Chapters 1-3: The Rebellion
Old Major’s Speech (Chapter 1)
The novella opens with Old Major, a prize boar, gathering the animals to share a dream of freedom. His speech is a masterclass in rhetoric: he uses the tricolon “our lives are miserable, laborious, and short” to build pathos, asks rhetorical questions (“Is it not crystal clear?”) and creates a clear enemy (Man). He teaches them the song “Beasts of England” — a revolutionary anthem that unites the animals emotionally.
Old Major uses: (1) tricolon (‘miserable, laborious, and short’) for emotional impact; (2) rhetorical questions to make his argument feel inevitable; (3) a unifying song (‘Beasts of England’) to create collective identity. His speech parallels Marx’s Communist Manifesto — a vision of equality that is powerful, sincere and ultimately corrupted by those who follow.
Old Major dies three days after his speech, paralleling how Marx died before seeing his ideas implemented. His vision is pure: “All animals are equal.” The tragedy of the novella is watching this vision systematically betrayed. Orwell shows that even the noblest ideas are vulnerable to corruption when power is concentrated in the hands of a few.
The Rebellion and the Seven Commandments (Chapter 2)
Mr Jones, the drunken farmer who represents Tsar Nicholas II, forgets to feed the animals. Driven by hunger, they spontaneously rebel and drive him from the farm. The Rebellion happens almost accidentally — Orwell suggests that revolutions arise from desperation rather than ideology. The pigs, as the cleverest animals, assume leadership and distil Old Major’s teachings into Animalism and the Seven Commandments.
The original Seven Commandments are: (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. These represent the revolution’s founding principles. Their gradual corruption — each commandment quietly altered to accommodate the pigs’ privileges — is the novel’s central structural device.
Early Signs of Corruption
Orwell plants seeds of corruption from the very beginning. In Chapter 2, the milk disappears. In Chapter 3, the pigs claim the apples for themselves, with Squealer arguing: “Milk and apples contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig.” He threatens that without the pigs’ brainwork, “Jones would come back.” This is the first use of the “Jones would come back” threat — fear-mongering that Squealer deploys repeatedly to justify the pigs’ growing privileges.
The milk and apples are the first resources the pigs appropriate for themselves. Squealer’s justification (‘necessary to the well-being of a pig’) establishes the pattern that defines the rest of the novella: privilege justified by propaganda, opposition silenced by fear (‘Jones would come back’). Orwell shows corruption beginning immediately after revolution — it does not develop gradually but is present from the start.
The Battle of the Cowshed (Chapter 4)
Jones attempts to retake the farm with neighbouring farmers. Snowball leads the defence brilliantly, using military tactics he has studied from books. The animals win decisively. This parallels the Russian Civil War (1917–22), where Trotsky organised the Red Army. Snowball’s bravery is later erased from history by Napoleon — just as Stalin erased Trotsky from official records and photographs.
Boxer fights with tremendous courage and strength, knocking a stable-boy unconscious. His distress at thinking he has killed the boy reveals his fundamental decency: “I have no wish to take life, not even human life.” This establishes Boxer’s moral character and makes his eventual betrayal even more devastating. Orwell uses Boxer to show that the revolution’s most loyal, hardworking supporters are precisely the ones who are exploited most brutally.
The early chapters establish a pattern: revolution driven by genuine grievance, leadership assumed by the cleverest (not the most moral), and corruption beginning immediately through small privileges and propaganda. Orwell’s structural choice to plant corruption this early is deliberate — it shows that the problem is not one bad leader but the nature of power itself.
Revolution from genuine grievance → leadership by the cleverest (not most moral) → immediate corruption through small privileges (milk, apples) → propaganda to justify it (Squealer) → fear to silence opposition (‘Jones would come back’). This pattern repeats and intensifies throughout the novella.