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The first paragraph sets the tone and suggests the topic of this chapter:
How they toiled and sweated to get the hay in! But their efforts were rewarded, for the harvest was an even bigger success than they had hoped.
In the early days of the Revolution, there is hard going for everyone, but the system actually works better than before, because of the animal\'s feelings of pride and solidarity. The result of this hard work--now that the animals own the farm--is happiness, both physical and spiritual.
However, this pleasure in the first accomplishments of the Revolution is undercut--for the reader if not for the animals--by the growing political power of the pigs. The conditions of their life are different from those of the other animals. Fittingly, the chapter ends with a full-length explanation of the \"mystery of the milk\"--and with apples thrown in for good measure.
We\'ll want to pay careful attention to Orwell\'s irony as he undercuts his triumphant revolutionary tale by simultaneously narrating the rise of the pigs.
Animal Farm has sometimes been read as a fable against socialism. Yet here Orwell seems to be suggesting that socialism--true socialism, in which the means of production really are owned by those who work them--is efficient and leads to happiness.
Early in the chapter, we come upon these revealing sentences, numbered here for convenience with key words capitalized:
1. the pigs were so CLEVER that they could think of a way round every difficulty. 2. As for the horses, they KNEW EVERY INCH OF THE FIELD, and in fact UNDERSTOOD THE BUSINESS of mowing and raking BETTER than Jones and his men ever had done. 3. The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. 4. With THEIR SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE it was NATURAL that they should assume the leadership.
We have seen that the question of what is \"natural\" (equality or hierarchy) is constantly implied in Animal Farm. Here the pigs assume a superior, nonworking, managerial position because of their \"natural\" cleverness and knowledge. This is stated in sentences 1, 3, and 4. But where is the evidence of their knowledge? The only place we see real knowledge shown is in sentence 2, which shows the skill and knowledge of the supposedly stupid horses. It is, perhaps, \"natural\" to the other animals that the pigs just give orders--and it certainly seems natural to the pigs. Orwell makes no comment on this, but gives us evidence to see differently. This is typical of the irony that derives from the fable\'s point of view.
Where the pigs are really outstandingly clever is in political life. For example, they know how to use symbols: Snowball explains the new flag they\'ve made, green for the green fields of England, hoof-and-horn for the Republic of Animals. (Need we recall that the Soviets made their flag hammer-and-sickle for worker-and-peasant, red for the traditional color of revolution?) They also know how to dominate the Meetings, where \"the work of the coming week was planned out and resolutions were put forward and debated.\" The description of the Meetings contains one of the saddest sentences in this part of Animal Farm: \"The other animals understood how to vote, but could never think of any resolutions of their own.\" Alas, the pigs are natural leaders. Most of the animals--like most people--are not.
Snowball\'s talent for organizing Animal Committees, however, runs into problems. The \"Wild Comrades Re-education Committee\" is a total failure, as is the cat\'s attempt to convince a sparrow that they are comrades: language can\'t always change human nature (or let\'s just say nature).
In the pigs\' reading and writing program, we do see a natural hierarchy. But the pigs are not necessarily at the very top. Benjamin the mule, for example, can read perfectly, but doesn\'t: \"nothing worth reading,\" he says. Boxer, on the other hand, can only trace out a few letters. And the sheep, hens, and ducks can\'t even learn the Seven Commandments, so the ingenious Snowball finds a way to reduce them to a single saying: FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD, which the sheep enjoy bleating for hours on end.
NOTE: The combination of the pigs\' cleverness and the natural stupidity of some animals has caused Major\'s teachings to undergo still another modification. They have gone from vision to doctrine (Animalism) to \"unalterable law\" (the Seven Commandments) and now to slogan. Snowball claims that the slogan expresses \"the essential principle of Animalism.\" Does it? Read the Commandments again. Can they all be fully expressed by the slogan?
Napoleon takes no interest in Snowball\'s committees, but goes in for \"the education of the young,\" taking nine new puppies off to be educated. This is part of the opposition, already noted at meetings, between Napoleon and Snowball. It is also another innocent detail that becomes sinister once we\'ve read Chapter V.
All the animals--but Boxer above all--have been straining and working tirelessly, though happily, for the welfare of the Farm. The pigs have been directing, reading, debating. Toward the end of the chapter, with no comment, and without any apparent connection to what follows, Orwell relates, as if it were another natural event: \"The mystery of where the milk went to was soon cleared up. It was mixed into the pigs\' mash.\" Moreover, when there are new apples, \"The animals had assumed as a matter of course that these would be shared out equally; one day, however, the order went forth that\" they were to be brought to the pigs.
Differences in roles have led to differences in diet, to inequality and privilege. Notice how clever Orwell has been in slipping these things in. \"The order went forth\"--this is the first we hear of the pigs\' actually issuing directives--and neither the sentence nor the animals are stopped short by the fact. Some animals may \"murmur\" at this particular order, \"but it was no use.\" Again, no explanation to the reader, no analysis, just statement of the bare, inescapable fact. \"All the pigs were in full agreement on this point, even Snowball and Napoleon.\" As if this explains why \"it was no use\"!
NOTE: Some readers have seen Snowball as a good, generous leader, from whose future downfall all evils will come. Given his participation in the order about the milk, would you agree?
The pigs send their mouthpiece, Squealer, to explain the decision (not to debate it, we note) to the animals. This is the first time we see him in action. In a heavy parody of hypocritical, self-seeking propaganda, Squealer tells them that many of the pigs are taking milk and apples against their wills:
\"Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brain-workers... Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples.\"
As a clincher, he informs them that \"if we pigs failed in our duty, Jones would come back!... surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?\" No one notices the lack of logical connection between the apples and the return of Jones. But \"if there was one thing the animals were completely certain of... it was that they did not want Jones back.\" No one has any more to say.
NOTE: In a further perversion of language and the egalitarian ideal, revolutionary rhetoric has been used for obvious self-interest--obvious to the reader, that is, not the animals. Orwell\'s heaviest irony--it becomes sarcastic parody here--falls on propaganda, especially when propaganda works.
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