Animal Farm: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

The owner of Manor Farm, Mr. Jones, locks his henhouses for the evening—but he’s too drunk to remember to shut everything before he goes to bed. As soon as the lights are off in the farmhouse, the animals all stir and make their way to the big barn, where the old boar, Old Major, wants to address everyone. Old Major lies on a raised platform. The three dogs and all the pigs come in first and settle right in front of the platform. The hens and pigeons perch in windows and the rafters; the sheep and cows settle behind the pigs; and Boxer and Clover, the carthorses, lie down in the back. Clover settles a brood of orphaned ducklings in the crook of her leg as the cantankerous old donkey, Benjamin, and the goat Muriel join the horses.

The foolish mare Mollie shakes her braided and beribboned mane while she munches sugar, and the cat finds the warmest spot between Boxer and Clover. The cat doesn’t listen to Old Major at all. Seeing that everyone but old Moses, the tame raven, is present, Old Major begins. He addresses everyone as “comrades” and announces that he’s going to die soon but wants to share his wisdom and a dream he had with everyone before he does. He says that the nature of their lives is horrendous: they only get enough food to keep them going, and once they’re no longer useful, Mr. Jones kills them. Animals, he insists, are slaves, though they don’t have to be. Manor Farm would support many animals comfortably if only humans didn’t steal the products of their labor. If they remove man, they won’t be hungry or overworked.

Old Major insists that humans are the only creatures who consume without producing anything, like milk or eggs. He asks the animals to consider all they’ve given up, from gallons of milk to hundreds of eggs to Clover’s four foals, gone forever. Old Major points out that Mr. Jones butchers pigs, will someday sell Boxer to the glue factory when he can’t work, and drowns dogs when they get too old. Man, Old Major suggests, is the root of all evil. Getting rid of men through rebellion would free the animals, and Old Major insists that the rebellion will come in due course. He warns everyone that they can’t entertain the idea that humans and animals have common interests; they must believe that all men are enemies and all animals are comrades.

Suddenly, the dogs catch sight of four rats listening in and chases them back to their holes. Old Major calls for silence and insists that they must vote on whether wild animals are enemies or comrades. The assembly votes overwhelmingly in favor of wild animals being comrades. Only the cat and the dogs vote no, but some discover later that the cat voted on both sides. Solemnly, Old Major insists again that they can’t forget that man is their enemy, but they also can’t ever come to resemble man by drinking alcohol, sleeping in beds, or trading. He also says that animals cannot terrorize each other, as they’re all equal.

Old Major explains that he’s going to teach everyone a song that his mother taught him part of long ago. It’s called “Beasts of England” and it speaks of a “golden future time” in which animals will be free from human tyranny. All the animals, both the highly intelligent and the less intelligent, learn it quickly and they sing it all together five times through. They only stop when Mr. Jones shoots his gun into the side of the barn, breaking up the meeting.