Chapters 7-8: Terror & Purges
The Purges (Chapter 7)
Chapter 7 is the novella’s darkest moment. Napoleon summons the animals and, with the dogs at his side, demands confessions. Several animals “confess” to working with Snowball and are immediately executed — their throats torn out by the dogs. This parallels Stalin’s Great Purge (1936–38), where millions were arrested, forced to confess to fabricated crimes, and executed or sent to gulags.
The confessions are forced and false — the animals confess to crimes they did not commit because they are terrified of the dogs. This mirrors the Soviet show trials where defendants confessed to absurd charges under torture. Orwell shows that terror does not need to be rational: its purpose is not justice but submission. The surviving animals are silenced not by argument but by fear.
After the executions, the surviving animals huddle together in shock. Clover looks out over the farm and thinks: “these scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion.” This is the novella’s most poignant moment — Clover remembers the original vision of equality and sees it utterly destroyed, but she lacks the words or the power to challenge what has happened.
“Beasts of England” Banned
After the executions, Napoleon bans “Beasts of England” and replaces it with a new anthem praising Animal Farm, composed by Minimus. This is symbolically devastating: the revolutionary song that united the animals is erased, replaced by a flat song about the farm itself. The true personality cult anthem comes in Chapter 8: Minimus’s poem “Comrade Napoleon”. Orwell shows that totalitarian regimes always destroy the memory of the original revolution because it exposes the gap between promise and reality.
After the executions, the animals check the Sixth Commandment: “No animal shall kill any other animal.” They find it now reads “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.” The addition of “without cause” retrospectively justifies the massacre. Later, “No animal shall drink alcohol” becomes “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess” after Napoleon gets drunk. Each alteration follows the same pattern: the pigs commit the act first, then change the rule to accommodate it.
The Battle of the Windmill (Chapter 8)
Frederick (representing Hitler) attacks the farm and destroys the windmill with explosives. The animals fight back and “win,” but at enormous cost — the windmill must be rebuilt and many animals are injured. Napoleon proclaims victory and celebrates with the other pigs by getting drunk. This parallels the devastation of the Eastern Front in World War II and Stalin’s propaganda spin on Soviet losses.
The pattern is: (1) pigs commit a forbidden act; (2) animals check the commandment; (3) commandment has been altered to permit the act. This is Orwell’s satirical representation of how totalitarian regimes rewrite laws retroactively. The animals cannot challenge the changes because they can barely read — Orwell shows that education (or lack of it) is a tool of oppression.
Boxer Under Strain
Boxer works harder than ever on the windmill rebuilding, despite his advancing age. He is splitting his hoof and visibly weakening. He still repeats “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right,” even as the regime that exploits him becomes more openly tyrannical. His blind loyalty becomes increasingly painful to read — Orwell wants the reader to feel the injustice that Boxer himself cannot see.
By Chapter 8, Napoleon has become a figure of worship. He is called “our Leader, Comrade Napoleon” and credited with every good thing on the farm. A poem praising him is inscribed on the barn wall beside a portrait. He eats from Jones’s china and drinks whisky. The gap between Napoleon and the ordinary animals mirrors the gap between the Soviet elite and ordinary citizens — the revolution that promised equality has produced a new ruling class indistinguishable from the old one.
Orwell’s use of irony intensifies in these chapters. The animals work harder than under Jones, eat less, and live in fear of execution — yet Squealer produces statistics “proving” that food production has increased. The gap between propaganda and reality is the novella’s most bitter joke.
The animals work harder and eat less than under Jones, yet Squealer’s statistics ‘prove’ improvement. The revolution for equality produces a new ruling class. The song of liberation is replaced by a flat song about the farm. Freedom from tyranny produces worse tyranny. Every irony exposes the gap between the revolution’s promises and its reality.