Animal Farm

At the end of the novella, the pigs have completely transformed into the very kind of rulers they once rebelled against. Years after the revolution, the original ideals of Animalism have been hollowed out. The animals are still overworked and hungry, while the pigs and dogs live comfortably and control the farm through propaganda, fear, and privilege. The windmill is finally completed, but instead of providing electricity and easing labor as Snowball promised, it is used only to make money for the pigs.

Napoleon and the other pigs begin openly behaving like humans. They learn to walk on two legs, carry whips, wear clothes, drink alcohol, and live in the farmhouse. Squealer teaches the sheep a new slogan: “Four legs good, two legs better!” The Seven Commandments, meanwhile, are reduced to a single line: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” This sentence captures the complete corruption of the revolution’s original promise of equality.

The book’s final scene takes place during a dinner between the pigs and neighboring human farmers. Mr. Pilkington praises Napoleon for running the farm efficiently because the animals work harder but get less food than animals elsewhere. Napoleon announces that the farm will no longer be called Animal Farm but will return to its original name, Manor Farm. The change signals that the rebellion has come full circle: the pigs no longer even pretend to oppose the old system.

As the other animals watch through the farmhouse window, the pigs and humans drink, gamble, and argue over cheating at cards. Looking back and forth between them, the animals realize “it was impossible to say which was which.” The novel ends with the terrifying recognition that the pigs have become indistinguishable from the humans they overthrew. Orwell closes the story on the idea that revolutions can reproduce the same systems of oppression they set out to destroy when power becomes concentrated in the hands of a ruling class.