The animals on Manor Farm work long hours with little food under Mr. Jones, who is often drunk. One day, Old Major, a prize boar who has lived to a long age, calls the animals together after dark. He tells them that their human overlords do no work while taking away the fruits of the animals' efforts. He says that he was dreamt of a future in which man does not interfere and animals work for themselves. He says that although he will not live to see the Rebellion, he knows that it will happen and that any two-legged creature should be feared. The animals learn a song called "Beasts of England", which speaks of the day when animals roam free.
A short while later, after Old Major's death, Mr. Jones's men forget to feed the animals for the entire day and when they start to help themselves, take out their whips. Enraged, the animals rebel, establishing Animal Farm and 7 commandments by which all animals should abide. They ensure that no animal will ever become like a human. At first, all seems to go well. The pigs, being the smartest, take over the day to day operations with Snowball and Napoleon at the helm. The farm becomes much more efficient and the animals prosper, even defeating human attackers who attempt to retake the farm thanks to Snowball's brilliant tactics. The general human response is to pretend that the animals have become cannibals and the farm is disorderly.
Inevitably, the two leaders clash. Snowball proposing the building of a windmill to generate electricity and make the animals' lives easier. It will, however, temporarily mean additional work, for which reason Napoleon opposes the plan. At the meeting where the plan is to be approved, Napoleon appears to be losing the debate. Then, he calls in 9 terrifying hounds whom he took from their mothers at a young age, and they drive away Snowball, allowing Napoleon to become the de facto dictator of the farm. The other animals are too terrified and innocent to do anything. Soon afterward, Napoleon begins to spread lies. First, he says that the windmill plan was actually his idea and that it will be built anyway. He says that Snowball was actually in league with the humans from the beginning, and eventually wipes any trace of Snowball's goodness from the animals' minds.
During the preliminary building of the windmill, it is knocked down in a storm. Napoleon takes the opportunity to claim that this, too, was Snowball's doing. The animals work even harder to rebuild, but they have little food because they haven't had enough time to work in the fields. At this point, Napoleon blatantly breaks a commandment by making business dealings with humans, but Squealer, a very persuasive pig, convinces them otherwise. This is followed by a string of power abuses, including sleeping in a bed, drinking, and even killing so-called "traitors". The pigs prevent backlash by editing the commandments with little changes at the end that alter the meaning. The other animals aren't smart enough to notice this, except perhaps Benjamin the donkey, who says life is always bad.
Unfortunately, the humans invade again, and without Snowball, the animals are temporarily defeated. The humans blow up the in-progress windmill, at which point they are driven back out. Luckily, the animals have Boxer, an indefatigable, strong horse whose maxims are "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right". He and the others work hard to rebuild once more, but one day, he collapses. Under the guise of giving him medical care, the pigs send him off to be killed and turned into glue. The cart taking him away clearly says that it is the horse slaughterers. The pigs tell the other animals that it was actually the doctors, who recently bought the cart from the slaughtered. The animals now have little recollection of the past, and even though the pigs say that they have more food, they feel that they have less. Then, the pigs complete their transformation into masters - they start walking on two legs and carrying whips. All the commandments are replaced by one: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others". Humans are invited onto the farm to see the state of things, and the pigs even consort with them. At this point, the other animals cannot even tell the difference between the humans and the pigs, who wear similar clothes as well.
This book symbolizes several things that still apply today. The first deals with power. Power should be in the hands of good people who wish to better the lives of others and can keep their own ambitions in check, like Snowball. Should it fall into the hands of a power-hungry person who just wants to do things their way, like Napoleon, they will control those beneath them for their own benefit, like dictators. I learned that if I come into a position of power, I should not simply try to have an easy life, but use my influence to help others. The book also represents slavery and segregation in the way that the pigs end up mistreating the other animals and declaring themselves above the others, just like the Founding Fathers said that "all men are created equal" and then put themselves above Blacks.
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