Chapter 10

Chapter 10

1. Napoleon

   • This chapter makes the significance of Napoleon's name entirely clear: the historical Napoleon originally appeared to be a great liberator, overthrowing Europe's kings and monarchs and bringing freedom to its people. But he eventually crowned himself emperor of France, shattering the dreams of European liberalism. Rather than destroying the aristocracy, Napoleon simply remade it around himself
     • SImilarly, the pig Napoleon figures as the champion of Animalism early on. Now, however, he protests to the humans that he wants nothing more than to be one of them - an oppressor

2. Narrative

   • Structure
     • Orwell uses emphatic one-line paragraphs to heighten the animals' terror of the pigs' betrayal: the succinct conveyance of "It was a pig walking on his hind legs" and "He carried a whip in his trotter" drops this stunning information on us without warning, shocking us as much as it does the animals
   • Point of view
     • Throughout the novella, Orwell has told his fable from the animals' point of view and in this chapter, we see clearly the dramatic power achieved by this narrative strategy. Despite Orwell using foreshadowing and subtle hints to make us more suspicious than the animals of the pigs' motives, the ingenuous faith in Animal Farm on the part of the common animals are voiced yet again and just before the final scene when they are still insisting that old Major's ideals will be installed "some day". The gap between the animals' optimism and the harsh reality of the pigs' totalitarian rule creates a sense of dramatic contrast. Although the descent into tyranny has been gradual, Orwell provides us with a restatement of the original ideals only moments before the full revelation of the pigs' betrayal to emphasise the seriousness of this
       • In addition, Orwell's decision to tell the story from the animals' point of view renders his final tableau all the more terrible. The picture of the pigs and farmers, indistinguishable from one another, playing cards together is disturbing enough by itself. By enabling us to see this scene from the animals' perspective (from the outside looking in), Orwell points to the animals' total loss of power and entitlement: Animal Farm has not created a society of equals but has simply established a new class of oppressors to dominate the same class of oppressed

3. Seven Commandments

   • The last distillation of the Seven Commandments - "all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others" - stands as the last great example of how those in power manipulate language as an instrument of control. After years of violence, hunger, dishonesty, and fear, the egalitarian socialist spirit of Animal Farm seems lost to a distant past as the paradoxical concept of being "more equal" is accepted by the other animals. This shows how the pigs have distorted the original ideals of the farm beyond recognition and have finally stepped into the shoes of their former tyrannical masters

4. The windmill

   • The completion of the windmill does not mark the rebirth of Snowball's utopian vision. It is used not for a dynamo but instead for milling corn (and thus making money). The windmill's symbolic meaning has (like everything else) been reversed and corrupted. Animal Farm is now completely tied to its human neighbours in terms of business and society

5. The time gap

   • Orwell has years pass between chapters 9 and 10 to stress the ways in which the animals' lack of any sense of history has rendered them incapable of judging their present situation: the animals cannot complain about their awful lives, since " they had nothing to go upon except Squealer's lists of figures, which invariably demonstrated that everything was getting better and better." The animals cannot recall there ever having been a way of life different from their present one and, therefore, no way of life to which they can compare their own. Although "Beasts of England" is hummed in secret by some would-be rebels, "no one dared to sing it aloud."
     • Only Benjamin - perhaps speaking on behalf of Orwell - is able to conclude that "hunger, hardship, and disappointment" are the "unalterable law of life."

6. The speeches

   • Mr Pilkington
     • Pilkington's speech is sniveling in tone and reveals his desire to remain on good terms with the intimidating leader of Animal Farm. Excusing all cruelty and apologising for being "nervous" about the effects of the Rebellion, Pilkington offers a stream of empty words said only to keep the wheels of their relationship well-greased
       • He praises Napoleon for making the animals do more work for less food; flattery from such a man can only suggest that the object of such praise is as corrupt as he who flatters. His final witticism - "If you have your lower animals to contend with ... we have our lower classes!" - again stresses the political interchangeability between the pigs and the men
   • Napoleon
     • The changes of which Napoleon speaks in his speech are the final ones needed to make the farm a complete dictatorship. The abolition of the word "comrade" will create less unity among the animals, the burial of old Major's skull will figuratively "bury" any notions of the dead pig's ideals, and the removal of the horn and the hoof from the flag will ensure that the animals over which it waves never consider the the rewards of struggle and rebellion
       • Finally, the changing of the farm's name back to Manor Farm implies that everything has come full circle while also implying that the farm is not, in any sense, the animals'.

7. The end

   • The novel's final scene in which Napoleon and Pilkington argue about two aces of spades brilliantly represents the entire book: after years of oppression, struggle, rebellion, and reform, the pigs have become as corrupt and cruel and their masters. Smoking, drinking, whipping, killing and even cheating are qualities shared by both animal and man
     • Despite Pilkington's professed admiration for Napoleon (and visa versa), neither trusts the other because neither can: each is motivated purely by self-interest and not the selfless yet ineffectual principles once expounded by old Major

Images and files in the map