Chapters 1 and 2

Manor Farm: oppression and differences within the community

Chapter 1 begins with Mr Jones too drunk to secure the hen-houses properly. Before anyone explains the need for rebellion, Orwell shows a human master failing in his responsibilities. The animals wait until Jones is asleep before gathering in the barn: even their meeting depends on avoiding his control.

Old Major, an elderly and respected boar, has called them together to share his ideas and a dream. The animals’ arrival introduces personalities that will matter throughout the novella. Boxer is immensely strong, dependable and hardworking, but not particularly intelligent. Clover carefully shelters motherless ducklings with her foreleg, showing practical compassion. Benjamin is cynical, although his quiet friendship with Boxer reveals affection beneath his pessimism. Mollie arrives with sugar and ribbons, concerned with comfort and appearance. The cat finds a warm place but ignores the speech.

The meeting therefore brings together animals with different abilities and priorities, not a perfectly united community. The pigs sit immediately in front of Major’s raised platform. This can suggest their readiness to learn, but it also places them in a prominent position before equality has even been proclaimed. Orwell establishes both the possibility of solidarity and the difficulties of making it last.

Old Major’s speech: explaining suffering and promising freedom

Old Major begins by describing the animals’ lives as “miserable, laborious, and short” in Chapter 1. They work to exhaustion, receive barely enough food and face slaughter when they cease to be useful. His statement “No animal in England is free” turns individual suffering into a shared political problem.

His explanation is exploitation: humans take the benefits of animal labour. In Chapter 1, Major declares that “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing”. He supports this argument with experiences his listeners recognise. Cows lose their milk, hens lose their eggs, and Clover has had all four of her foals sold. His prediction that Boxer will be sold to the knacker when his strength fails makes the consequences of this system personal.

Major argues that the farm could provide abundance if the animals owned what they produced. Rebellion therefore appears to offer both freedom and material security. His repeated address, “comrades”, encourages listeners to think of themselves as equals with a common cause.

However, his argument also reduces every problem to a single enemy. In Chapter 1, he declares: “All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.” This leaves no room for exceptions. Readers can recognise the force of his criticism while questioning his confidence that removing humans will abolish oppression. Orwell creates an ideal against which the animals’ later society can be judged.

Major insists that animals must not become like their former masters. He forbids human habits such as sleeping in beds, drinking alcohol and trading, and prohibits animals from tyrannising over or killing one another. His declaration “All animals are equal” in Chapter 1 is not simply a promise about food: it is a principle that should protect the weak and less intelligent from domination.

There is also an early example of collective decision-making. When the dogs attack the rats, Major asks the meeting to vote on whether rats are comrades. The majority includes them. Yet the dogs disagree, and the cat votes on both sides, reminding readers that proclaimed unity does not remove conflicting instincts or self-interest.

The dream and ‘Beasts of England’: making hope memorable

Major cannot describe his dream in detail, but says it concerned an earth without humans. It reminds him of an old song, ‘Beasts of England’, which he teaches the animals in Chapter 1.

Its opening, sung first by Major, addresses a community beyond this one farm: “Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, / Beasts of every land and clime,”. In the first stanza, the phrase “the golden future time” presents liberation as precious and desirable. The song gives this future concrete form: nose-rings, harnesses and whips will disappear, while food will belong to the animals themselves.

The song is organised into seven four-line stanzas. Its repeated tune and recurring rhymes make the message easy to remember. The final stanza returns to the opening address, but now urges its listeners to spread the news. It is both a celebration of freedom and a means of carrying revolutionary ideas beyond the meeting.

Structurally, Orwell moves from Major’s long prose speech to a song that even the less intelligent animals can join. Argument becomes shared emotion: their different voices combine in unison. The song anticipates freedom, but Jones’s gunshot abruptly ends the gathering. The chapter closes by returning them to the danger of their present lives.

Chapter 2: the pigs turn ideas into Animalism

Major dies three nights later, early in March. During the following three months, Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer develop his teachings into “a complete system of thought”, as the narrator describes it in Chapter 2. They name this system Animalism and teach it at secret meetings.

Their leadership initially rests on their recognised intelligence. Snowball is lively, inventive and quick in speech. Napoleon speaks less but has a reputation for getting his own way. Squealer is especially persuasive: the claim that he can turn black into white suggests an ability to make falsehood seem true. These introductions establish different kinds of influence rather than three identical leaders.

Teaching Animalism is difficult. Some animals believe they owe loyalty to Jones; others think they depend on him for food. Boxer and Clover become faithful supporters, but they accept the pigs as teachers rather than independently examining their arguments. Their loyalty helps spread Animalism while also giving the pigs considerable authority.

In Chapter 2, Mollie asks Snowball: “Will there still be sugar after the Rebellion?” She is more concerned with losing treats and ribbons than gaining political freedom. Snowball treats ribbons as a sign of slavery, but Mollie remains unconvinced. Orwell shows that people may value familiar comforts even when those comforts are connected to an unequal system.

Moses offers a different hope. The narrator describes his claim about “a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain” in Chapter 2: a paradise animals supposedly reach after death, where rest and food are plentiful. Animalism promises to change life on earth; Moses promises compensation after life has ended.

In the allegory, Moses can be read as representing the Church: his promised paradise corresponds to religious hopes of heaven. His position as Jones’s pet connects religious authority with the old ruling order. By encouraging the animals to expect happiness after death, his teaching may make their present suffering easier to accept rather than challenge. This explains why the revolutionary pigs oppose his stories. Yet the animals’ attraction to Sugarcandy Mountain also reveals their genuine need for comfort. Orwell presents both the consolation such beliefs offer and their potential to sustain an unequal society.

The Rebellion: preparation meets hunger and violence

Jones was once a capable, though harsh, farmer. After losing money in a lawsuit, he drinks heavily and neglects the farm. His workers are idle and dishonest, buildings deteriorate and the animals are underfed.

In June, Jones gets drunk on Midsummer’s Eve. The next day his men milk the cows but fail to feed the animals. By evening, a cow breaks into the store-shed and the animals help themselves. Jones and his four men respond with whips. The narrator then reports in Chapter 2 that “they flung themselves upon their tormentors”. Together, the animals drive the men out; Mrs Jones leaves separately, followed by Moses.

The distinction between preparation and immediate cause matters. The pigs have taught the animals revolutionary ideas, but they have not planned this particular uprising. Hunger and the attempt to punish hungry animals trigger collective resistance. The Rebellion happens earlier and more easily than expected.

The animals destroy objects associated with human control, including whips, chains and harnesses. They celebrate, receive extra food and sing ‘Beasts of England’. The next morning, their delighted inspection of the fields makes ownership tangible: the land on which they have always worked now belongs to them. The farmhouse is preserved as a museum, with unanimous agreement that no animal should live there. This establishes a clear boundary between their new society and Jones’s luxury.

Historical context: revolutionary hopes in 1917

Animal Farm is an allegory of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath. Old Major combines aspects of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Marx’s ideas supplied an intellectual foundation for communism: he criticised the exploitation of workers and envisaged a classless society. Major’s argument that those who labour should enjoy what they produce reflects these ideas. Lenin led the Bolsheviks in turning revolutionary ideas into political action; Major’s call for rebellion also connects him with this revolutionary leadership. He is a composite figure, rather than an exact portrait of either man.

In Russia, the February Revolution of 1917 ended the monarchy of Tsar Nicholas II. A Provisional Government followed, but it continued fighting the First World War amid serious popular discontent. Lenin’s Bolsheviks gained support by promising peace, land and bread, and overthrew the Provisional Government in the October Revolution of 1917.

Jones represents the oppressive old order associated with the Tsar, while the farm’s Rebellion parallels the October Revolution. Orwell compresses history rather than reproducing every stage literally. Jones’s neglect and the animals’ hunger make revolutionary change understandable. Their joy prevents the opening from being simply an attack on the desire for equality. Orwell, a democratic socialist, criticises the betrayal of egalitarian ideals, not merely the hope of a fairer society. The developing question is whether those who organise liberation will preserve its principles or become new masters.

The Seven Commandments: a public standard for the new society

The pigs reveal that they have taught themselves to read and write. Snowball paints over MANOR FARM and replaces it with ANIMAL FARM, marking the change of ownership. With Squealer holding the paint-pot, he then writes the Seven Commandments on the barn wall in Chapter 2:

1. “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.”
2. “Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.”
3. “No animal shall wear clothes.”
4. “No animal shall sleep in a bed.”
5. “No animal shall drink alcohol.”
6. “No animal shall kill any other animal.”
7. “All animals are equal.”

These rules identify allies and enemies, reject human habits and forbid violence and inequality within the community. They condense Major’s teaching, but do not include every prohibition from his speech: living in houses, smoking tobacco, touching money and engaging in trade are not separately listed.

The Commandments are presented as permanent law and written in large, visible letters. Snowball reads them aloud because not everyone can read them independently. This makes the rules public while revealing an important imbalance: the pigs control the written expression of principles that everyone is expected to obey.

Structurally, the wall establishes a standard against which later changes can be measured. What begins as a promise of lasting equality becomes a record of the distance between the revolution’s ideals and its rulers’ behaviour.

The missing milk: a troubling ending

After the Commandments are written, the pigs milk the cows, producing five buckets. When someone asks what will happen to the milk, Napoleon cries in Chapter 2: “Never mind the milk, comrades!” He stands in front of the buckets, redirects attention towards the harvest and remains behind while Snowball leads the others away.

The chapter ends with the narrator’s observation that “it was noticed that the milk had disappeared”. Its destination is not yet stated. Nevertheless, Napoleon’s position and delay encourage suspicion, leaving readers to connect the clues.

This ending sharply contrasts with the declaration of equality just made. The animals have won collective ownership, but control of resources may already be slipping into particular hands. Orwell places an unresolved warning immediately after the triumph of revolution.

A worked analytical paragraph

Orwell presents competing responses to exploitation through Moses and the pigs. In Chapter 2, Moses promises the animals a paradise after death, described by the narrator as “a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain”, whereas Animalism urges them to change their lives on earth. Moses represents the Church, and his position as Jones’s pet links his comforting stories with the established ruling order. His promise of future happiness may encourage the animals to endure suffering instead of resisting it, which explains the pigs’ determination to discredit him. Through this conflict, Orwell explores how beliefs can either support an unequal society or inspire revolutionary change. However, the animals’ longing for rest and plentiful food also makes their attraction to Moses understandable: their hope grows out of real deprivation.

Chapter 1: ideas and solidarity

• Jones’s drunken neglect establishes human misrule.
• Major identifies exploitation as the cause of suffering: animals produce; humans take the benefits.
• He urges rebellion, unity and equality, warning animals not to imitate human oppression.
• ‘Beasts of England’ turns political ideas into memorable, collective hope. Jones’s gunshot interrupts it.
• Early differences matter: Boxer’s strength and trust, Clover’s care, Benjamin’s cynicism, Mollie’s comforts and the pigs’ prominence.

Chapter 2: liberation and its first warning

• Major dies; Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer develop Animalism over three months.
• Mollie values sugar and ribbons. Moses represents the Church, promising Sugarcandy Mountain after death rather than change on earth.
• Neglect → hunger → store-shed break-in → whipping → spontaneous Rebellion.
• Jones is expelled; symbols of oppression are destroyed; the farmhouse becomes a museum.
• Manor Farm becomes Animal Farm. Snowball writes the Seven Commandments.
• Napoleon stays near the milk; its disappearance closes the chapter with suspicion rather than complete triumph.