Animal Farm

Summary Chp. 10

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Years have passed, and many of the animals are dead. Only Clover, Benjamin, Moses and some of the pigs remember the days before the rebellion. Clover is by now very old, well past retirement age, except that no animal has actually managed to retire yet.

The windmill has finally been completed. It is used for milling corn, rather than for generating electricity, and brings a good profit to the farm. Another windmill is now being built to generate electricity. There is no more talk of the three-day week, or any of the other luxuries that Snowball originally promised would accrue from the windmill.

The farm is growing richer, but the animals themselves do not seem to benefit much from it. There are many pigs and dogs on the farm now. The pigs are all involved in the bureaucracy of running the farm, and are not available to do any actual work, though Squealer makes it clear to the others that what the pigs do is of vital importance to the farm. Squealer continues to impress everyone with detailed figures of how everything has improved on the farm, but deep down the animals are unable to reconcile this with the lack of improvement in their own conditions. Nonetheless, Animal Farm remains the only farm in England to be owned by the animals, and the animals remain enormously proud of this.

Summer arrives. Squealer is seen to take all the sheep of the farm aside, and no-one sees them for a week. The sheep eventually return. That evening, as the animals are returning to the yard from work, Clover is heard neighing excitedly from the yard. The animals rush forward to see what is happening. They stop dead when they all see what has startled Clover. It is the sight of Squealer walking upright, on his hind legs. At this moment, all of the pigs leave the farmhouse in single file, all upright on two legs. Finally, Napoleon emerges from the farmhouse, upright and carrying a whip.

It is the most shocking thing the animals have ever seen. It goes against everything that they have been taught up to then. Just as it seems that someone might object, the sheep break into a deafening chorus of Four legs good, two legs better. They went on for five minutes, during which the pigs walked briefly around and then returned to the farmhouse. The chance to protest is gone. Clover goes to the gable wall and brings Benjamin with her. She asks Benjamin to read for her what is on the gable wall. All the commandments are gone, and all that is written there now is All animals are equal, But some animals are more equal than others.

After this, the pigs and their sows start wearing clothes and carrying whips. They begin to have more direct dealings with the neighbouring farmers. One day, the pigs invite a number of the local farmers to inspect the farm. After the inspection, the pigs and the farmers return to the farmhouse for a celebration. After a time, loud noises of laughter and singing are heard through the windows. The other animals are overcome with curiosity, and they approach the farmhouse to see what is going on. They look through the windows to see the pigs and farmers seated around the living room table, playing cards, making speeches and congratulating one another. Mr Pilkington makes a speech telling the pigs how impressed he is with Animal Farm, especially with the hard work and poor rations of the farm animals. Napoleon makes a speech in return, expressing his happiness that the mistrust between Animal Farm and the others is now at an end. He furthermore announces that the animals will cease to address each other as Comrade, and that Animal Farm will now revert to being called Manor Farm. As Napoleon finishes his speech to great applause, the animals outside seem to notice something changing in the features of the pigs, but what?

As the applause dies down and the card game is resumed, the animals creep away from the window. However, they hurry back when they hear a furious argument break out. The argument is because Mr. Pilkington and Napoleon have both played an Ace of Spades at the same time. But as the animals look from Napoleon to Pilkington, from man to pig and from pig back to man, they find that they are unable to tell the difference.

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