Animal+Farm+Notes

=Animal Farm Notes=

1/23/07
The animals are having to work harder to keep Animal Farm goin and build the WIndmill. Boxer is taking on more and more work and lives by the slogans, "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right". They are running out of things they need and cannot make on the farm like parafiin oil and horseshoes. The pigs start selling hay and eggs. THe pigs hire Mr. Wimper to buy and sell things for the farm. THe pigs move into the farm house and start living in the beds. They also start walking on 2 legs when they deal with Mr. WImper. They also have recreation time. The pigs have broken three commandments. No animal shall sleep in a bed, Four legs good, two legs bad and no animal is better than any other animal. The pigs are going back and changing the commandments to cover up what they are doing. Clover goes to read the 4th amendment and it has been changed to read " No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets". After a large storm the windmill is blown down. Snowball is blamed for the destruction of the windmill and a death warrent is issued for him. Napoleon also requires that the windmill be rebuilt through winter rain or shine.

1/24/08
Chapter 7 It was a bitter winter. Work continues on the windmill but instead of 18 inch walls, tto three feet walls. Food was running out so in order to keep up appearances, Napolean ordered the food bins be filled with sand. This was done in order to convience Mr. Wimper that things were going well on Animal Farm. The hens were told that they needed to produce 400 eggs to sell. The hens protested and flew up to the rafters to lay their eggs. Naploeon found out and ordered the hens rations cut. Nine hens died. The dogs were put in charge of seeing that the hens obeyed orders. When things began to go wrong on the farm, Snowball became the scapegoat. Everything that went wrong was blamed on Snowball. Napoleon made up stories about how Snowball was in league with Jones from before the revolution. Napoleon gavehimself two medals, Animal Hero, First class and Animal Hero, Second class. Napoleon called a meeting and accused 4 pigs of being in contact with Snowball. The pigs eventually confesed and were killed. Other animals came forward and confessed to being in contact with Snowball and they were killed also. There were three hens, a goose, three sheep and a ram that were killed. Boxer solution to the problem was to work harder. He said he would get up an hour earlier to work extra duty. Clover was very upset and did not have the words to express her feelings so she started singing the Beasts of England. All of the other animals joined in singing in low and mournful tones. Squealer came out with two dogs and said the song had been abolished because it was a song of the revolution and the revolution had been completed. A new song was composed by Minimus the poet.

1/28/08 Chapter 8 Fornight - 2 weeeks The sixth commandment is altered from "No animal shall kill any other animal", to "No animal shall kill any other animal without cause". The animals worked harder and harder and finnaly finnished the windmill. All orders were issued through Squealer or one of the other pigs. Napoleon is now reffered to as " our leader, Comrade Napoleon, Father of All animals, Terror of Mankind, Protector fo the sheep-fold and Ducklings Friend. Minimus wrote a poem for him called Comrade Napoleon. It was rumored that Snowball was living on Pilnchfield farm and pjlotting to kill Napoleon. Four dogs were assigned to gaurd him and pinkeye was to taste all of his food. Napoleon was planning to sellthe timber to Mr. Plikington. Fredrick was rumored to be plotting against him and planning on attacking animal farm. In the fall Napoleon sold the timber to Fredrick and Plikington became the enemy. After they received the money it was discovered that it was counterfiet. Fredrick and his farm attacked animal farnm and destroyed the windmill. Squealer annouces that the defeat is a victory and a gun is fired to celebrate. The pigs find a keg of whiskey and drink it and get drunk. Napoleon puts on an old bowler hat and runs around tahe back yard. The pigs think Napoleon is dying but he is just hung over. Napoleon's last decree is that drinking alcohol is punishable by death. After her recovers the decree is no animal shall drink in excess.

1-29-08 Wearily and weakly, the animals set about rebuilding the windmill. Though Boxer remains seriously injured, he shows no sign of being in pain and refuses to leave his work for even a day. Clover makes him a poultice for his hoof, and he eventually does seem to improve, but his coat doesn’t seem as shiny as before and his great strength seems slightly diminished. He says that his only goal is to see the windmill off to a good start before he retires. Though no animal has yet retired on Animal Farm, it had previously been agreed that all horses could do so at the age of twelve. Boxer now nears this age, and he looks forward to a comfortable life in the pasture as a reward for his immense labors. Food grows ever more scarce, and all animals receive reduced rations, except for the pigs and the dogs. Squealer continues to produce statistics proving that, even with this “readjustment,” the rations exceed those that they received under Mr. Jones. After all, Squealer says, when the pigs and dogs receive good nourishment, the whole community stands to benefit. When four sows give birth to Napoleon’s piglets, thirty-one in all, Napoleon commands that a schoolhouse be built for their education, despite the farm’s dwindling funds. Napoleon begins ordering events called Spontaneous Demonstrations, at which the animals march around the farm, listen to speeches, and exult in the glory of Animal Farm. When other animals complain, the sheep, who love these Spontaneous Demonstrations, drown them out with chants of “Four legs good, two legs bad!”In April, the government declares Animal Farm a republic, and Napoleon becomes president in a unanimous vote, having been the only candidate. The same day, the leadership reveals new discoveries about Snowball’s complicity with Jones at the Battle of the Cowshed. It now appears that Snowball actually fought openly on Jones’s side and cried “Long live Humanity!” at the outset of the fight. The battle took place so long ago, and seems so distant, that the animals placidly accept this new story. Around the same time, Moses the raven returns to the farm and once again begins spreading his stories about Sugarcandy Mountain. Though the pigs officially denounce these stories, as they did at the outset of their administration, they nonetheless allow Moses to live on the farm without requiring him to work.One day, Boxer’s strength fails; he collapses while pulling stone for the windmill. The other animals rush to tell Squealer, while Benjamin and Clover stay near their friend. The pigs announce that they will arrange to bring Boxer to a human hospital to recuperate, but when the cart arrives, Benjamin reads the writing on the cart’s sideboards and announces that Boxer is being sent to a glue maker to be slaughtered. The animals panic and begin crying out to Boxer that he must escape. They hear him kicking feebly inside the cart, but he is unable to get out.Soon Squealer announces that the doctors could not cure Boxer: he has died at the hospital. He claims to have been at the great horse’s side as he died and calls it the most moving sight he has ever seen—he says that Boxer died praising the glories of Animal Farm. Squealer denounces the false rumors that Boxer was taken to a glue factory, saying that the hospital had simply bought the cart from a glue maker and had failed to paint over the lettering. The animals heave a sigh of relief at this news, and when Napoleon gives a great speech in praise of Boxer, they feel completely soothed.Not long after the speech, the farmhouse receives a delivery from the grocer, and sounds of revelry erupt from within. The animals murmur among themselves that the pigs have found the money to buy another crate of whisky—though no one knows where they found the money.