Innocence

Innocence

1. Animals

   • It was as though they had never seen these things before, and even now they could hardly believe that it was all their own.
   • The animals were not certain what the word meant, but Squealer spoke so persuasively, and the three dogs who happened to be with him growled so threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further questions.
   • Once again the animals were conscious of a vague uneasiness.
   • And since it was certainly true that nothing of the kind existed in writing, the animals were satisfied that they had been mistaken.
   • When it was all over, the remaining animals, except for the pigs and dogs, crept away in a body. They were shaken and miserable. They did not know which was more shocking--the treachery of the animals who had leagued themselves with Snowball, or the cruel retribution they had just witnessed
   • But somehow neither the words nor the tune ever seemed to the animals to come up to 'Beasts of England'
   • The animals believed every word of it.
   • They knew that life nowadays was harsh and bare, that they were often hungry and often cold, and that they were usually working when they were not asleep. But doubtless it had been worse in the old days. They were glad to believe so.
   • Besides, in those days they had been slaves and now they were free, and that made all the difference, as Squealer did not fail to point out.
   • But if there were hardships to be borne, they were partly offset by the fact that life nowadays had a greater dignity than it had had before.
   • But by and large the animals enjoyed these celebrations. They found it comforting to be reminded that, after all, they were truly their own masters and that the work they did was for their own benefit.
   • The animals were enormously relieved to hear this. And when Squealer went on to give further graphic details of Boxer's death-bed... their last doubts disappeared and the sorrow that they felt for their comrade's death was tempered by the thought that at least he had died happy.
   • And yet the animals never gave up hope. More, they never lost, even for an instant, their sense of honour and privilege in being members of Animal Farm.
   • None of the old dreams had been abandoned
   • The Republic of the Animals which Major had foretold, when the green fields of England should be untrodden by human feet, was still believed in. Some day it was coming: it might not be soon, it might not be with in the lifetime of any animal now living, but still it was coming.
   • Even the tune of Beasts of England was perhaps hummed secretly here and there: at any rate, it was a fact that every animal on the farm knew it, though no one would have dared to sing it aloud.
   • No creature among them went upon two legs. No creature called any other creature "Master." All animals were equal.

2. Boxer

   • "I have no wish to take life, not even human life," repeated Boxer, and his eyes were full of tears.
   • His two slogans, "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right," seemed to him a sufficient answer to all problems.
   • "Ah, that is different!" said Boxer. "If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right."
   • But Boxer was still a little uneasy. "I do not believe that Snowball was a traitor at the beginning," he said finally. "What he has done since is different. But I believe that at the Battle of the Cowshed he was a good comrade."
   • The time had been when a few kicks from Boxer's hoofs would have smashed the van to matchwood. But alas! his strength had left him; and in a few moments the sound of drumming hoofs grew fainter and died away
   • He had, he said, only one real ambition left--to see the windmill well under way before he reached the age for retirement.
   • From morning to night he was pushing and pulling, always at the spot where the work was hardest.

3. Clover

   • . As Clover looked down the hillside her eyes filled with tears. If she could have spoken her thoughts, it would have been to say that this was not what they had aimed at when they had set themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the human race.
   • These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion.
   • If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak, as she had protected the lost brood of ducklings with her foreleg on the night of Major's speech.
   • Instead--she did not know why--they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes.
   • There was no thought of rebellion or disobedience in her mind.
   • She knew that, even as things were, they were far better off than they had been in the days of Jones, and that before all else it was needful to prevent the return of the human beings
   • Whatever happened she would remain faithful, work hard, carry out the orders that were given to her, and accept the leadership of Napoleon.
   • But still, it was not for this that she and all the other animals had hoped and toiled. It was not for this that they had built the windmill and faced the bullets of Jones's gun.
   • Such were her thoughts, though she lacked the words to express them.

4. Boxer & Clover

   • Their most faithful disciples were the two cart-horses, Boxer and Clover.
   • These two had great difficulty in thinking anything out for themselves, but having once accepted the pigs as their teachers, they absorbed everything that they were told, and passed it on to the other animals by simple arguments.
   • Only Boxer and Clover never lost heart.