Plot summary:

Many years pass. The farm is larger and more prosperous. The windmill has been built and there are many more animals on the farm. The farm has grown richer, but the animals, apart from the pigs and dogs, have not. They look forward to the day when all of England will be "untrodden by human feet".

Squealer takes the sheep away to a waste ground at the end of the farm, where he keeps them for most of the week. The pigs begin to walk on their hind legs and adopt many human habits. The sheep's mantra has changed to "Four legs good, two legs better" and Benjamin reads that the Commandments have been replaced by a single maxim "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".

The farmers visit Animal Farm to inspect it. They are full of praise for Napoleon's achievements. Napoleon explains that he has removed many of the original customs of Animal Farm. The animals no longer refer to each other as 'Comrade'. They no longer march past Old Major's skull every Sunday, but instead parade past the green flag, which is now plain, the hoof and horn having been removed. He also returns the farm to its original name 'Manor Farm'.

Quotes and Analysis:

“…the lower animals on Animal Farm did more work and received less food than any animals in the county. Indeed, he and his fellow visitors today had observed many features which they intended to introduce on their own farms immediately”

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which”

The farmers praise Napoleon for his exploitation of the 'lower animals'. There is a shocking contrast between earlier references to 'parasitical human[s]' and Napoleon's behaviour at the end of the book, where he clearly seeks to imitate the farmers in every way possible. Napoleon has turned into a cruel, authoritarian dictator who believes his species to be superior over all the others. He is no better than a farmer. In fact, some might say he is worse because of his ruthless campaign of propaganda which means that the animals are almost unaware that they are being exploited.

"She was two years past the retiring age, but in fact no animal had ever actually retired"

"Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Animalism. The truest happiness he said, lay in working hard and living frugally"

Napoleon and the pigs are very hypocritical. They advocate frugal living, yet live in opulence themselves. The entire ideaology of Animalism has been disfigured - all that remains is its name.

Animal Farm Plot Summary