that she dies at the end of the book due to age.

The Puppies, who were raised by Napoleon to be his security force may be a reference to the fact that a major factor in Stalin's rise to power was his appointment as General Secretary of the Communist Party by Lenin in 1922, in which role he used his powers of appointment, promotion and demotion to quietly pack the party with his own supporters. He did this with such effectiveness that Lenin's Testament eventually called for Stalin's removal from this post. Lenin's request was ignored by the leading members of the Politburo - most notably Trotsky, represented in the novel by Snowball. The puppies represent Stalin's secret police.

Moses the raven is an old bird that occasionally visits the farm with tales of Sugarcandy Mountain, where he says animals go when they die, but only if they work hard. He represents religion, which is banned when the pigs come to power. He represents the Russian Orthodox Church. He leaves after the rebellion, for all animals are supposed to be equal, and religion is not part of equality, but returns later in the novel because he convinces the animals to work harder. Nobody does anything to harm Moses, due to the fact that all animals (and Moses being an animal) are equal. In the end, he is one of few animals to remember the rebellion, along with Clover, Benjamin, and the pigs.

The Sheep represented the masses, manipulated to support Stalin in spite of his treachery.

The Rats may have represented some of the nomadic people in the far north of the USSR.

The Hens may have represented the Kulaks as they destroy their eggs rather than hand them over to Napoleon, similar to how during collectivisation some Kulaks destroyed machinery or killed their livestock.

The Cat represents laziness (for she, along with Mollie, did not do any work on the farm) and possibly racism (for she is the only one who said that the rats are enemies).

The refusal of the Humans to refer to Animal Farm by its new name (still calling it Manor Farm) may be indicative of the diplomatic limbo in which the Soviets existed following their early history.

Mr. Jones' last-ditch effort to retake the farm (The Battle of the Cowshed) is analogous to the Russian Civil War in which the western capitalist governments sent soldiers to try to remove the Bolsheviks from power.

The Battle of Cowshed is fought with similar tactics to the Battle of Cowpens in the American Revolution.

When Napoleon and Snowball argue about how Animal Farm should be ruled, Napoleon favours acquiring weapons to defend the farm while Snowball favoured getting other farms (countries) to rebel. This is similar to Stalin wanting "Socialism in one country" and Trotsky's theory of "Permanent Revolution."

Squealer constantly changing the commandments on Napoleon's orders may refer to the constant line of adjustments to the Communist theory by the people in power. In addition, his lies to animals of past events they cannot remember, refers to the revision of history texts to glorify Stalin during his regime.

After Old Major dies, his skull is placed on display on a tree stump. Similarly, Lenin's embalmed body was put on display in Lenin's Tomb in Red Square after death, where it remains. It should also be noted that the tomb of Karl Marx is adorned by an extremely large bust of his likeness, which lends more credibility to Old Major being a closer

reference to Karl Marx than to Lenin. Marx's tomb is located in Highgate Cemetery, London. However Old Major's skull is eventually buried by Napoleon, unlike Lenin.

The flag of Animal Farm consists of a green field with a hoof and a horn. According to the book, the green represents the fields of England, with the hoof and horn being an analogy to the hammer and sickle. It also bears resemblance to the Communist Russia flag.

When Napoleon steals Snowball’s idea for a windmill, the windmill can be considered a symbol of the Soviet Five-Year Plans, a concept developed by Trotsky and adopted by Stalin, who, after banning Trotsky from the Soviet Union, claimed them to be his idea. The failure of the windmill to generate the expected comforts and subsequent search for saboteurs is probably a reference to accusations and a show trial against British engineers who were working on electrification projects in the USSR.

Moses the raven leaving the farm for a while and then returning is similar to the Russian Orthodox Church going underground and then being brought back to give the workers hope.

Boxer's motto, "Napoleon is always right" is synonymous with Il Duce ha sempre ragione ("Mussolini is always right"), a chant used to hail Benito Mussolini during his rule of Italy from 1922 to 1943.

During the rise of Napoleon, he ordered the collection of all the hens' eggs. In an act of defiance, the hens destroyed their eggs rather than give them to Napoleon. During Stalin's collectivisation period in the early 1930s, many Ukrainian peasants burned their crops and farms rather than handing them over to the government.

Napoleon's mass executions, of which many were unfair for the alleged crimes, is similar to Stalin executing his political enemies for various crimes after they were tortured and forced to falsify confessions.

Napoleon replaces the farm anthem "Beasts of England" with an inane composition by the pig poet Minimus ("Animal Farm, Animal Farm / Never through me / Shall thou come to harm"). In 1943, Stalin replaced the old national anthem "The Internationale" with "the Hymn of the Soviet Union." The old Internationale glorified the revolution and "the people." The original version of the Hymn of the Soviet Union glorified Stalin so heavily that after his death in 1953, entire sections of the anthem had to be replaced or removed. Orwell could have also been referring to Napoleon Bonaparte's banning of the French national hymn, La Marseillaise in 1799.

Napoleon works with Mr. Frederick, who eventually betrays Animal Farm and destroys the windmill. Though Animal Farm repels the human attack, many animals are wounded and killed. This is similar to Stalin’s Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany in 1939, which was later betrayed in 1941 when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Though the Soviet Union won the war, it came at a tremendous price of roughly 8.5-15 million Soviet soldiers and many civilians, resulting in an estimated 20 million dead, as well as the utter destruction of the Western Soviet Union and its prized collective farms that Stalin had created in the 1930s. The demolition of the windmill and the battle that ensued there could also be a reference to the Battle of Stalingrad. The selling of the farm's excess timber supply could represent the offering of raw materials to the United States in exchange for weapons of war under the Lend-Lease or could be the Stalin-Hitler treaty.

Napoleon changing Animal Farm back to Manor Farm echoes the Red Army’s name change from the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" to the "Soviet Army" to appear as a more appealing and professional organisation rather than an army of the common people.

The dogs may be an allegory to the NKVD (KGB), the elite police force who ruled by terror under Stalin's hand.

The character of Boxer could be an allusion to the financial state of Russia at the time of publication.

The term "four legs good, two legs bad" could be symbolic for the simplification of the April Theses, for workers to understand it better.

Napoleon once creates and awards himself with the Order of the Green Banner, a reference to the Soviet Union's Order of the Red Banner.

Napoleon receives titles such as Father of all animals, and Terror of humankind. This is a reference to Stalin's many grandiloquent titles.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". A proclamation by the pigs who control the government. The sentence is a comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but give power and privileges to a small elite.

Chapter Summaries

1. Old Major rounds up the farm animals in a meeting and tells them about his dream and ideas. He teaches them "Beasts of England" as their rallying song.

2. Old Major dies and the more intelligent animals on the farm work hard to spread Old Major's ideas to the other animals preparing for the Rebellion. The Rebellion takes place sooner than anyone expects, and Mr. Jones, Moses, and all other humans on the farm flee. Snowball and Napoleon take lead and gives the Manor Farm a new name and established commandments that the animals would live by.

3. The animals work hard to produce a surplus of food. Snowball and Napoleon continue to organize and educate (especially in reading and writing) the other animals on the farm. The animals work hard to memorize the Seven Commandments. It is pointed out that the pigs got special treatment of milk and apples to "preserve their health" as "brainworkers".

4. The animals try to spread the story of the Rebellion to other animals in neighboring farms, and also taught them the tune of "Beasts of England". Mr. Jones with the help of hismen, and other men from Foxwood and Pinchwood attempt to recapture the farm. The animals successfully retaliate and win the battle.

5. Mollie fails to move past her temptation of the materials humans can give her and escape Animal Farm to live with humans again. The disputes between Snowball and Napoleon become violently heated, and the animals on the farm are always divided on which side to stand. The arguements peak over the building of the windmill, and Napoleon unleashes his dogs on Snowball the day of the voting. Napoleon takes over after Snowball's expulsion with a firm grip over everything.

6. The laborious task of building the windmill begins, and Napoleon starts to engage in trade and money. The pigs take up the farmhouse, and the other animals observe suspicious actions of their leaders a few times, trying to recall the original Seven Commandments. A bad storm hits the farm, and the windmill is found in ruins afterwards. Napoleon blames Snowball for this misfortune and issues a ransom for Snowball.

7. A harsh winter sets in and the animals on Animal Farm run short of food supplies, but Napoleon hides this from the outside world. Unrest fills Animal Farms as the search for Snowball and his followers continues. Snowball's followers are forced to confess their crimes in front of all of the animals one day, and then slaughtered on the spot by Napoleon's dogs. The "Beasts of England" song is abolished and forbidden to be sung and replaced by another song.

8. Napoleon begins to exert his power over the farm through Squealer doing less work himself. Napoleon is seen more as a dictator than anything else by this point as there are songs written about him and none of his rulings are questioned. A pile of lumber is finally sold to Frederick over Plinkington, however Frederick payed with fake bills. Frederick and his followers attack Animal Farm and succeed in destroying the windmill and injuring many of the animals, but the animals win the battle.

9. Working hours continued to become longer and life became even harder. Pigs were given more privileges which made more work for the other animals. History about Snowball and the Rebellion also continues to be distorted by Napoleon and Squealer. Boxer, now old of age, overworks himself and ultimately injures himself while working on the windmill. It is said that Boxer was sent to a hospital and died in peace there, however there was commotion when the knackers come and pick him up.

10. Years on the farm go by and memories of Snowball and the Rebellion disapear as new generations of animals replace the old. The pigs and dogs live lavish lives, claiming that they do important work inside the farmhouse, while the other animals work long hours and are most of the time hungry. The pigs start to walk on two legs and consider themselves equal to humans and superior than the other farm animals.

CHAPTER 1

Mr. Jones, the proprietor and overseer of the Manor Farm, has just stumbled drunkenly to bed after forgetting to secure his farm buildings properly. As soon as his bedroom light goes out, all of the farm animals except Moses, Mr. Jones's tame raven, convene in the big barn to hear a speech by Old Major, a prize boar and pillar of the animal community. Sensing that his long life is about to come to an end, Major wishes to impart to the rest of the farm animals a distillation of the wisdom that he has acquired during his lifetime.

As the animals listen raptly, Old Major delivers up the fruits of his years of quiet contemplation in his stall. The plain truth, he says, is that the lives of his fellow animals are “miserable, laborious, and short.” Animals are born into the world as slaves, worked incessantly from the time they can walk, fed only enough to keep breath in their bodies, and then slaughtered mercilessly when they are no longer useful. He notes that the land upon which the animals live possesses enough resources to support many times the present population in luxury; there is no natural reason for the animals' poverty and misery. Major blames the animals' suffering solely on their human oppressors. Mr. Jones and his ilk have been exploiting animals for ages, Major says, taking all of the products of their labor—eggs, milk, dung, foals—for themselves and producing nothing of value to offer the animals in return. Old Major relates a dream that he had the previous night, of a world in which animals live without the tyranny of men: they are free, happy, well fed, and treated with dignity. He urges the animals to do everything they can to make this dream a reality and exhorts them to overthrow the humans who purport to own them. The animals can succeed in their rebellion only if they first achieve a complete solidarity or “perfect comradeship” of all of the animals against the humans, and if they resist the false notion spread by humans that animals and humans share common interests. A brief conversation arises in which the animals debate the status of rats as comrades. Major then provides a precept that will allow the animals to determine who their comrades are: creatures that walk on two legs are enemies; those with four legs or with wings are allies. He reminds his audience that the ways of man are completely corrupt: once the humans have been defeated, the animals must never adopt any of their habits; they must not live in a house, sleep in a bed, wear clothes, drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, touch money, engage in trade, or tyrannize another animal. He teaches the animals a song called “Beasts of England,” which paints a dramatic picture of the utopian, or ideal, animal community of Major's dream. The animals sing several inspired choruses of “Beasts of England” with one voice—until Mr. Jones, thinking that the commotion bespeaks the entry of a fox into the yard, fires a shot into the side of the barn. The animals go to sleep, and the Manor Farm again sinks into quietude.

Chapter II

Three nights later, Old Major dies in his sleep, and for three months the animals make secret preparations to carry out the old pig's dying wish of wresting control of the farm from Mr. Jones. The work of teaching and organizing falls to the pigs, the cleverest of the animals, and especially to two pigs named Napoleon and Snowball. Together with a silver-tongued pig named Squealer, they formulate the principles of a philosophy called Animalism, the fundamentals of which they spread among the other animals. The animals call one another “Comrade” and take their quandaries to the pigs, who answer their questions about the impending Rebellion. At first, many of the animals find the principles of Animalism difficult to understand; they have grown up believing that Mr. Jones is their proper master. Mollie, a vain carriage horse, expresses particular concern over whether she will be able to continue to enjoy the little luxuries like eating sugar and wearing ribbons in the new utopia. Snowball sternly reminds her that ribbons symbolize slavery and that, in the animals' utopia, they would have to be abolished. Mollie halfheartedly agrees.The pigs' most troublesome opponent proves to be Moses, the raven, who flies about spreading tales of a place called Sugarcandy Mountain, where animals go when they die—a place of great pleasure and plenty, where sugar grows on the hedges. Even though many of the animals despise the talkative and idle Moses, they nevertheless find great appeal in the idea of Sugarcandy Mountain. The pigs work very hard to convince the other animals of the falsehood

of Moses's teachings. Thanks to the help of the slow-witted but loyal cart-horses, Boxer and Clover, the pigs eventually manage to prime the animals for revolution. The Rebellion occurs much earlier than anyone expected and comes off with shocking ease. Mr. Jones has been driven to drink after losing money in a lawsuit, and he has let his men become lazy, dishonest, and neglectful. One day, Mr. Jones goes on a drinking binge and forgets to feed the animals. Unable to bear their hunger, the cows break into the store shed and the animals begin to eat. Mr. Jones and his men discover the transgression and begin to whip the cows. Spurred to anger, the animals turn on the men, attack them, and easily chase them from the farm. Astonished by their success, the animals hurry to destroy the last remaining evidence of their subservience: chains, bits, halters, whips, and other implements stored in the farm buildings. After obliterating all signs of Mr. Jones, the animals enjoy a double ration of corn and sing “Beasts of England” seven times through, until it is time to sleep. In the morning, they admire the farm from a high knoll before exploring the farmhouse, where they stare in stunned silence at the unbelievable luxuries within. Mollie tries to stay inside, where she can help herself to ribbons and gaze at herself in the mirror, but the rest of the animals reprimand her sharply for her foolishness. The group agrees to preserve the farmhouse as a museum, with the stipulation that no animal may ever live in it. The pigs reveal to the other animals that they have taught themselves how to read, and Snowball replaces the inscription “Manor Farm” on the front gate with the words “Animal Farm.” Snowball and Napoleon, having reduced the principles of Animalism to seven key commandments, paint these commandments on the side of the big barn. The animals go to gather the harvest, but the cows, who haven't been milked in some time, begin lowing loudly. The pigs milk them, and the animals eye the five pails of milk desirously. Napoleon tells them not to worry about the milk; he says that it will be “attended to.” Snowball leads the animals to the fields to begin harvesting. Napoleon lags behind, and when the animals return that evening, the milk has disappeared.