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?
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