Animal Farm Ch.9 Litblog

Mary Ann MacDonald
Period 5
12-4-12

Chapter 9

Summary: In chapter 9, rations were reduced again and all the young piglets are trained by Napoleon and any animal who meets a pig on the path must step aside for the pig. Pigs are also allowed to wear green ribbons on Sunday. The field was full of barley all for the pigs and the once a week Sponetaneous Demonstartion was put into place. Boxer falls when hauling a rock and is driven the "hospital" (the knacker's). At the end of the chapter, the pigs receive another box of whisky.

Quotation: "'Comrades, comrades!' they shouted. 'Don't take your own brother to his death!' But the stupid brutes, too ignorant to realise what was happening, merely set back their ears and quickened their pace" (114).

Quotation Significance: The aniamls say this as the horses and the driver are taking away Boxer to be cut up and killed for horse meat. They are telling the animals to rebel against the humans and not listen to what they have to say. What is ironic is that Napoleon is sending them to death by the way that he is treating them. They don't realize it but they are being treated worse than when they had Jones.

Reflection: Napoleon has now even more control. He is conversing freely with humans. The only commandment he has not broken is "All animals are equal". But it is easy to predict that this commandment will eventually be broken as well. In fact it is almost borken when the other animals haveto move aside for hte pigs when they are walking down a path and they meet up. I find it hard that someone hasn't really spoken up. It is obvious that Benjamin knows what is going on and either doesn't care or knows what will happen if he doesn't obey the rules. Either way, Napoleon is getting away with being a ruthless tyrant and no one now is trying to stop him at all. Animal Farm directly comapres with the Russian Revolution. Marx, the man who invented Communism is Old Major.  Jones is the old Czar (ruler) and the last ruler of Animal Farm before the Animals take it over and replace his way with Animalism. Napoleon is Stalin (ruler of new Communism governement) because he is the ruler of the Animal Farm and exiles his co-ruler, Snowball (Trotsky). Snowball and Trotsky also believed in Animalism and Communism. Stalin and Napoleon basically pretended they di and then corrupted the system.  When Boxer is sent to the knacker's he will be chopped up for horse meat and dog food. Napoleon obviously did this to receive money so he wouldn't have to keep caring for Boxwer and feeding him for more and more years. Squealer comes up with a lie and tells the animals that Boxer was really at the hospital and that he couldn't be saved. Next I think that the pigs will become so much like the humans that soon they won't be able to tell the difference between the two species.

Discussion Question: How far do you think Napoleon will go for complete control of the farm? Do you think that the pigs will become the humans themselves?



Animal Farm Chapters 7-8 Litblog

Mary Ann MacDonald
Period 5
12-4-12

Chapters 7-8 

Summary: In chapter 7, a famine breaks out at the farm and the hens are required to give up their eggs to trade for other foods. The hens rebel this and they are not allowed any food, nine hens die and any animal that helps them will be executed. Snowball is framed for sneaking around the barn at night and working with Jones and the neighboring barns to take over Animal Farm. Napoleon held a meetings and countless animals were killed and confessed to working with Snowball or plotting against him. Then the song Beasts of England was abolished. In chapter 8, Napoleon is only seen once fortnight with a whole procession before him and guards. He had special quarters in the farmhouse and was always waited on. More animals came forward with crimes to murder Napoleon and Napoleon now has  taste-testers and more guards. The windmill is finished and named Napoleon Mill. The money paid for the timber is fake and Frederick has been pronounced to death. Frederick and fifteen men attack the farm and they blew up the windmill. The animals attacked them and won the battle. Napoleon and the pigs start to drink alcohol and catch Squealer changing the commandments to accommodate this. 

Quotation: " So Beasts of England was heard no more. In its place, Minimus, the poet, had composed another song which began: Animal Farm, Animal Farm, Never through me shalt thou come to harm! And this was sung every Sunday morning...But somehow neither the words nor the tune ever seemed to the animals to come up to Beasts of England" (86-87).

Quotation Significance: This is reflected by the animals once the Beasts of England song is abolished. This song stood for everything the animals stood for and now this is gone. They have no rights and this new song by Minimus doesn't justify the rights they should have which disappoints them. 

Reflection: Napoleon is now more in control then ever. Famines break out in the barn and food goes missing, and Snowball is blamed. I personally believe that Snowball is innocent and ran away because of a threat from Napoleon or seeing the damage that Napoleon is causing and decided he wanted to be a part of it. The hens don't want to give up their eggs and because of this they are allowed no rations and any animal who gives them food will be slaughtered. So far, the pigs have violated almost every single rule in Animal Farm and some of the animals catch Squealer changing some of the commandments in the barn because he has a ladder and a paint brush. The animals don't realize what this means however and let it slide. Whenever an animal protests a new rule Squealer is always abel to convince them that it is for the best and everything is much better than it was when Jones ran the farm. The animals agree reluctantly, only because of the dogs and they don't want to be killed by the pigs. They are starting to have suspicions of what is really going on at the farm but they don't have sufficient memory or skills to do this correctly. The pigs are smart and now how to "beat around the bush" and lie when it comes to the other animals and they know that these animals are easily persuaded. During the meeting when dozens of animals were slaughtered, it makes the animals who are still alive worry about their own future and Napoleon has no basically become the king/dictator of Animal Farm. He swore to never drink, kill animals, sleep in beds, be equal with other animals, and never live in the farmhouse. He has violated all the rules he helped to make in the first place. With using trickery and cunning tactics he has turned everyone against Snowball, who is most likely innocent, so everyone will look to him to save them. This is a tactic used with types of government to gain trust and they slowly trick and use cunning strategies to bend and twist the truth until no one remembers the truth anymore (the old commandments). 

Discussion Question: Do you think that some of the animals will try and stand up to Napoleon? How will they accomplish this?

Animal Farm Chapters 5-6 Litblog

Mary Ann MacDonald
Period 5
12-3-12

Chapters 5-6

Summary: In chapter 5, there is a dispute between Snowball and Napoleon whether to build a windmill to generate power for the farm. Mollie disappears to a neighboring farm. The nine dogs that Napoleon had raised attacked Snowball and ran him off the farm and he never returned. With Napoleon in charge it was announced that the pigs would make all farm decisions, and that the windmill would be made after all. Napoleon opposed it  because Snowball had stolen Napoleon's ideas in the first place. In chapter 6, work on Sunday has been established, and started working on the windmill. However they were running out of supplies and traded with Mr. Whymper, and then the pigs moved into the farmhouse and slept on beds. During that winter, the windmill was destroyed and Snowball was blamed and he was officially sentenced to death.

Quotation: "You would not rob us of our repose, would you, comrades? You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties? Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?" (70).

Quotation Significance: Squealer says this to Clover and Muriel who are looking at the seven commandments. Clover is one of the animals that is suspicious that the pigs are becoming more and more like greedy humans and Squealer basically justifies it by talking about having Jones back. Obviously this is not what the animals want so they are persuaded into obeying the pigs. 

Reflection: The pigs are really beginning to take over! It all starts when Snowball goes missing. Without someone to argue with Snowball and need votes to break their fights Napoleon can make all the decisions. He fought with Snowball over the windmill saying it would be useless. And now that Snowball is gone he wants to use these plans and win the animal's favor he says that they were his plans in the first place and Snowball stole them. I think that Napoleon just wanted to utilize the plans for the windmill and turn the animals against Snowball so if he comes back Napoleon will be in full control. When Napoleon announces that the pigs will make all the decisions some of the young porkers protest but Napoleon's dogs scare them. This happens several times when other animals try to speak up against Napoleon and I think he raised these dogs to enforce his rules and ensure no rebellions. This parallels to men and guns. Men use guns to enforce rules and protect themselves. This is exactly what Napoleon and his sidekick Squealer are doing. Now, work on Sunday has been established though it isn't technically mandatory if the animals don't particiapte their rations are cut in half. The pigs still have the apples and milk all to themselves and the pigs sleep in the house on beds. In the beginning of the story there is a strict law against it but one of the pigs changes it to say "We will never sleep on beds with sheets".  Since most of the animals aren't too smart, the believe Napoleon and now he has control over everything, food, the house, weapons, the government, and the animals themselves. Napoleon finds another chance to blame Snowball when the windmill is destroyed. Obviously this was the storm, a small pig couldn't wreck a huge windmill. But Napoleon is convincing and most likely has a pig lay false tracks to prove to the animals that the Napoleon is there for them and that Snowball is bad. This greatly compares with government. When two parties try to take over, they make cunning and sly plots to trick their people into going against the other party and choosing them. I think next Napoleon will press for more control and eventually animals will speak up. 

Discussion Question: Do you think that Napoleon is trying to sabotage Snowball?