Brief Summary of Animal Farm

Brief Summary of Animal Farm

The whole story of Animal Farm starts when a pig named Old Major assembles all the animals on the then known "Manor Farm" and tells them of a dream he had about living free from the reign of all humans. He called his idea "Animalism", but would never be able to see it working, because he dies just a few days after giving his speech. To replace Old Major's leadership, two other pigs, named Snowball and Napoleon, eventually took over.

Then one night the owner of the farm, Mr. Jones, forgets to feed the animals, and they rebel against him, driving him off the farm. From that day forward the farm is known by "Animal Farm". The animals then created the seven commandments from which they would live by.

At first, the animals have everything going for them. The animals harvest all the crops for the season. Napoleon however, feels that because he is the leader, he can do things like steal the cows milk and the other pigs apples. He also teams up with Squealer, another pig, whose job is to persuade the other animals that whatever the pigs say goes.

Then, in the fall, Mr. Jones comes back to reclaim his farm. But thanks to Snowball, the only pig who has stayed true, Jones falls to the animals in the Battle of the Cowshed. Winter then brought many strange events. Mollie the horse was lured off the farm. Snowball drew up an idea for a windmill so the animals didn't have to work as hard, but Napoleon opposed the idea, and then got a group of dogs to run Snowball off the farm. Napoleon then orders the animals to build the windmill, saying it was his idea, and then uses Snowball as a scapegoat, saying he was responsible for the animals problems.

Over the span of the next year, the animals build the windmill. Of all of them, Boxer, a horse, works the hardest day in and day out. Mr. Jones gave up on trying to regain the farm, and moves. Then, the building of the windmill was interrupted when a storm destroyed part of it. Napoleon immediately ordered it be rebuilt.

At this point Napoleon has become a complete dictator ordering the other animals around and sleeping in the humans beds. The windmill was destructed by Frederick after a trade in which he received fake banknotes. Almost all of the original seven commandments have been broken, and are now modified on the farmhouse wall. An example was the commandment "no