Animal Farm Ch. 1-2 Litblog

Mary Ann MacDonald
Period 5
11-28-12

Chapters 1-2

Summary: In chapter 1, . Major (the wise pig) calls a meeting to discuss his dream he had.  He talks about a revolution for animals overthrowing humans.  Major states that animals live, short and hard lives and they do all the work to get nothing back from the humans and humans are enemies. Major then sings a song from his childhood he remembered in his dream t called Beasts of England (about the revolution). In chapter 2, Major dies in his sleep. The other pigs take over his place and they call Major's philosophy Animalism and have meetings about it. At this time, Mr. Jones forgot to feed the animals. Eventually one of the cows broke in the store-shed to eat. The men came and started to whip the animals and the cows chased the men off the farm. The animals now owned the farm. The animals all burned the instruments of torture and humility in the barn and ate and went to bed. The animals explore the farmhouse and decide no one will live there. The animals then write Animal Farm on the farm sign with paint. The animals then made 7 commandments they must all live by no matter what which are that animals are friends, humans are enemies, no animal will sleep on a bed, wear clothes, kill another animal, drink alcohol, and all animals are equal. After harvesting hay they came back to notice their milk had disappeared from earlier that day. 

Quotation: "And remember also that in fighting against man, we must not come to resemble him. Even when you have conquered him do not adopt his vices... All the habits of Man are evil." (21) 

Quotation Significance: This is Major talking the animals before he tells them the dream he has. He is saying that they must not become what a terrible thing that the man is, otherwise there would be no point in what they are trying to achieve.  He believes that men are evil and do not ever be evil like them

Reflection: So far, this story has been exciting. The animals are inspired by the ideas of Animalism and Major inspires them, and warns them to never become like man. It is obvious to see that the smartest animals at the farm are the pigs and I think that in the future the pigs will become the dictators of the farm. I think they will become the elite on the farm and become the very thing they were fighting for in the first place. I'm thinking that one of the pigs stole the milk and maybe drank it or stored it for later. I think that eventually the pigs might even move into the house and start making the other animals work for them and trick them into doing things or obeying them. With animals like Mollie, this would be easy. All they would have to do would be to entice her ribbons as rewards for obeying them. I think that this is a comparison to types of government like Communism. They have this small and cunning elite population (pigs) that surpresses the majority of the population and tricks them into working for their benefit. It starts with not forced control but with winning people over (Mollie?) and then making them work for them and making them do things for their benefit. Obviously, it seems like Major had an idea that this might happen and is warning them against it. 

Discussion Question: Do you think that the pigs are planning to take over the farm?