Chapter 2 (Animal Farm)

Animals staring at the 7 commandments

The Russian Revoliution

The Second Revolution in Russia:

1914, World War One broke out and suddenly Russia was at war with half of Europe. Patriotism won over everyone. Lenin was the only one who wanted Russia to lose because that would help him overthrow the Tsar. Russia was losing (as Lenin hoped) the war because of a lack of resources. Suddenly, there was a lack of food and many people were starving.

On International Women's Day (1917),1000 women took to the streets of Petrograd. Later, the men joined and the soldiers mutinied. The crowd demanded an end to the war, food rationing and even an end to the tsarist rule.

Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne. However, there was no one to replace Nicholas and so the 300-year-old Tsarist autocracy ended.

Animal Farm

In Chapter 2 of Animal Farm, Old Major passes away and we are introduced to the two main pigs: Snowball and Napoleon.

Snowball represents Leon Trotsky, the leader of the revolution and Napoleon is Joseph Stalin.

They name Old Major’s philosophy Animalism.

On midsummer’s eve, Mr. Johnes workers did not feed the animals and when Mr. Johns came back in the afternoon (drunk) he fell asleep. The animals were so hungry that one of the cows broke into the shed and suddenly all the animals were in the shed, eating away.

When Mr. John woke up he assembled his workers and they went into the shed with whips. Surprisingly, fueled with thoughts of revolution, equality and better suture, the animals did not hold back and kicked and butted the men, in unity. The uprising of animals frightened the men who gave up, the rebellion was successful and Mr. Jones and his men were expelled. All humans had left the farm.

The Tsarist rule came to an end.

The animals got rid of all signs of Mr. Jones and his cruelty. Mr. Jones’s house was preserved as a museum.

Later on, the pigs told the other animals that they had learned how to read and write English. They renamed the farm from ‘Manor Fram’ to ‘Animal Farm’ and wrote down the 7 commandments that all animals would obey:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

3. No animal shall wear clothes.

4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

6. No animal shall kill any other animal.

7. All animals are equal.

The pigs had been established as somewhat superior creatures, more human-like as they were one of the few animals that could read.

The animals would work as usual but on their own terms.

The first betrayal by the pigs, specifically Napolean was when he stole the cow's milk which the animals had decided to put in their food.

Napoleon, Joseph Stalin told the animals not to be troubled by the milk and gave snowball orders to lead the animals away. The milk foreshadows greed and corruption, which we see Napolean giving into (just like in the Russian Revolution).