The Animal Farm Short Summary: Plot Overview

This novel opens through introducing the reader to the setting, which is Mr. john’s farm, as well as the characters. These are different animals. Old Major, a respected boar-pig calls for a meeting with the animals. He informs them about a plan to overthrow the farm owner, Mr. Jones.

Old major dies shortly afterward. After that, the pigs begin to rule the farm since they are the most intelligent animals. When Mr. Jones gets drunk, the animals successfully topple him. However, it is the pigs that sill creates the rules. E.g., no sleeping on beds and all animals are equal.

The animals attain complete control of the farm under the leadership of the pigs. In the meantime, pigs are starting to give themselves extra benefits. Other animals also begin to become lazier while others work extra hard. Finally, only one rule abounds: two feet are bad.

Other farmers begin worrying about the possibility of a revolution. The animals decide to meet the farmers and assure them of peace. However, chaos erupts, and some animals die. Other animals start working for other farms and two characters, Napoleon and snowball begin campaigning.

Napoleon emerges victorious since he was better at dirty tricks to gain support. However, snowball had better speeches. Napoleon then moves into the farmhouse and overworks the other animals. He trades with other farms, and when the windmill collapses, animals starve, and all the blame is placed on the snowball.

Napoleon begins executing other animals that try to steal food. He even rewrites the farm rules and declares himself Comrade Napoleon. Pigs start to dress like humans, live in the house and consume alcohol. Meanwhile, other animals starve and even die.

In the last chapter, the years have passed. Pigs continue to dominate the farm, walk on two feet and wear clothes. It is now impossible to differentiate them from humans. All animals are happy because they believe they overthrew humans, but the pigs still believe all animals are equal.