Prior to reading this classic best-seller, my knowledge of Animal Farm by George Orwell is insignificant to say the least. I know it’s a story about how animals overthrow the farmer and also that it served as a critique to both capitalism and socialism and how society was only functional to  both but never received anything worthy in exchange. This story came to my knowledge thanks to Roger Waters and Co. Pink Floyd’s album Animals, which was published in 1977 was loosely based on Animal Farm, and is highly regarded as one of their best and in it they criticize capitalism and all their failures and vices. This album was more famous perhaps, thanks to the album cover which was a picture of an inflated pig floating across London. I hope I can find in it a mix of a well-written character driven story, full of symbolism and critique of the society but at the same time, a story that doesn’t forget about the art itself. I have high expectations about this literary work of art which was always on my pendant list.  

The other characters are not developed yet but most of them seem very responsive to what Old Mayor said and are looking forward to supporting his ideas. The supporters are shown to be mostly just servile either to the human that is his owner or to Old Mayor which is their leader, they don’t seem to be able to think by themselves whatsoever. There are a variety of farm animals included in this list and are as follows. Horses (Boxer, Clover, Mollie); the donkey Benjamin and Muriel the goat. There are neutral animals like dogs and a cat which seem supportive but at the same time, in favor of humans as well (since they are the pets and are never eaten, they are confused about where their loyalty resides). Last but not least, the allegiance of rats is questioned since they are not animal farms and also there is a Raven that didn’t show up to the meeting.

In the end, just when they all bonded with a song called Beasts of England, the farmer heard the noise and fired a gun to the place so they would be scared and stop with this. This is an image that evokes how the state powers are afraid of people getting together and thinking by themselves instead of only listening to authorities. They are always afraid of plots and conspiracies. There is a saying that comes to mind regarding this topic and it goes like this: “Be dangerous, think”. 

They continued the secret meetings in the barn and Animalism was stronger than ever. Most animals were easy to convince and were glad to follow the hogs and learn all about their creed. The only one that didn’t seem too convinced of everything they said was Mollie. She was a white and elegant mare that was used to having pretty ribbons and didn’t quite manage to understand anything about the revolution since she was used to serving humans. They tried to convince her that any clothes and saddle gave to her by humans was not worthy of wearing since it was a symbol of slavery and being at mercy of men. Mollie symbolizes the way part of the working class people that are awarded some privileges by the ruling class feel that their masters are good and the only ones capable of leading them even though they are being cruel to everyone around, as long as they have their reward, they act as if everything is ok. 

The boars  were doing such a great job at indoctrinating the vast majority of animals and the overthrow of the farmers was imminent at this point. The only one against this political party was the raven, Moses. He was the farmer’s favorite pet and acted like a spy and even confused some of the followers since he had a knack for declamation and was an avid and machiavellian manipulator as well. He was always preaching about an imaginary place called Sugarcandy Mountain which was a place where all dead farm animals went to be happy in the afterlife. 

This is a clear allegory to how the church and their bishops are part of the problem, they sugarcoat life to the common people so the burden of capitalism and slavery is tolerable, something akin to the boiled frog syndrome. This also shows how the church has always been involved in everything related to mass control, class struggle and even law enforcement. Nowadays, the separation of state and church is still an utopia in some countries, especially in South America where the catholic church still holds great power since colonialism and are still the biggest influencers around. 

The farm owner, Mr. Jones, was the most diligent, capable and efficient farmer until the fateful day came where he struggled with financial problems in his land. Because of this, he became an alcoholic that some days couldn’t even wake up. Finally, The D-day arrived where everything converged into the accomplishment of the desired Revolution: The workers left early, and he couldn’t wake up so he didn’t even feed them during the entire day. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. All the animals decided to invade the house and get rid of all humans once and for all in order to take control of the ranch. The Manor Farm was no more. It was the Animal Farm now. The leaders, Snowball and Napoleon then created the seven commandments,a set of rules that encompassed everything related to their beliefs. It was created in order to become the cornerstone of Animalism from this point onwards. For now, all was good on the farm...

Of all animals, Boxer the horse was the hardest working one, he even had a personal motto that read “I will work harder” and his enthusiasm at labour was contagious to all the animals, he was the MVP (Most Valuable Player) among them, like Atlas holding the world one might say. All of this helped constitute a semi perfect society, a sort of Zootopia. The only ones that didn’t care much about work were Mollie the mare and the cat. Old Benjamin, the stubborn donkey was a hard worker but was pretty slow and he didn’t care much about the so-called revolution since according to him, the work is the same, only the leaders changed. 

The animals were so invested in their newly created society that they designed a green flag that symbolized the future “Republic of the Animals“ which was meant to arise once the human race had been finally overthrown. Dear reader, think of Planet of the Apes as a reference. 

In the barn, they had a weekly assembly where they discussed and debated resolutions and the work plan of the week. They functioned as a democracy where they all had the chance to vote but only the pigs proposed ideas and resolutions since they were the smarter ones and were the only capable of understanding how to do it. Think of all political parties in Paraguay and how they function, while basically everyone can vote, not everyone is aware of what the authorities do, especially the senators and deputies so they are not aware of how democracy really works everyday. As usual, Napoleon & Snowball were the more active ones in these meetings but they seemed to never be able to agree on anything. 

Snowball was more focused on the educational part, he assembled classes for all the animals but especially for pigs where they learned everything they needed for farming and even philosophy and other sciences. They even dampened down their commandments to a simple but effective phrase in order to appeal to every animal member of the farm: “Four legs good, two legs bad.”  Which was the main principle of their doctrine called Animalism, and the maxim adopted by the sheep that as in real life were the “hurreros” of the farm and could not reason very well, they were there only to follow instructions.

Napoleon on the other hand, focused more on indoctrinating young animals since he thought that teaching to older animals was a waste of time. 

As every society, their own started to crumble because the pigs received more benefits and started to abuse power and started to tip the balance to their own favor which was the only issue in which Napoleon & Snowball agreed upon. Of all the pigs, the one that was always in charge of passing the information to other animals was Squealer who had a knack for demagogies and knew how to convey a message to the proletariat, think of charismatic & chaotic leaders like Trump or Hitler that based their doctrine or speeches in lies, populism, menaces and misinformation. 

He said to all the animals that if it was not for the pigs, they would have been long death and that the humans could come back, especially the farm owner, Mr. Jones and they thought that he was much worse so they all agreed on everything he said. They were basically living in a state of fear and terror where the pigs were first class citizens and the other animals were second class citizens. 

Finally Mr. Jones gathered the courage to take back his farm and planned a counterattack helped by other humans, but he was not counting on the intelligence of the pigs that already foresaw this happening way back when they took control of the farm. Snowball was very strategic and focused on Roman Tactics made by the one and only Julius Caesar in his campaigns, he was born ready for this battle. 

Indeed there was a battle that resulted in two casualties, one animal and one human but at least the animals were victorious. Snowball made the eulogy and focused on dying for the cause if it was needed like their own “comrade”. The battle was named “The Battle of the Cowshed” and only enlarged their legacy as the bravest and more intelligent farm animals in all Britain. 

After the battle, the pigs were consumed by their own power, they thought of themselves as unstoppable and invincible. But as any world power that ever walked the earth, they were guilty of arrogance and  elitist leaders. There’s a saying that says: “Give them power and you’ll know their true colors” and the pigs were a proof of this, their behavior resembled as of Henry VIII back in the 16th Century. They were radicals that didn’t even care about victims, either animals or people and only believed in their cause as the number one priority.

Suddenly, the summer time was over and the harsh weather came to the farm. The leaders (Snowball & Napoleon)  were discussing and disagreeing a lot more than usual and they both had created their own personal factions and divided the Animal Farm by followers that agreed with their ideas.  Snowball’s main focus was on the necessity of innovating and improving the farm a lot while Napoleon focused more on surviving and criticized all the ideas Snowball proposed.

After that, Snowball had the ultimate idea, a Windmill that would generate electricity for the entire farm so they would only need to work three days a week, unlike what  they do now. All the animals were surprised at how intelligent he was and the way his thinking was always outside the box. Everyone but Napoleon who was envious of his intellect of course.

Because of that, he opposed the idea, because according to him the windmill was going to take a lot of time to build, time they didn’t have because they had to harvest the food.

 He had a more traditional way of thinking and didn’t want anything related to technology and the application of it. He basically represents the old ways and how the whole world will fear the unknown, and try to tear every plan down in order to live an indulgent life. 

They were both disputing their ideas and even created slogans. “Vote for Snowball and the three day week” vs. “Vote for Napoleon and the full manger”.  Benjamin the donkey was the only one that remained neutral since he seemed to never care about anything. He represents the tepid people, the ones that only care about themselves and think that things are never going to change in the republic and that their vote doesn’t make a difference. 

Another discussion session was due to discussing the defense of the farm. Napoleon said that they should all have firearms while Snowball, as tactic as he was, proposed to attack intellectually to the humans by sending pigeons to other farms to tell the story and try to convince and enlarge the resistance. Take the fight outside of their land in order to not receive an attack in their home.  The animals couldn’t decide who was right but just when Snowball was about to win, nine enormous dogs appeared there in the meeting and started chasing him. It turned out their allegiance was to Napoleon and they acted as his hound army. 

Because Snowball left, Napoleon was now the only one in charge and started doing everything his way. He now just met with pigs and made Squealer the official nexus between the pigs and the other animals. Napoleon was acting now as a military dictator and without Snowball to stop him, he dominated the whole farm. He valued loyalty and obedience over bravery and intelligence. He even convinced Boxer that now had two maxims, "Napoleon is always right" & "I will work harder".  He even persuaded all of them that the windmill was his idea and that Snowball was trying to steal it from him and since he was a bad influence he had to go. There was no opposition to him in the farm, for now...

It was admirable how they were working all together, especially for the harvest and for building the windmill but the consequences of all the extra work were starting to appear. They missed a part of the harvest and the construction of the windmill was executed very slowly. The most challenging task to pull off was to operate heavy machinery, especially the boulder but thanks to the strong and ever-generous Boxer it was achievable. 

 Boxer, as mighty and laborious  as he was, was working harder than ever and he was an inspiration to the whole farm. The problem now was that the farm wasn’t able to fulfill some needs like humans do. Like the use of artificial manures, iron shoes for the horses, and paraffin oil so Napoleon now decided to trade goods with other neighboring farms. 

The necessity of building the windmill was so imperious that Napoleon prioritized that to everything else, even to the point of trading their own food in order to be able to build it. The animals felt a huge contradiction in their leader’s words because one of the most important mandates was to never engage in any affairs with humans and now they were trading goods. Some pigs meant to rise up and speak their voice but Napoleon’s guards, the big dogs, were menacing as always so they were afraid to speak their mind. 

Again, Squealer was filling with lies the minds of the citizens. He started saying that Snowball was the only one that didn’t want to engage in human trades and that it was never forbidden to begin with and was so cynical that even implied that all the animals were dreaming about that mandate and it was not real. 

Mr. Whymper, the chosen intermediary between the animals and the outside world, came to the farm once a week. He was a very astute and not worthy of trust human being that saw this treaty as a way to have profit. He was only loyal to his own interests and outsmarted everyone else in the farm. Dear reader, think of the wolf of wall street. Most humans were envious of how much the farm was progressing and wanted the farm to go bankrupt. 

The pigs were more elitist than ever and now moved to the house. They were eating in the dining room and even sleeping on human beds and some animals, especially horses  were doubting them because of it but Squealer, the always manipulating force, again convinced them that this was ok since they were the “brain” of the farm and needed all the amenities. 

They were all so happy about being half-done with the building of the windmill. All but Old Benjamin. He wasn’t moved by the fact and always repeated that donkeys live a long time and that he couldn’t care less about anything. 

Suddenly, a big storm came and destroyed the windmill. They were all devastated. Since Napoleon accused Snowball of doing this and everyone believed him, his head had a price now. He was a wanted pig in the farm and was sentenced to death as soon as they could find him. Snowball did this in order to manipulate everyone and convinced them to rebuild the windmill and to look for Snowball simultaneously. He was indeed Machiavellian.  

 

The animals were bitter and didn’t think the same, nevertheless they decided to build thicker walls. All of them were feeling stressed and the weather didn’t help at all, they were feeling all sorts of vicissitudes and the only hopeful ones were Boxer and Clover. As always, Squealer made speeches to convince all of them to work harder but Clover set the example and was more acclaimed because of that. 

Suddenly they were close to starvation since they didn't have enough food reserves. The Animal Farm seemed to be standing on the edge of a cliff and the humans knew that. They were spreading rumours about the animals getting sick and dying. Napoleon, as the de facto leader, wanted to make sure that the impression of them in the outside world changed so he used Mr. Whymper as his voice. He tried to convince him by getting the sheep to lie and of course they complied. 

After that, Napoleon hid in the farmhouse guarded by his hound dogs. He decided that all eggs must be negotiated with other farms in order to obtain other products in exchange. The hens were devastated. They wanted to rebel and for the first time since the human left the animal farm, it seemed like the winds of change were approaching again. This resulted in some hens rioting and dying as well. 

Napoleon started having a great relationship with some local farmers and even started negotiating more with them. It was then that the legend of Snowball started. Squealer convinced them all that he was not only alive and well, but that he also came at night and destroyed everything he could. He also said that Snowball was a traitor and that was a part of the human’s team all this time. 

Suddenly, the dogs attacked some pigs and even Boxer. They harmed the pigs but couldn’t harm the strong horse. They were supposedly Snowball’s allies and told a story about how he was a conspirator against the whole farm. After this, the “traitors” were killed and every animal that was believed to be a rebel or a traitor was killed in the act, in front of the whole group. 

The survivors, Boxer, Clover and the rest of the animals were shocked about what just happened and were thinking how their desired Utopia fell to ashes and nowadays it was a tyrannical government. Still, they remained hopeful, especially Clover. As optimistic as she was, she thought that although they were living a grim present nowadays, it was still better than being ruled and controlled by the human race. 

Suddenly, the song that was their comfort all this time, Beasts of England, was forbidden since a rebellion was not needed anymore. They were told that everything was right into place and from now on, they should just follow orders. Basically there were two options: To become sheep by default or to perish and die.  

Napoleon behaved like a King. He did everything alone and was not even mingling anymore with the other animals who once were comrades and now were considered his subjects. The Animal Farm was living its darkest hours yet. 

They were fearing a new attack coming from the neighbors. Since they were weaker now and their best strategist was gone, it was a hazardous territory they were stepping on. From the neighbors, Frederick was the most hated one and also the most feared one as well. He was said to be responsible of animal cruelty and indifference towards other creatures besides humans so they were fearing that he would be the one behind the attack. 

Finally, the mill was finished. As usual with any dictatorship, Napoleon named it after him, the Napoleon Mill it was called. He was negotiating with the supposed enemy but he thought of him as a useful ally and convinced everyone that he was not cruel to animals and was overall a good person.  When they reached an agreement, Napoleon was disappointed since he chose to pay with a bank note, something useless to his eyes. 

Finally, they accepted the bank note just to finally discover that it indeed was a fake one. Again, Frederick outsmarted the pigs and the whole farm in general using his superior intellect and of course, his knack for evil. Napoleon sentenced him to death. 

Finally, the attack came as they predicted. But this time the men were prepared. They had more than ten men and also guns. There was a huge battle but this time they were at a disadvantage. Frederick’s men wanted to take the mill down, which they achieved at last. But they did not stop there. They went on to kill or at least injure each animal.

After that, they were forced out of the farm territory and suddenly Squealer claimed that it was their victory. They were victorious according to him because they successfully kicked the humans out but he didn’t care about everything that was destroyed and all the lives that were lost. They celebrated the victory of the “Battle of the Windmill” with dances, food and even music. They seemed to be in denial, the future seems to be doom & gloom for the whole gang…

The pigs were making adjustments of the pension and of the ration of food that was meant for each animal, dividing them as always in groups. Led by Squealer, they talked about readjustments and not about reductions in order to be politically correct. In his speeches he was always comparing their government to the one of Mr. Jones and talking ill about that period that no one even remembered well. He made a point that during Jones’ period they were slaves and nowadays, they were “free.”

Suddenly, there were more pigs in the farm and this meant more class privilege to them compared to the rest of the animals. Since they were Napoleon’s kids, they had special treatment. They had school alone, they slept alone, they played alone. Everything they did was special and apart from the rest of the animals in the Animal Farm. The pigs were more controllers than ever. They augmented their rations at the others’ expense. The whole farm was suffering exceptuating the pigs. They were living the good life, they were doing everything they wanted. Everything in the farm was conducted as a dictatorship and segregation was at the order of the day. The pigs were first class citizens while the rest were treated as servants. They had to march to the sound of “Long Live Comrade Napoleon!” There was basically a cult of personality to Napoleon the great as he wanted them to call him. 

After that, the Animal Farm was declared a Republic. They were asked to elect a president and Napoleon was the only worthy candidate according to the pigs, and he was elected unanimously. They “discovered “ new elements that linked Snowball to Jones that confirmed him as the big traitor they said he was. 

Without previous notice, Moses the suspicious raven reappeared at the farm. He was again talking about Sugar candy Mountain. Boxer recovered at last and his will-power was proven to be so strong. He could barely stand but he worked harder than everyone else, in spite of being emaciated. Both, Clover and Benjamin, warned him to take care of his health but he did not listen. He just wanted to help the farm. 

Shockingly, Boxer fell and seemed to be agonizing. Finally Squealer came and said that they were worried about Boxer and were going to send him to a hospital. Luckily, Boxer recovered but needed someone to take care of him daily. The other horses complied but were only available at night after their long shifts. 

One day, the horror came to the farm. A van approached on the horizon and picked up Boxer to take him to the slaughterhouse. No one but Benjamin understood what was happening. When they could understand, it was already too late. They took Boxer and while they ran across the land following the van, they could not see Boxer ever again. After three days, Squealer announced that Boxer was dead and that before dying, he received all the medical attention needed in order to keep fighting for his life. He made a speech about being beside him in his deathbed and hearing that his only desire was to finish the windmill and even had the audacity of saying that Boxer lasts’ words were: “Long live Animal Farm! Long

Although all the animals were suspicious about this fact since they could read the sign of the van that took him, Squealer once again convinced them that the vet was using the van and not a slaughterhouse. They made a banquet in his honor and Napoleon took advantage of the situation and said that they all should follow Boxer’s maxims. 

The farm had new animals, but most of them did not understand and were ignorant regarding anything that concerned the rebellion. 

Although the farm was more prosperous now, they still didn’t have any luxury as they were promised before. This did not matter to Napoleon since according to him, the true happiness and way of life lay in working hard and having an austere life.  All the earned goods were only to the ones in power, pigs and dogs. Everyone else was the same as before. Animalism to its finest. They all still hold pride in the Animal Farm. After all, it was the only farm operated by animals across the whole Kingdom. 

All of a sudden, Squealer was taking the sheep out for a walk and was teaching them a new saying. Without the other animals knowing, the pigs learned how to walk on two legs and even taught the sheep to say: “Four legs good, two legs better”. This shocked the entire farm since the pigs were guarded by dogs and walking like humans. They were basically behaving like masters and everyone around them was a servant. There were no commandments left either. Only one single maxim: “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS”. 

Everyday it passed, the pigs were behaving more and more like humans. Wearing human clothes, reading human newspapers and even using whips and pipes. They started having meetings with humans, something akin to the last supper but this time, all pigs were Judas. The humans, led by Mr. Pilkington, were amazed as to how much work the animals could do with so little food. They congratulated the pigs for their efficiency and up-to-date methods.  

Napoleon announced that since everything basically changed again and he was ruling as a human, the “Animal Farm” would be renamed as the “Manor Farm”. They negotiated accords with the neighboring farms and suddenly, the pigs started to mutate. They were so alike to humans that they started to look like them in the end, literally.

Although Orwell referred in the book specifically to the Soviet Union during World War II, every single citizen of the world can relate to the problems stated in the book. There is a saying that states that if you really want to get to know someone, give them power. This applies very well to the story and the pigs and how their intentions varied from time to time. While at first it was a crystal clear pure idea, it turned into an obscure motif.

The pigs in the book represent the political party that is leading the proletariat against the ones in power, and when they reach power they forget where they came from. This has happened recently in Argentina with the “K” movement and in Paraguay with some leftist authorities that we had, like Carlos Filizzola and most recently the former bishop turned into president Fernando Lugo. 

The sheep in the book represent the brainless people that follow everything the ones in power say. It is important to not be a sheep and to try to think for oneself in order to make the right decision and exercise the right to vote. 

The horses represent the backbone of the machinery. The ones who move the world economically speaking but never receive what they deserve and the donkey, cats, rats and ravens are neutral regarding the decisions because at least they have their own criteria. The dogs are the loyal pets of the pigs and just serve their master without thinking much.

Animal Farm should be taught in every school in order to try and have better citizens in the future.  I strongly recommend each individual to read this book to understand more about social injustices that are occurring daily everywhere. It doesn’t matter if you live in 1960’s Moscow or in 2021’s Asuncion. 

It is important to stick to one's beliefs in order to be always on the right path and at peace with oneself. At the end of the day, that is what counts.

Fin.