Mr. Pilkington Character Analysis in Animal Farm

The gentleman farmer who owns Foxwood, one of Animal Farm’s neighbors. Foxwood is large, sprawling, and old-fashioned, and Mr. Pilkington himself spends more time hunting and on leisure activities than he does farming. Though Napoleon vilifies Mr. Pilkington at various times, Mr. Pilkington does appear to enter into an agreement to buy timber from Animal Farm in good faith—but he rudely pulls his support for Animal Farm when Napoleon double-crosses him. Mr. Pilkington attends the final card game at Animal Farm and tries to cheat Napoleon. Mr. Pilkington represents the Allies before World War II.

Mr. Pilkington Quotes in Animal Farm

The Animal Farm quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Pilkington or refer to Mr. Pilkington. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Signet Classics edition of Animal Farm published in 1996.

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

Related Characters: , , ,

Page Number and Citation: 141

Explanation and Analysis:

Mr. Pilkington Character Timeline in Animal Farm

The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Pilkington appears in Animal Farm. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...the animals, the owners of the two neighboring farms hate each other. The gentlemanly Mr. Pilkington owns Foxwood, an overgrown and old-fashioned farm on one side, while the shrewd Mr. Frederick... (full context)

None of the rumors that Mr. Frederick or Mr. Pilkington spread about Animal Farm, however, land well with their animals. Over the next year, animals... (full context)

...Manor Farm. Rumors circulate that Napoleon is going to strike a deal with either Mr. Pilkington or Mr. Frederick, but not with both. (full context)

...Animal Farm has a pile of timber that Mr. Whymper suggests selling, and both Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick want to buy it. Napoleon deliberates in his decision to sell, and... (full context)

Napoleon busies himself negotiating with Mr. Frederick and Mr. Pilkington about the timber. Mr. Frederick wants it badly, but he won’t offer a good price—and... (full context)

...he sold the timber to Mr. Frederick. He changes the pigeons’ message to “Death to Pilkington,” says the rumors about Mr. Frederick’s cruelty are untrue, and insists that Snowball is living... (full context)

...to hide, and even Napoleon looks nervous. The pigeons return with a note from Mr. Pilkington reading, “Serves you right.” (full context)

...pigs and men all with mugs of beer. A card game is in progress. Mr. Pilkington stands to make a speech and says that he’s thrilled that the era of hostility... (full context)

Mr. Pilkington says that the “lower animals” on Animal Farm perform more work and get less food... (full context)

...skull on Sundays. The flag is now plain green too. Napoleon’s only criticism of Mr. Pilkington’s speech is that he spoke of Animal Farm, which isn’t the correct name anymore—the farm... (full context)

...hear an uproar inside and return to the window. They see that Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington each played an ace of spades at the same time, and everyone is shouting. The... (full context)