THE PLOT
By: Kayla Cleland
Old Major gathers the animals of Manor Farm together in a meeting. He tells the animals about a dream he had in which all the animals lived together in peace without humans controlling them. Major tells the animals they must work hard and teaches them the lyrics to the "Beasts of England" song. Old Major dies three days later and the pigs- Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer take leadership of the farm. They form Major's principles into a philosophy called Animalism. One night the animals defeat Mr. Jones in a battle, running him off the land. They rename the farm Animal Farm. At first, Snowball works hard at trying to teach the animals to read, and Napoleon takes Jessie's puppies to teach them his version of Animalism. Mr. Jones appears to reclaim is farm, but is defeated by the animals during the Battle of the Cowshed. As time passes, Napoleon and Snowball disagree over the future of the farm. Snowball has a plan for an electricity-generated windmill. Napoleon shows his disagreement by urinating on the plan sheet. Napoleon's attack dogs chase Snowball off the property and assumes leadership of the farm. He decides to follow through with the windmill and the animals, especially Boxer, devote their efforts to complete it. After a storm, they find the windmill damaged. Napoleon expands his power by sleeping in beds, drinking whiskey, and trading with humans. Squealer convinces the animals that Napoleon is a great leader. Mr. Fredrick cheats Napoleon by purchasing some timber with fake money and then dynamites the windmill. Boxer falls while working on the windmill and senses his time has come. According to Squealer, Boxer died after being taken to the hospital, but he doesn't tell the animals that Napoleon actually sold his most loyal worker to the glue factory. Years pass on, and the pigs become more and more like humans- walking up right and wearing clothes. The Seven Commandments written on the side of the barn are reduced to a single principle "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Napoleon declares to Mr. Pilkington his intent to ally himself with the human farmers. He also changes the farm name back to Manor Farm. The animals of the farm claim that they can no longer tell the difference between the pigs and the humans.
Old Major gathers the animals of Manor Farm together in a meeting. He tells the animals about a dream he had in which all the animals lived together in peace without humans controlling them. Major tells the animals they must work hard and teaches them the lyrics to the "Beasts of England" song. Old Major dies three days later and the pigs- Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer take leadership of the farm. They form Major's principles into a philosophy called Animalism. One night the animals defeat Mr. Jones in a battle, running him off the land. They rename the farm Animal Farm. At first, Snowball works hard at trying to teach the animals to read, and Napoleon takes Jessie's puppies to teach them his version of Animalism. Mr. Jones appears to reclaim is farm, but is defeated by the animals during the Battle of the Cowshed. As time passes, Napoleon and Snowball disagree over the future of the farm. Snowball has a plan for an electricity-generated windmill. Napoleon shows his disagreement by urinating on the plan sheet. Napoleon's attack dogs chase Snowball off the property and assumes leadership of the farm. He decides to follow through with the windmill and the animals, especially Boxer, devote their efforts to complete it. After a storm, they find the windmill damaged. Napoleon expands his power by sleeping in beds, drinking whiskey, and trading with humans. Squealer convinces the animals that Napoleon is a great leader. Mr. Fredrick cheats Napoleon by purchasing some timber with fake money and then dynamites the windmill. Boxer falls while working on the windmill and senses his time has come. According to Squealer, Boxer died after being taken to the hospital, but he doesn't tell the animals that Napoleon actually sold his most loyal worker to the glue factory. Years pass on, and the pigs become more and more like humans- walking up right and wearing clothes. The Seven Commandments written on the side of the barn are reduced to a single principle "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Napoleon declares to Mr. Pilkington his intent to ally himself with the human farmers. He also changes the farm name back to Manor Farm. The animals of the farm claim that they can no longer tell the difference between the pigs and the humans.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/animalfarm/summary.html