Animal Farm (Begriffsklärung)

Summary of all chapters

Chapter 1

When Mr Jones, the possesor of the “Manor Farm” goes to bed, Old Major, a pig, calls the other animals to an assembly in the barn. All the animal love Old Major and believe in what he says. When they are all together he publishes that he would die soon. He says that the animals shall defend themselves from the oppression through the people, they are the biggest enemies and an animal should never be like a human being. Then he foresees a big revolution and teaches them a song out of his childhood: “Beasts of England”. By singing the song, all animals are very happy, they do it five times. This loud singing wakes up Mr Jones, who comes out an shoots with a gun to the barn. Immediately all the animals leave.

Chapter 2

Like he foresaw, Old Major dies three days after the assembly. By the leadership of the pigs, that seem to be the most intelligent animals, the rebellion against Mr Jones gets prepared. Most engaged are Napoleon and Snowball, Squealer supports them. When Mr Jones “forgets” feeding the animals for a long time, the rebellion begins. They chase Mr Jones, and all the other people on the farm, away. All the “painfull” instruments are destroyed. The farm gets a new name: “Animal Farm”, and the farm house becomes a museum, no animal shall ever live in it. The day after the pigs wright “The Seven Commandments” on the outside of the barn. Not totally free from mistakes. Now the animals begin the hay harvest and the cows are milked. When the animals come back, the milk is gone.

Chapter 3

From now on the animals love doing their work because they are doing it for themselves. Boxer, a horse, works harder than any other animal and Benjamin, a donkey, does everything like before, he is not interested in anything. Every other animal does as much as it can. The pigs become leader of the farm, especially Napoleon and Snowball. On Sundays nobody has to work, the animals have assemblies. A green horn and a hoof are their symbols. Now everyone shall learn reading and writing, but just some of the animals are able to. Muriel, the goat, is nearly the only one. To make the equality of the animals clear to everyone, Snowball invents the “sentence” “Two legs good, four legs bad”. Napoleon takes distance to that. He wants to bring the youth up, and that were nine little dogs that are taken away from all the others. Napoleon “uses” them for his own plans. It is already normal that the pigs take all the milk and fruits away for themselves. The fear of Mr Jones is killing every protest.

Chapter 4

The rebellion of the animals on Mr Jones farm is realized in the whole neighbourhood. Frederic and Mr Pilkington, neighboured farmers seem to be worried that the same could happen to them. Together with Mr Jones they try to conquer the “Manor Farm” back. The animals can prevent the people conquer the farm and one of them even is killed. Boxer is sad about that but Napoleon teaches him that “war is war” and that just “a dead human is good human”. Then the animals celebrate a big party because of their victory. Snowball an Napoleon are honoured with medals for their braveness. But also one animal, a sheep, was killed, it is honoured as an animal hero second class. The big victory in “the battle of the cowshed” shall, from now on, be celebrated on the 12th of October every year. But also the day of the rebellion should be remembered every year.

Chapter 5

Mollie, that left the farm while the battle of the cowshed and led the others fight, leaves the farm secretly in winter. Clover notices that she went back to the humans just for some sugar and blankets. The animals do not miss her very much. One day there is the first big argument between Napoleon and Snowball. Snowball explains his plans for building a windmill for winning some electricity. Almost every animal is filled with enthusiasm. In spite of that Napoleon is against the windmill. He thinks it would be more important to produce more food for the animals. Also in the point of defending the farm they do not come to a common purpose. The differences separate the animals to two different parties. In an important discussion Napoleon suddenly calls nine huge dogs to come in. Snowball just flees to save his life. He is never seen again. Napoleon is from now on the only leader of the farm. Immediately everything becomes different. The assemblies are abolished and all important decisions are made by the pigs now. Their leader is Napoleon. There is less food for the animals and more work. Squealer constructs a new parole: “Bravery is not enough. Faith and obedience is are more important. Snowball is named a traitor and the windmill is built. Squealer makes Napoleon to the inventor by saying that Snowball just stole the plans. The animals are impressed.

Chapter 6

In spite of the hard working of the animals the building of the windmill takes a long time. Boxer works harder than all the others. Napoleon wants to contact the other farmers in the neighbourhood to get better material. The money that they need shall be earned by the hens eggs. But the animals do not feel comfortable, because Napoleon changes a lot. Furthermore they notice that the pigs offend against one of their commandments, Squealer calms them down by skilled arguments. And so no one dares to complain when the pigs retract to Mr Jones’ old house. After that the pigs fix that they have to get up one hour later then all the others, no one complains. The happiness about the almost built windmill chokes all envy and anger. – But then a storm destroys the windmill. The guilt is given Snowball, he receives the death sentence by Napoleon. Those animal that catches him will be rewarded. Napoleon motivates the animals to rebuild the windmill.

Chapter 7

In January there is not enough food anymore. The situation becomes harder and harder. Opposite of the outside world the difficulties are rewarded. Napoleon is not seen very often, most of the time he is in the house with his nine dogs. Squealer brings his instructions to the animals. A boycott starts when the hens refuse to lay more eggs to see them been given away. So they fly to the top of the house and throw their eggs down to the ground. Napoleon reacts with cancellation of the food and threatens the others not to feed them, otherwise they would be punished. So he puts down the revolt and gets the eggs to sell them to Mr Whymper. It is easy for Napoleon to make the animals think that Snowball plans to attack them all to divert the own problems. After giving himself all medals that are possible he starts a process against Boxer. At first Boxer has to defend his life against Napoleons dogs that suddenly attack him. All animals are frightened and some say that they would cooperate with Snowball, they are killed by the dogs. When everything is over, the animals are at a loss. They feel better while singing their song “Beasts of England”. But then Squealer comes with the message that the song is abolished. There would be a new and better one he announces. The animals are shocked, they notice that everything has changed.

Chapter 8

Fear and admiration that the animals have because of Napoleon are the same. Everyday they invent names to honour him. Squealer supports that with propaganda. Lyrics and a big picture of Napoleon are published. In the beginning of the summer someone spreads the rumour that there will be a rebellion against Napoleon and that the taking over of the farm will be soon. The animals are well- prepared when Mr Frederic attacks the farm. “The battle of the windmill” starts, it causes big casualties in both parties. The windmill, on which the animals had worked hard, is destroyed again. But in spite of that the animals won this battle, no one is enthusiastic. Boxer feels his age and notices that he is not able to work longer. The dead animals are buried. Two days they are celebrating their victory. But after that Squealer tells the animals that Napoleon would be very ill. They are very worried. Soon after it Napoleon is healthy again. And immediately he announces that the ground, which was reserved for very old animals, will be used for growing barley. Soon after that Muriel notices a new change of the “Seven Commandments”: “No animal shall drink TO EXCESS”

Chapter 9

Again the animals start rebuilding the windmill. Boxer works harder than ever and does not show any illness or something like that. Although the winter is very hard again, no one complains. The animals do not have and get much, but just the knowledge of their freedom makes them happy and confident. And the pigs improve their leadership. Napoleon rules without any restrictions. He is allowed to drink four litres of beer and has much sugar everyday, he uses Mr Jones dishes for lunch and dinner and claims the barley for the pigs. “Spontaneous demonstrations” take place once a week. The expiry is the same every week. That makes the animals not fuller but they remember each other of their freedom. Squealer goes on encouraging and with propaganda he stops every complaining. Finally the pigs claim the republic. Napoleon becomes president. The raven Moses that appears after some years, he dreams of “Sugar Candy Mountain”. No one believes him but he is allowed to stay. Everyone is shocked, when Boxer after an working- excident announces that he would go in retirement. Napoleon claims to bring him to an animal hospital in Willingdon. Just a few days later Boxer is taken away by a car, all animals stop working to say goodbye to him. And then Muriel and Benjamin see the truth: Boxer is brought to the knacker, not to a hospital. In vain they call his and the others attention. Boxer is never seen again. Without any problems Squealer convinces the other animals that Boxer died in the hospital and his last thoughts were happy ones. Napoleon himself paid for his nursing. The next Sunday Napoleon honours Boxer work and remembers the others of his sayings: “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right”. In the end the commemoration is nothing but a drinking party for the pigs.

Chapter 10

Years passed by, many animals died. The left ones have no motivation anymore. The food is less than ever and they have to work harder than before. There are more “files”, “reports”, “minutes” and “memoranda”, but as soon as they are ready, they are burned. This would be of highest importance for the welfare of the farm, says Squealer. Bur nothing becomes better: Sometimes they motivate themselves by remembering things of big honour. They are still having the only “Animal Farm”. The animals hope for the republic that was told of by Old Mayor, they hope their dream will once become true. But then something incredible happens: The pigs are able to go on two legs! In one evening they are presenting it and Napoleon even wears clothes. Shocked Clover and Benjamin notice that the “Seven Commandments” are gone, there is just one sentence left: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than the others.” Nothing is like before. One day the neighbours come to see “Animal Farm”. They eat and drink together with the pigs. The animals hear loud laughing and go to the farmhouse to look through the window. Mr Pilkington drinks together with the pigs on his and their well- being. Napoleon gives the compliments back. Then he announces that the farm will get its old name “Manor Farm” back. The animal outside go disappointed away. But then they hear loud voices out of the house, they turn around to have a look: Mr Pilkington and Napoleon are arguing and not even one of the animals is able to say who was the pig and who the human. Artikel Diskussion Seite bearbeiten Versione#redirect Farm der Tiere