Animal Farm

“All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.”

This simplistic axiom is the basic principle behind the revolution that Major is calling for. It parallels the communists’ use of the term “comrade” as a title of polite address, and their simplistic classification of anyone not from the proletariat as a force of oppression.

“The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white.”

Squealer represents the propagandist—the public relations person whose job is to present negative governmental actions in a good light. This job proved very important to the maintenance of Soviet ideology—and its skills are used by press secretaries and administration spokespeople the world over. Squealer enables Napoleon’s rule through distortion of the truth and outright lies.

“Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we should starve to death.”

Some animals raise this objection during the initial secret study meetings in the barn, before the Rebellion. These animals still believe in loyalty to Jones, representing the monarchists who did not want to take part in the Russian Revolution. The pigs quickly correct this point of view, but it is prescient of the hardships the animals endure when they go it alone after the Rebellion.

“All animals are equal.”

In addition to the friendship and solidarity of all animals, Animalism proclaims their equality and lack of distinction. The simplicity of the statement encapsulates the Hope for Equality as it is presented as an obvious desire. Napoleon’s regime contradicts this principle repeatedly, as the pigs set themselves up as a separate privileged caste and destroy any animal that opposes them.

“The animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced by themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a grudging master.”

During the summer after the Rebellion, the animals taste the beauty of freedom for the first time. Ordinary things seem new and fresh because enjoyed with liberty. There is both more food and more leisure. Orwell uses diction used in Marx’s The Communist Manifesto, such as “master” and “by” and “for,” to draw attention to the political analogy and preserve the positive idealism of Marx’s vision.

“I will work harder!”

Boxer is the most dedicated worker on the farm and the strongest animal. Whenever a difficulty arises, he answers with this motto. The motto shows his virtuous nature and his ignorance about the tyranny on Animal Farm; many of the farm’s emerging problems cannot be solved with hard work alone.

“Four legs good, two legs bad.”

The sheep constantly bleat this simplified Animalist motto at public functions. Its inanity satirizes the childish oversimplification to which political propaganda gives rise.

“No sentimentality, comrade! War is war. The only good human being is a dead one.”

With these words, Squealer cheers up the conscience-stricken Boxer during the Battle of the Cowshed, echoing the attitude of the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia, who believed that acts of violence were necessary and justified to carry out the communist revolution.

“I have no wish to take life, not even human life.”

Boxer’s response to believing that he has killed a stable boy in the Battle of the Cowshed shows his tender feelings and keen moral conscience, in stark contrast to the pig leaders.

“Vote for Snowball and the three-day week […] Vote for Napoleon and the full manger.”

The two opposing campaign slogans of the two rival pig leaders satirize human political slogans. Snowball wants to build the windmill and create more opportunities for leisure and social life for the animals. Napoleon focuses on survival and thrift. Orwell presents Snowball’s focus as more advanced and enlightened—a view eventually defeated by Napoleon.

“Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always gone on—that is, badly.”

Commenting on life, expressive of his pessimistic outlook, Benjamin refuses to side with either political faction and as such represents the apolitical, independent, and cynical observer.

“It was noticed that they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr. Jones.”

Significantly, Napoleon’s attack dogs react to Napoleon just as they did to Jones. This presages the fact that Napoleon is gradually becoming a tyrant just like Jones.

“‘Bravery is not enough,’ said Squealer. ‘Loyalty and obedience are more important.’”

Reflecting the values of Soviet Communism, the pig leaders believe that loyalty to the regime is all-important. The individual exists only to serve the state and the party.

“Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?”

Squealer frequently uses this taunt as a way to shut off any discussion, playing on the animals’ natural antipathy to Jones. The ploy works every time, and Squealer can pass off any unjust or irrational action of the regime this way.

“Napoleon is always right.”

Boxer adopts this as his second public motto, falling back on it in response to any doubtful action taken by the regime. It echoes the faith placed in dictators throughout history, particularly in the 20th century.

“Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!”

Napoleon gradually consolidates so much power that the animals come to place irrational faith in him and give him credit for everything, even things he had nothing to do with. This again parallels the worshipful attitude often accorded to dictators.

“Boxer refused to take even a day off work, and made it a point of honour not to let it be seen that he was in pain.”

Boxer’s injury is incurred in the Battle of the Windmill and consists of a split hoof. His stoicism shows the positive and negative sides of his self-sacrificial nature: He is unwavering in his work ethic, but nevertheless, the tyrannical leaders have him carted off to the horse slaughterer.

“[W]hat with the songs, the processions, Squealer’s lists of figures, the thunder of the gun, the crowing of the cockerel, and the fluttering of the flag, they were able to forget that their bellies were empty, at least part of the time.”

As in 20th-century dictatorships, Animal Farm uses ceremonies and demonstrations as a form of pageantry to distract the citizens from their miserable lot and to reinforce their loyalty to the regime.

“Up there, comrades…up there, just on the other side of that dark cloud that you can see—there it lies, Sugarcandy Mountain, that happy country where we poor animals shall rest forever from our labours!”

Moses the raven preaches a belief in a happy afterlife, inspiring the animals with hope for the future. This presents a challenge to the pig leaders, who want the animals to put their trust in them, not in religion. Yet the animals feel that there must be a better life on the horizon, as a reward for their misery here.

“The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally.”

Napoleon’s teaching describes the stunted horizon he wants the animals to adopt and forces them to reject dreams of bringing electricity to the farm.

“Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse—hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life.”

As the animals grow old, they forget their previous life before the Rebellion. Benjamin is the exception, and he declares yet again his pessimistic view of existence.

“Four legs good, two legs better!”

As a consequence of their new alliance with the humans, the pigs teach this new amended commandment to the sheep—a commandment that nullifies the entire foundation on which Animal Farm was built. It demonstrates that for the pig leaders, truth is malleable.

“All animals are equal; but some animals are more equal than others.”

The best-known phrase from Animal Farm, this slogan reflects the corruption of ethics on the farm by the pig leaders. The phrase is self-contradictory and reflects the special privileges the pigs have hoarded for themselves, destroying any sense of equality and justice.