Boekverslag: Animal Farm
Summary:
The story is about animals that take over a farm from a human being and how they try to rule things there.
One day the pig old Major calls all animals together, when the owner of the farm, Mr. Jones, is asleep. Major had a dream and wants to share it with the other animals. He dreamed about a world with no man. He says that one day man will disappear and animals will rule. They sing a song together 'Beast of England' about the golden future time when animals rule. That singing wakes Mr. Jones. All animals went back to their sleepingspots.
Three nights later old Major died and was buried. It was early in March. The pigs Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer decide to elaborate Major's teaching into a complete system of thought; Animalism. They all knew they had to prepare the golden future, but they didn't know when that day would come. One day Mr. Jones was drunk and stayed away for a Saturday and a Sunday and the animals got hungry. That's when the rebellion started. The animals got themselves out of their bins, Jones and four others tried to top the animals, but they were too strong for them. The men ran away and now the Manor farm was theirs. They destroyed everything that reminded them of Mr. Jones.
The pigs had learned how to read and write and they paint the name Animal Farm over Manor Farm. They also write don seven commands which are: two legs is an enemy, four legs or wings is a friend, do not wear clothes, do not sleep in a bed, do not drink alcohol, do not kill any other animal and all animals are equal.
Now they have to manage without human and they start on the hay harvest and they work very quickly. They finished it in two days. Now al the food was theirs and they were all very happy.
They make a flag with a hoof and a horn (which means Future Republic of the Animals) on it. They will rise it when human race has finally been overthrown.
They always have meetings on Sunday to plan out the work of the coming week and always end it with 'Beast of England'. They all try to learn to read and write. The dogs did fairly well, but only liked to read the Seven Commands. Muriel reads the others stories, and Clover learns the alphabet but can't put words together. Boxer only knows a, b, c and d and Mollie only want to learn the letters that spell her name. All the others didn't get further than 'a' and couldn't learn the Seven Commands by heart so Snowball reduces them to '4 legs good, 2 legs bad'. The sheep like that rule and repeat it time after time.
Once Jones and a few other men tried to enter the farm and carried sticks and guns. The animals were prepared to this and they fought bravely. One animal got the bullet that was meant for Snowball and died. After the fight the sing their song and give the dead sheep a funeral. Snowball and Boxer both get a medal.
Mollie becomes troublesome and doesn't work very hard. And one day Clover saw here petted by a man. Mollie takes off and later on she was seen at a farm among people.
Now Snowball and Napoleon never agree with anything. One day Snowball has the idea to built a windmill to ease the work. Napoleon disagrees and sends nine huge dogs towards Snowball and they chase him away. These dogs were secretly raised by Napoleon.
1.1 Animal Farm
Napoleon took over and a lot changed. They didn't held Sunday meetings anymore and built the windmill after all. They also could work on Sundays, which wasn't done normally. They all work very hard on the windmill and are very happy with it, although they don't get much to eat. Meanwhile Napoleon gets help from a human being, because he needs things that can't be produced at the farm. He trades hay and eggs for the things he needs. Also the pigs move into the farmhouse, because they all have responsible jobs. One animal (a pig?) has written 'on sheets' at the fourth command so that they can't say anything about it.
One night the weather is very bad and the windmill collapse. Napoleon says it's all Snowballs fault. Squealer says that Snowball causes every bad thing and that he wasn't a good animal from the beginning. They all agree, especially Boxer, he thinks that everything that Napoleon says is right. One day Squealer announces that Snowball is at Pinchfield Farm and that he was Jones' secret agent all the time.
Four days after that everyone has to gather in the yard. The dogs bit four pigs. Napoleon said they had been in touch with Snowball. After that he demands if anyone else has something to confess. Three hens, a goose and three sheep were killed too. Everyone was in a shock. A few days later Clover, Muriel and Benjamin read the Sixth Commandment and it has 'without cause' behind it. They thought it must have slipped out of their memory.
That year they work very hard in rebuilding the windmill. Napoleon negotiated with Frederick and Pilkington, but there had been rumours that Frederick was plotting to attack Animal Farm. When the windmill is finished they call it the Napoleon Mill. They are very proud of it. Napoleon sold Frederick timber and Frederick paid with money. But then the bank notes are forgeries. That next day Frederick and 14 other men attack the windmill with explosions. The animals are very sad and very angry. The men fired and killed a cow, three sheep, and two geese. But the animals chase them away and they celebrate the fact that they won the battle. That night the pigs in the farmhouse drink whiskey and then they think Napoleon is going to die. But he just drunk too much and got well. And when Muriel read the Seventh Commandment it had 'to excess' written behind it.
Boxer wasn't doing well, he got hurt in the battle. But he didn't gave up working, he worked very hard as a matter of fact. He also had bad lung. That winter was cold and there wasn't much food. Then four sows had produced 31 young pigs (Napoleon was the father of all of them) and a schoolroom was to be built for them to study.
One day in the summer Boxer fell down the hill as he was working on the windmill to rebuilt it. He stayed in his stall for two days, but then a van came by and took him away. The animals tried to stop him, because Benjamin had read the words 'Alfred Simmons, Horse Slaughterer and Glue-Boiler, Willingdon (?)' on it, but it was too late. Later on Squealer explained that the doctor bought the van from the knacker's and that he forgot to paint it over.
As years past on Muriel, Bluebell, Jessie and Pitcher (and Jones) were dead. Snowball was forgotten. The mill had been successfully completed. The animals didn't seem to get much food, but they didn't complained. They were happy to live at the Animal Farm.
One day in the summer Squealer took the sheep to a piece of waste ground at the other side of the farm. And when they returned the sheep began to sing 'four legs good, two legs better' and the animals saw the pigs walking on their hind legs. They were all very surprised. Clover and Benjamin went to read the Seven
1.1 Animal Farm
Commandments, but they weren't there anymore. It only said 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal then others'.
Then a few men are visiting Animal Farm to see how it is going on the Farm. They are very surprised and they go inside for a drink. The animals watch them (in front of the window) play cards with the pigs and drink beer. Mr. Pilkington gives a speech and says that he likes it to be friends with the pigs and that he admires their work. Then it's Napoleons turn and he also says that he's giving Manor Farm its name back and he brings the toast to the prosperity of Manor Farm. Then the animals hear screaming and see the pigs and the men fight. Mr. Pilkington and Napoleon both had played an ace of spades simultaneously. The animals look from pig to man and from man to pig, but already it's impossible to say which is which.
1.2 Animal Farm
Theme(s):
The story is comparable with the Russian Revolution. There is a plan of taking over a farm and a rebellion start (Russian Revolution), there's a Civil War too, between Napoleon (Stalin) and Snowball (Trotsky). Then Snowball is abandoned and Napoleon rules. All the animals are very hungry and are afraid or too stupid to say anything about it.
I think there also a bit of betrayal in it, because people who he worked very hard for betray Boxer.
Background:
The story takes place in a farm in England first called Manor Farm, later on Animal Farm and then Manor Farm again.
Characters:
? Mr. Jones. A human. He used to be the owner of the then called Manor Farm.
? Old Major (Karl Marx). A pig. He planned the idea of the Rebellion.
? Napoleon (Stalin). A clever pig. He rules and chases Snowball away. He blames Snowball for everything even though he's not around anymore. He little by little starts walking on two legs and wears mr. Jones' clothes.
? Snowball (Trotsky). A pig too. He had good meanings, but was chased away by Napoleon. He had the plan of making a windmill (Five Years Plan) which could ease their work. Napoleon took over the plan and it built. But he didn't ease the work and the animal didn't got much food.
? Squealer. A pig that serves Napoleon and does everything he says. He a kind of messenger of Napoleon.
? Boxer. A brave and hardworking horse. His mottos are 'I shall work harder' and 'Napoleon is always right'. He disappears from the story while he's taken away by the knacker's.
? Benjamin. He's a donkey who's always bad-tempered. He never laughs and is the oldest of the farm. He's the one that reads the sigh of the horse slaughterer on the van that takes his best friend Boxer away.
? Mollie. She's a mare and likes to wear ribbons. She ran away when she got busted letting a human stroke her.
? Bluebell, Jessie. Two dogs. They got puppies that are raised by Napoleon and became terrible dangerous dogs.
Title:
The animals turn the Manor Farm into Animal Farm after they took over the farm. The story it set in and round the Animal Farm.
Hij was een Brits schrijver, journalist en criticus. Hij is een van de meest bewonderde Engelstalige auteurs van de 20e eeuw. Het bekendst zijn de twee werken die hij schreef tegen het einde van zijn leven: Animal Farm en 1984. Het zijn scherpe aanklachten tegen stalinisme en totalitarisme.
Boek informatie
- Animal Farm
- Eric Arthur Blair
- Nederlands
Handige opties
- Meer boeken van:George Orwell