Chapters 3 and 4 (Animal Farm)

Illustration by: Zoya Ali

Around here in the novel, it seems as if the animals had finally achieved utopia.

‘ The animals were as happy as they had never conceived it could be possible to be.’

A communist dream

Snowball had created a flag that was green in colour to represent the green fields of England, with a hoof and a horn that represented the future Republic of Animals. The future Republic of Animals would arise when the human race had finally been overthrown. This is very similar to the Soviet flag with a hammer and a sickle.

Napoleon had adopted newborn puppies from the dogs at Animal Farm and took them into his own care to foster privately.

The one problem in this Communist Dream was that Snowball and Napoleon were never in agreement.

The pigs had set aside the harness room as their headquarters, foreshadowing the future seizing of power by the pigs.

Later on, as not all animals could grasp and learn the seven commandments, Snowball shortened it to:

‘Four legs good, two legs bad’- with wings counted as legs.

The mystery of where the milk went was solved. The pigs were not only drinking the milk but also eating the apples, apparently for their health. No animal could oppose this as Squealer(a pig, Napoleon’s propaganda) explained if the pigs (the unofficial leaders) die Mr Jones would come back.

In Chapter 4, Mr Jones and his men try to recapture the farm and fail miserably. This battle came to be known as the Battle of Cowshed since the animals ambushed the men from the cowshed. The Battle of Cowshed represents the October Revolution where the Tsar was abdicated and the Bolshevik party seized power. This in Animal Farm is a very important event as it cements the animal's places on the farm and establishes the pigs as the rulers.