Gabriella Eaton

Ms. Van Wyhe

Honors English 10
9 February 2015
Animal Farm Responses
Personal Response chapters 1-4
What is your reaction to the animals revolution? Do you sympathize with the animals
complaints and goals? Why or why not?
In Animal Farm, the animals feel as if their lives are unfair. Orwell uses a boar
named Old Major to bring up some points that are easy to sympathize with.
Understanding these points and feeling empathy becomes easy when putting oneself in
the animals shoes. One thing the dying boar says is that the animals dont get fed enough
and are worked to exhaustion. Then, they are expected to work again while reaping no
reward. Immediately I think, how I would feel if I were being treated this way? Old
Major also states that with all the food produced, the farm and all farms in England could
have double the animals with an over-abundance of food if all the food was not going to
humans. There is an over abundance of food on our planet. Yet we still have people who
dont have the benefits of access to food and go hungry. Not that it is taken away from
them, but it is a similar situation. How can we expect these people to work and provide
for themselves and their family if they are going hungry? Overall, I can definitely
understand how the animals feel suffering through their hunger and exhaustion. Which
results in starting a revolution to try and better their lives.
Analyze Literature chapters 1-4

1.

Describe how the rebellion takes place. How does the animals behavior during
the rebellion suggest both human and animal characteristics?
George Orwell shows a rebellion take place by first having an intelligent boar

who is shown as a leader and inspires the group of animals to stand up for themselves.
This begins when Old Major calls a meeting for all the animals and establishes rules such
as, All animals are comrades (Orwell 21). Also, When fighting against man we must
not come to resemble him(Orwell 21). After this he recites a song called The Beasts
of England, that adds to the excitement of rebellion. Next, secret activity(Orwell 25)
starts to go on around the farm. The animals that were more intelligent had begun to
come up with a plan for the rebellion and the pigs assumed the role of leading it.
Snowball and Napoleon are introduced and the successful rebellion takes place.
During the planning and action of the rebellion, human-like traits are shown by all
of the animals. When the animals sing The Beasts of England and blindly recite the words
without even understanding the meaning. Humans follow ideas and opinions without
thinking them through when we dont want to stand out against the crowd or be different.
Next, Moses the tame raven started spreading this idea of a, country called Sugarcandy
Mountain (Orwell 27). Moses says that all animals go here when they die. They are kind
of developing a religion which is a human trait and some are going along with it because
they want to believe they go somewhere when they die. When Snowball writes down the
seven commandments or rules, it seems odd for animals to do because animals dont have
rules or laws. All in all, human characteristics are shown through singing, religion, and
laws.

Even with the animals showing these human-like traits their animal sides shine
through. The pigs are more intelligent than the rest of the animals and they learn quicker
then most others. The horses just accept everything the pigs say and go along with it. This
is showing that each breed of animal is different and some are even incapable of learning
like the pigs do. Also, Orwell shows that the two male pigs dont get along and, were
never in agreement... (Orwell 38). Usually, in animals we notice that the males are
always fighting over dominance and we see that in Snowball and Napoleon. To continue,
the animals take no care in human issues. They start committees to help with, Egg
Production..clean tails...whiter wool.. (Orwell 39). To conclude, George Orwell shows
animal and human traits in his characters.
2. How do pigs gain the right to the cows milk? Teaching and organizing? Why do the
other animals allow this? What does this event suggest about the power hierarchy on the
farm?
The pigs in Animal Farm are leading all of the other animals. This begins as soon
as Old Major dies. Old major was a pig and the other pigs (being the most intelligent) are
the ones who start to activate his plan. By doing so, they start to gain the respect and
loyalty of all the other animals for they are the ones who drove away the evil. After
this, they become confident enough to start manipulating the others because everyone
automatically just believes what they say. For example, Nevermind the milk comrades!
That will be attended to! (Orwell 34) Napoleon lies because he is trying to make
everyone forget about the milk so the pigs can have it to themselves. Teaching and
organizing is also something gained by the pigs because they are the only ones intelligent
enough to teach the others everything they have learned They even tell the others this,

We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organization of this farm depend
on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare (Orwell 42). In short, the pigs
gain access to milk, teaching, and organizing by starting the revolution and gaining the
respect and loyalty of the farm animals.
After the pigs take control there is no stopping them. The other animals are simply
stuck when trying to disagree with any of the pigs for multiple reasons. First, when
Mollie wants to still be able to have ribbon and sugar the pigs shut her down immediately
which makes anyone else who had a similar opinion shut down because they dont want
to be reproached like Mollie was. Another example is shown when Orwell says, I was
always the pigs who put forward the resolutions. The other animals understood how to
vote but could never think of any resolutions of their own (Orwell 38). The animals
could never come up with their own because they just listened to the pigs ideas. Finally,
The animals dont prevent the pigs from taking absolute control because they all think
what the pigs say is correct.
The pigs taking over shows that they have complete power hierarchy over the
farm. The intelligence that the pigs have holds them to a great advantage to the other
animals. Along with the fact that Napoleon thinks that educating the young is the most
important. Taking the puppies from their parents after they are weaned in order to educate
them, shows how little control these animals have or want. Until something happens that
all the animals disagree on, the pigs will have complete control because there isnt
enough to voices to overwhelm the pigs opinions.
3. Characterize Snowball as a leader. Do you think his reaction to the stable boy's death is
the appropriate reaction to have during a revolution?

Snowball demonstrates a lot of promise when it comes to leading the farm.

Snowball shows his strength in rationalizing every statement someone makes against
him. For instance, when Mollie asks if she should be allowed to wear ribbons Snowball
calmly states, Comrade those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of
slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons?(Orwell 27)
Another instance is when Snowball was shortening the commandments to four legs good
and two legs bad which made the birds disagree. So Snowball said, A birds wing
comrades, is an organ of propulsion and not of manipulation so it should be regarded as a
leg...the birds did not understand Snowballs long words, but they accepted his
explanation (Orwell 41). These examples both show how he can use his words to
manipulate others which is a good skill for a leader to have yet also a bad one if they are
leading their people in the wrong direction.
Furthermore, I think Snowballs reaction to the stable boys death would be an
appropriate reaction for a revolution even though it is cynical. When Boxer gets upset
about killing the stable boy Snowball says, No sentimentality, comrade. War is war. The
only good human being is a dead one (Orwell 49). I think his reaction is only natural in
this stage of the revolution because how are others supposed to be willing to fight or kill
for their freedom if one of their leaders isnt. Snowball is intelligent enough to know that
making Boxer seem weak for feeling bad would strengthen his own power. Everything
Snowball does helps him lead in some way because his speaking and convincing never
fails. Overall, Snowball is an intelligent leader for the farm.
4. Create a chart listing the characters and describing their characteristics, actions and
purpose.

Characte
r

Characteristics/Actions/Purpose

Snowball

manipulative, intelligent, talker, Less dominant then Napoleon, he tries to go by

what Old Major told them to do, he represents Trotsky

Napoleon

Aggressive, set in his ways, gets his way, thinks training the young is the most
important thing to do, he represents Joseph Stalin

Squealer

talkative, always agrees with Napoleon, argumentative, fibbed to get his way,
represents propagandist

Boxer

hard working, caring, stupid, gets sad when he commits murder, listens to
everything he is told

Benjamin

seems optimistic about the revolution but never really states his opinion, loner
and not a hard worker, only does what needs to be done

Clover

stupid, believes in sugarcandy mountain,supports the rebellion, always worked

harder the expected

Mollie

not a supporter of the rebellion, wants her own way, always is thinking
differently, symbolizes the whites in the war.

Personal Response Chapters 5-7

What was your reaction to Snowballs expulsion from Animal Farm?
During his speech to convince the animals that a windmill was a good idea,
Snowball was chased off of Animal Farm by Napoleons dogs. Napoleon has already
showed dominance over Snowball previously, but this was the first instance of him taking
control. I found it interesting that as soon as Snowball was expelled Napoleon said,
Sunday meetings are a waste of time and unnecessaryall questions related to the
working of the farm would be settled by a committee of pigs.. there would be no more

debates (Orwell 58-59). It seemed as if Napoleon already had it planned to kick

Snowball out of a leadership role and say what he wanted. With this, Orwell creates a
feeling of remorse for Snowball and the rest of the animals on the farm. Snowball had
worked so hard on his plans for the windmill and is suddenly overtaken by dogs without
even giving the animals a chance to vote. Then, Napoleon basically takes away the
animals right to assemble and debate. This is so unfair and manipulative of Napoleon.
Especially when we find out what happened to the dogs, They were the puppies whom
Napoleon had taken them from their mothers and reared privately. Though not yet fullgrown, they were huge dogs, and as fierce looking as wolves (Orwell 58). I was
somewhat surprised that this was what he raised the puppies for and gives even more
evidence of Napoleon planning out his own revolution to basically dictate the farm.
Overall, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that Snowball was expelled from the farm
and to recognize what Napoleon is actually doing.

Analyze Literature chapters 5-7

1. Identify three ways Napoleon tries to solidify his leadership position on the farm. How
does the process of decision-making on the farm change under his leadership? Make a
brief comparison to Jack from LOTF.
After Napoleon uses his dogs to get rid of Snowball he starts to implement
techniques that will help him bring the farm under his own leadership. To start, he uses
fear to scare the rest of the animals when he brings the dogs into the barn. Silent and
terrified, the animals crept back into the barn (Orwell 58). In comparison to Lord of
Flies, Napoleon uses the same techniques as Jack when ruling with fear. Jack uses the

death of Piggy to scare all of the boys into falling under his rule. Both of these techniques
go back to Machiavellis point of ruling by fear and how that would overall be more
effective in ruling a society. Another action that Napoleon takes is blaming every mistake
that happens on the farm on Snowball. For example, when the windmill is destroyed
Napoleon says, Do you know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown our
windmill? SNOWBALL! (Orwell 72). After this happens, it becomes custom to blame
anything on Snowball including, keys being lost, windows being broken, or feed being
stolen. This starts to draw attention away from what is actually going on and makes the
animals distracted from the real problems. We see this in Lord of the Flies when Jack
twists what Ralph says and convinces the boys that since Ralph doesnt hunt he cannot be
a good leader. Lastly, In order to establish his rule Napoleon lies. He does this when he
announces that the windmill should be built even though three weeks earlier he kicked
Snowball out for the exact opposite reason. He tells the animals, it was he who
advocated it from the beginning and The plan had been stolen from Napoleons
papers.. the windmill was in fact Napoleons own creation (Orwell 61). Jack in Lord of
the Flies, lies to the boys about killing Simon and tells them it was really the beast.
Another connection that can be made is to Hitler, If you tell a big enough lie and tell it
frequently enough, it will be believed. This shows that lying is a technique in leadership
is shown as a common theme and something Napoleon uses to solidify his leadership.
2. Why do the executions take place? What message do these events send to the animals
about their role in a future society? Make a brief comparison to Jack in Lord of the Flies.
Napoleon uses his dogs to execute many animals. But before this even happens
some events happen that are a direct cause for this murder. Firstly, the hens were asked to

surrender their egg because they had to be traded for grain. This angers the hens because
they were promised no more stealing of their eggs by Old Major. They take action, Their
method was to fly up to the rafters to lay their eggs, which smashed to pieces on the
floor (Orwell 77). They then were stopped from having food and Napoleon ordered that
anyone who provided them with food would be punished by death. Another event leading
up to the massacre was when Squealer tries to convince the animals that Snowball is
plotting to attack the Animal farm with Pinchfield Farm. This creates a disruption
throughout the farm and even Boxer is confused, Boxer who seldom asked questions,
was puzzled. He lay down, tucked his forehooves beneath him, shut his eyes, and with
hard effort managed to formulate his thoughts.(Orwell 80). After this it is apparent that
Napoleon was angry and calls a meeting. The pigs are dragged forward to admit to their
crimes and then their throats are torn out. After that all the animals who worked with
Snowball admit to their crimes and are all killed. Overall, the events leading up to the
executions are a clear view into what's going on at Animal farm.
These executions show the surviving animals what their lives in the future of this
society will look like. An example of this is shown when Clover is realizing that this is
not what anyone had wanted in the beginning, Her eyes filled with tears. If she could
have spoken her thoughts, it would have been to say that this was not what they had
aimed at when they set themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the human
race (Orwell 85). Orwell shows us the thoughts of Clover and how they had been
working for a different overall goal and it had all been for something they didnt want.
After this happens her and a few others start singing the Beasts of England and Squealer
informs them that this song is now outlawed. Its no longer needed comrade.was a

song of the Rebellion. But the Rebellion is now completed (Orwell 86). This is a great is
example of the animals seeing what their role in a future society looks like. It shows that
Napoleon thinks that this is what was wanted from the rebellion and the future of Animal
Farm was going to be worse than it was when they started. This is also shown in Lord of
the Flies when Jack becomes ruler and makes everyone think its all fun and games. But
shortly after uses their fear of (the beast) against them to turn the boys on Ralph and
Piggy. He also punishes anyone who acts out against him which is similar to Napoleon
and the hens. In conclusion, the animals come to realize their future after the executions
take place.
3. Do you think its fair that those who are more educated or more skilled, like the pigs in
Animal Farm have more influence in decision making? Why or why not? Consider how
decisions are made in your community, state, or in the nation.
In our America today we have a democracy. This gives anyone the option to vote
if we are eighteen. But is this really effecting what decision takes place? It is shown
everywhere that people with a higher skill set or knowledge have more say or control
over decisions made. Not only in the government but at school, at home, in your
workplace there is always someone smarter than you and always someone in charge. I
believe that there is a difference between Animal Farms society and our society because
today most people have the option to educate themselves and get themselves in a position
of power or decision making. In Animal Farm, only the pigs are allowed to learn after
Napoleon takes over. But not everyone is capable of learning to a certain capacity which
is a similarity to Boxer and the sheep and how they blindly follow whatever Napoleon
and Squealer tell them. Some people in our society today might choose not to study and

get informed of what might be really happening in our government and with things
happening in the world. I know this because from a young age you start to listen to what
your parents opinions on things are and whatever they say is right to you because these
people raised you and feed you and keep you happy. Similarly in Animal Farm, the
puppies Napoleon raise follow everything Napoleon does and accept all of his ideas as
something they also strive for. We have a hard time even thinking differently than a
person who is caring for us because why would the person who raised you be wrong?
Think about if Napoleons dogs had decided they didnt like one of Napoleons ideas they
could be hurt or killed. Not that this would happen to a person if they disagreed but i just
happen to see a pattern in ideas based off of what is said in families. But overall, i think
that everyone has the capability to become more skilled and educated. Therefore it is fair
that we have people who are like this as our leaders and decision makers. Unlike in
Animal Farm where most of the working class never had that option.

Personal Response chapters 8-10

1. What is your reaction to the novels ending? For example, do you find it uplifting or
depressing, cynical? Explain.
The ending of the book takes place years after Boxers death when all of the
original animals are old. Everyone had given up on retirement and the pigs had gotten
very fat. Snowball told everyone, the truest happiness lay in working hard and living
frugally (Orwell 118). But at this point everyone on the farm was too old to remember
what had been the original goal. After this, Squealer takes the sheep to go learn a new
song and it goes, Four legs good, two legs better (Orwell 122). Which is different than
what they used to chant because two legs used to be bad. Then, the animals saw the pigs

meet with the human farmers. This is where the ending becomes odd because the animals
said they couldnt recognize pig from man or man from pig.
In my opinion the ending to Animal Farm was both uplifting and sad at the same
time. To start, we see this group of animals who sometimes started to understand that they
were being lied to. But it has been so long since anyone has questioned anything, that
they have all grown too old to remember what the wants of the farm used to be. Some
examples are freedom and only 3 days of work because of the windmill having
electricity. When they see the pigs arguing with the humans over cards at the end, Orwell
says, The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and man to pig, and from pig to
man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. This is uplifting to me
because the animals might have come to a realization that the animals became what they
were fighting against all along. This creates a feeling of hope in that they might be able to
finally turn things around. However, this also saddens me at the same time because of
how long it has taken them to realize this. It makes you really wonder what communist
countries in present day society are going through and really what people went through
during Stalins reign. Overall, Orwells use of comparing to the pigs to humans was very
memorable and creates a feeling of uplifting and of sadness. It really let the book end
with something to think about.
2. Animal Farm contains many extremely effective scenes. Some are humorous or witty,
others are bitterly ironic or pessimistic. Which did you find most memorable and
effective? Why?
Out of all the scenes in Animal Farm, the most memorable and effective would
have to be the end scene. Comparing pig to man was ironic and beautifully done by

George Orwell. The whole point of animals rising up to power was to have a different life
than if man ruled. For example, the first commandment that the pigs write is, Whatever
goes upon two legs is an enemy(Orwell 33). Throughout the story though, we see how
the pigs become more and more alike to man until the animals finally recognize it at the
ending. This really is memorable and effective because Orwell ended the book with this
idea of how communism became so twisted from what Karl Marx originally wanted that
the Bolsheviks became exactly what they were fighting against. It also provides insight to
human instinct and how power hungry someone can become when provided the chance.
This leads to the question, Did Napoleon start out with these ideals in mind or did he
develop them as he gained power. In the text we see that the animals all started out with
Old Majors ideas. An example is when Old Major said, No animal must ever kill any
other animal. All animals are equal (Orwell 22). Snowball and Napoleon both start off
agreeing on things, then once Napoleon starts to break off and gets rid of Snowball he
realizes just how much power he has and uses it to his advantage. This all relates back to
the Russian Revolution of course and shows how twisted things all became and a look at
Napoleon shows you exactly how Stalin mustve acted and treated his people. All in all, i
believe this end scene is the most memorable for the fact that it left the most impact on
me and made me think deeper than just a farm with animals.
Analyze Literature 8-10
1. What dealings does Napoleon have with Frederick and Pilkington? How does the battle
over the windmill effect the animals? What events from Soviet history is Orwell
highlighting?

In Animal Farm Napoleon starts having many dealings with Frederick and
Pilkington. One of these dealings is with Mr. Pilkington and it is selling a pile of timber
to him. Though he is friendly with Pilkington, all of his trades are done through
Whymper and that shows that the animals still have a fear of humans. With Frederick, the
animals avoid him because, Frederick whom they both feared and hated (Orwell 92).
Also it was rumoured that Snowball lived on Pinchfield farm so it also created a deeper
fear of what could happen if Frederick attacked, starting a new saying. Instead of saying,
Death to Frederick they said, Death to Pilkington (Orwell 95). Then, out of no where
Napoleon says he sold the Timber to Frederick instead of Pilkington. This is easy to be
confused by because Napoleon also says that all the things said about Frederick were lies
and that they had been in secret agreement the whole time. Overall, things arent great
between either farm but we know that Pilkington and Animal Farm arent on good terms
no matter what Napoleon says.
Next, all of this fear and distrust of Frederick starts to emanate when Whymper
says that the bank notes given to Napoleon were fake. The next morning, Fredericks men
attack and brought with them guns and 15 men. Taking open fire on the animals, they
quickly fled and couldnt take on the men. Which leads the men to destroy the windmill.
The animals all in bitter anger attack, The fear and despair they had felt a moment
earlier were drowned in their rage against this vile, contemptible, act (Orwell 98). The
windmill being destroyed makes the animals very angry because it was something they
worked so hard on and it was destroyed in seconds. Even though they managed to win the
battle every animal except for the pigs does not feel like a winner when something they
cared about was ruined. Shortly after this event, Squealer and Napoleon manage to get all

of the animals working hard and being motivated again. In conclusion, the windmill
destruction had a huge impact on the animals feelings and response to losing in battle.
The Battle of the Windmill shows a connection to World War two in Soviet
history. The animals begin the battle weary and dying with many of them being killed,
The animals could not face the terrible explosions and the stinging pellets (Orwell 97).
Which correlates with Russia fighting the Nazis. For example, The low point came in
December 1942...Soviets managed to push the Germans back and protect Hitler's next
goaltheir southern oil fieldsbut only with a lot of death and destruction (Shmoop).
Which shows that all the propaganda that u can say wont change the lives lost and the
work destroyed. Also that protecting the windmill relates to the Russians protecting their
oil fields.
Works Cited
"Battle of the Windmill in Animal Farm." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov.
2008. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

<http://www.shmoop.com/animal-farm/battle-

windmill-world-war-ii-symbol.html>.
2. What happens to Boxer and how do the other animals learn of his fate? How do they
come to a final conclusion about these events?
Boxer is the hardest working animal on the farm and is starting to age and get
injured. These injuries eventually lead up to the poor horses death. First, he gets hit by
bullets in the Battle of Windmill. The pellets under the skin of Boxers leg smarted
painfully (Orwell 100). After this he thinks, He was eleven years old..his great
muscles were not quite what they had once been (Orwell 100). He is starting to realize
that he cant be doing as much work as he is but doesn't bother letting anyone know he is

in pain besides Clover. Clover tries to help Boxer but Boxer refuses to work any less
hard. Eventually this starts to work against him and his lung collapses . Napoleon says he
will help Boxer, ...was already making arrangements for Boxer to be treated in the
hospital at Willingdon (Orwell 111). Even the reader might think that he will be helped
at this point. But then the Horse Slaughterer comes instead of a vet. Muriel is the one
who reads this to the animals which is how they find out what will become of Boxer.
Squealer then convinces everyone that the Horse Slaughterer car was bought by the
veterinary surgeon and hadnt been repainted yet. To add onto the lie Napoleon just keeps
adding more detail to the great care he received at the hospital and how he died because
they couldnt save him. All the animals say they are relieved to hear this news, simply
because they dont want to believe that something like this would happen. To wrap it up,
Boxer was on his way to injury but Napoleon sending him to the Knackers verifies that
he will die.
3. What changes were made to the fifth and sixth Commandments? How is the entire list
of commandments ultimately refashioned? What point is Orwell making about the role of
communication in Soviet Society?
In Animal Farm the commandments become an important set of rules in their little
society. In the beginning it starts out with seven commandments that everyone agrees on.
But slowly Napoleon has Squealer change them all. The fifth and sixth commandments
are changed completely. The fifth one used to say No animal shall drink alcohol
(Orwell 33). But after discovering how much they like it, the pigs change it to, No
animal shall drink alcohol to excess (Orwell 103). The sixth commandment starts out as,
No animal shall kill any other animal (Orwell 33). It is then changed to, No animal

shall kill any other animal without cause (Orwell 88). Then, at the end of the book
Napoleon changes the whole list of commandments to, All animals are equal but some
animals are more equal than others (Orwell 123). Overall, I believe that Orwell had a
specific message he was trying to send about the communication in Soviet society. One
point would be that he was trying to inform us that rules were changed without voting
and were tweaked a little until they all became one rule. This rule, ...some animals are
more equal than others (Orwell 123), Makes me sad for the animals because they are
realizing that Napoleon is manipulating them because most of them cannot read.
Napoleon doesnt care about communicating when he is making a change of rules or
change. The role of communication in their society is corrupt which leads me to believe it
was the same with Soviet law. To conclude, the seven commandments become an
important factor in the story and make you think about soviet communication problems.