Animal Farm Chapter 9 Summary
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Setting
Chapter 9 of the animal farm takes place inside the Manor farm
Main characters
Boxer – he is a huge, gentle carthorse.
Clover – she is A gentle, motherly, and powerful carthorse.
Benjamin – he is a jaded donkey with the skeptical view that life will always be difficult and painful.
Dogs – Jessie, Bluebell, Pincher, and the nine attack dogs provide the pigs with the brute force necessary to terrorize the other animals.
Squealer – squealer is A fat pig who is a skilled orator. Squealer works closely with Snowball and Napoleon at first and later, just Napoleon, to interpret or distill what the pigs’ plan is for the other animals.
Mr. Jones – he is the original owner of Manor Farm.
Napoleon – is the primary antagonist of the novel; a pig who is one of Old Major’s disciples, along with Snowball.
Hens – these are unintelligent laying hens on Animal Farm.
Snowball – At first, snowball is a friend and companion of Napoleon. Snowball and Napoleon develop the theory of Animalism from the ideas of Old Major’s speech together.
Moses – Moses is a tame raven and Mr. Jones’s special pet.
Plot Summary
After celebrating their so-called victory against Frederick, the animals begin building a new windmill. Their efforts are again led by Boxer who, despite his split hoof, insists on working harder and getting the windmill started before he retires. Food supplies continue to diminish, but Squealer explains that they actually have more food and better lives than they have ever known. The four sows litter 31 piglets; Napoleon, the father of all of them, orders a schoolroom to be built for their education. Meanwhile, more and more of the animals' rations are reduced while the pigs continue to grow fatter. Animal Farm is eventually proclaimed a Republic, and Napoleon is elected President.
Once his hoof heals, Boxer works as hard as he can at building the windmill until the day he collapses because of a lung ailment. After he is helped back to his stall, Squealer informs them that Napoleon has sent for the veterinarian at Willingdon to treat him. When the van arrives to take Boxer to the hospital, however, Benjamin reads its side and learns that Boxer is actually being taken to a knacker or glue-boiler. Clover screams to Boxer to escape, but the old horse is too weak to kick his way out of the van, which drives away. Boxer is never seen again. To placate the animals, Squealer tells them that Boxer was not taken to a knacker but that the veterinarian had bought the knacker's truck and had not yet repainted the words on its side. The animals are relieved when they hear this. The chapter ends with a grocer's van delivering a crate of whisky to the pigs, who drink it all and do not arise until afternoon the following day.
Themes
- Revolution. Animal Farm illustrates a revolution in progress. The revolution in Animal Farm develops out of hope for a better future, where farm animals can enjoy the fruits of their own labor without having to deal with the rule of humans.
- Power and corruption. As soon as the pigs assume power in the animal farms, they start taking all the milk for themselves and then move to harder stuff like whiskey within no time.