Published in 1945, Animal Farm by George Orwell (1903-1950) achieved immediate success and remains one of Orwell’s most popular works. A political satire in the guise of a moving and whimsical animal fable, the novella is about a group of farm animals who overthrow their owner, Mr. Jones, and establish animal rule. Although the animals start with high hopes for Animal Farm as a harmonious and just utopia where “all animals are equal” (19), it soon descends into tyranny and despotism under a pig named Napoleon. In the end, the animals’ lives are just as miserable, if not more so, than they had been under Jones, and the farm comes under the joint management of humans and pigs. The revolution has come full circle.

Frequently read in schools, Animal Farm has been adapted twice for the screen, in 1954 as an animated feature and 1999 as a live-action/CGI animated film. This guide uses the edition of Animal Farm published by Harcourt Brace.

Plot Summary

Major, an old boar, stirs up his fellow animals on Manor Farm to revolt against their human masters, pointing out that if human beings were gone, animals would enjoy a happy and free life. Inspired by this appeal, the overworked and underfed animals chase their drunken and incompetent owner, Mr. Jones, from the farm. Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, emerge as rival leaders of the newly established Animal Farm. They argue constantly about the direction Animal Farm should take. Snowball advocates building a windmill to bring electricity. Napoleon trains several dogs to chase Snowball away from the farm and seizes total power.

Animal Farm quickly descends into tyranny; the ruling class of pigs exploits the labor of the other animals, systematically lies to them, and creates a cult-like status for the leader, Napoleon. The animals work in slave-like conditions and are constantly hungry, while the leaders live in the farmhouse and enjoy generous rations. The corruption on the farm reaches its nadir when the pigs arrange to have Boxer, an old cart horse who has collapsed from exhaustion, transported away to be slaughtered so that they can buy whiskey.

Economic necessity forces Napoleon to ally with human outsiders. The book ends with the humans and the pigs enjoying a party in the farmhouse, as the other animals notice that they can no longer distinguish the pigs from the humans by appearance or behavior. The original principles upon which Animal Farm was founded have crumbled, and the conditions in which the animals end are worse than those under Mr. Jones.