Animal Farm Essay, Research Paper

First Key Incident

-Old Major s speech

-Ch. 1, pp. 7- 14

Old Major had had a dream and wanted to share it with the other animals. When all the animals were present and settled down he began. He tells his fellow animals that he has been thinking what the nature and point of their lives are. He illustrates to them the unhappy lives they live in England. He points out how animals work and produce things while humans do nothing but take away from the animals what they make for their personal usage. Also, how humans take what they can from an animal and then cruelly kill it, like with the pigs. Old Major is telling them that life would be much better if it weren t for Man. He tells the animals how he sees a happy time in the future without Man. To this, they must overthrow the human race. He advises them to not listen to Man because they have false and misleading arguments. He tells them that all animals are comrades, they even decided that the rats are comrades. He tells them that if they ever do conquer Man, to never become or act like one. He sets up rules to

prevent them from becoming like one. He then teaches them the song Beasts of England which they learn quickly.

This is an important incident because everything happens as a result of this speech. The speech made the smarter animals look at like differently. Even though they didn t know when the Rebellion would take place, the pigs started preparing. But when the Rebellion does come, the animals are not ready for the freedoms that suddenly have. So they follow anybody who is willing to be their leader and believe that anything done is for their own good. The vision of Old Major that started this had such a lasting effect that the animals start working against their well being. Because of that when they realize that they had been fooled it was too late.

Second Key Incident

-The Rebellion

-Ch. 2, pp. 21- 23

It was June and the animals were being treated very badly. The animals were not being fed. There came a point where they couldn t stand it anymore and one of the cows broke into the store-shed. Then the animals went in and started eating. Mr. Jones had been sleeping and woke up when the animals were eating. So, he and his four men went to the store-shed with their whips ready to take them out of there. But the hungry animals weren t going to tolerate that so they flung themselves onto the men. None of it was planned but all the animals started attacking and sent the frightened men running for safety. Then when the animals saw what happened, they started celebrating because the Rebellion had happened successfully. The farm was all theirs.

This is an important incident because after this is when everything starts to change. The name of the farm changes to Animal Farm , they start managing their own work, and all sorts of things. But this also means that there have to be leaders. This is when the competition to be leaders starts. Later on the animals are forced to work harder than when they were owned by Mr. Jones. This incident is what actually initializes of all the big changes.

Third Key Incident

-Expulsion of Snowball

-Ch.10, pp. 58-62

The animals were at a Meeting where Snowball was trying to convince them to vote for the making of the windmill and showing them all of the advantages that would come with a windmill. When Snowball finished, Napoleon let out a weird whimper. This was the call for the dogs to come in. They were nine big dogs, the ones that Napoleon had taken away from their mother to raise them secretly. They went straight to Snowball but he started to run. He was able to escape.

This is a key incident because after this Napoleon becomes the only leader. Everything goes his way from that point on. He established a dictatorship and changed a lot of thins. From then on the farm got worse and worse. The animals were treated very poorly and were forced to work and given small amounts of food. Napoleon doesn t know how to handle being a leader and becomes a human.