At this . . . nine enormous dogs wearing
brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight
for Snowball. . . .
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Summary
Mollie becomes an increasing burden on Animal Farm: she
arrives late for work, accepts treats from men associated with nearby farms,
and generally behaves contrary to the tenets of Animalism. Eventually
she disappears, lured away by a fat, red-faced man who stroked her
coat and fed her sugar; now she pulls his carriage. None of the
other animals ever mentions her name again.
During the cold winter months, the animals hold their
meetings in the big barn, and Snowball and Napoleon’s constant disagreements
continue to dominate the proceedings. Snowball proves a better speaker
and debater, but Napoleon can better canvass for support in between
meetings. Snowball brims with ideas for improving the farm: he studies
Mr. Jones’s books and eventually concocts a scheme to build a windmill,
with which the animals could generate electricity and automate many
farming tasks, bringing new comforts to the animals’ lives. But
building the windmill would entail much hard work and difficulty,
and Napoleon contends that the animals should attend to their current
needs rather than plan for a distant future. The question deeply
divides the animals. Napoleon surveys Snowball’s plans and expresses
his contempt by urinating on them.
When Snowball has finally completed his plans, all assemble
for a great meeting to decide whether to undertake the windmill project.
Snowball gives a passionate speech, to which Napoleon responds with
a pathetically unaffecting and brief retort. Snowball speaks further,
inspiring the animals with his descriptions of the wonders of electricity.
Just as the animals prepare to vote, however, Napoleon gives a strange
whimper, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars charge
into the barn, attack Snowball, and chase him off the farm. They
return to Napoleon’s side, and, with the dogs growling menacingly,
Napoleon announces that from now on meetings will be held only for
ceremonial purposes. He states that all important decisions will
fall to the pigs alone.
Afterward, many of the animals feel confused and disturbed. Squealer
explains to them that Napoleon is making a great sacrifice in taking
the leadership responsibilities upon himself and that, as the cleverest
animal, he serves the best interest of all by making the decisions.
These statements placate the animals, though they still question
the expulsion of Snowball. Squealer explains that Snowball was a
traitor and a criminal. Eventually, the animals come to accept this
version of events, and Boxer adds greatly to Napoleon’s prestige
by adopting the maxims “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always
right.” These two maxims soon reinforce each other when, three weeks
after the banishment of Snowball, the animals learn that Napoleon
supports the windmill project. Squealer explains that their leader
never really opposed the proposal; he simply used his apparent opposition
as a maneuver to oust the wicked Snowball. These tactics, he claims,
served to advance the collective best interest. Squealer’s words
prove so appealing, and the growls of his three-dog entourage so
threatening, that the animals accept his explanation without question.
Analysis
This chapter illuminates Napoleon’s corrupt and power-hungry motivations.
He openly and unabashedly seizes power for himself, banishes Snowball
with no justification, and shows a bald-faced willingness to rewrite
history in order to further his own ends. Similarly, Stalin forced
Trotsky from Russia and seized control of the country after Lenin’s
death. Orwell’s experience in a persecuted Trotskyist political
group in the late 1930s during the Spanish
Civil War may have contributed to his comparatively positive portrayal of
Snowball. Trotsky was eventually murdered in Mexico,
but Stalin continued to evoke him as a phantom threat, the symbol
of all enemy forces, when he began his bloody purges of the 1930s. These
purges appear in allegorized form in the next chapters of Animal
Farm.
Lenin once famously remarked that communism was merely socialism
plus the electrification of the countryside, a comment that reveals
the importance of technological modernization to leaders in the
young Soviet Union. The centrality of the electrification projects in
the Soviet Union inspired the inclusion of the windmill in Animal Farm. Communist
leaders considered such programs absolutely essential for their
new nation, citing their need to upgrade an infrastructure neglected
by the tsars and keep up with the relatively advanced and increasingly
hostile West. Russia devoted a great deal of brain- and manpower
to putting these programs in place. As suggested by the plot of Animal
Farm, Stalin initially balked at the idea of a national
emphasis on modern technology, only to embrace such plans wholeheartedly
once he had secured his position as dictator.
