CHAPTER 10  
Summary
Many years have now passed and few of the original animals that were involved in the rebellion are left.

Animal Farm is now populated by a new generation of animals who only vaguely remember the doctrines of animalism.

The farm now boasts two windmills and the farm is both efficient and prosperous, but this has had little effect on the conditions that the animals live under, apart from the pigs and the dogs, whose situation has slowly continued to improve over the years.

One day the peace of the farmyard is broken by a terrifying neigh from Clover, and the animals witness Squealer walking on his back legs carrying a whip, followed by a long line of pigs doing the same.  In the barn, the Commandments have been erased and replaced by a single slogan, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. From that day on, the pigs supervise the other animals carrying whips.

The sheep now bleat a different slogan, “Four legs good, two legs better”.

The animals’ world has been turned upside down, especially for Clover and Benjamin, the latter being particularly morose, as all his early fears have turned into reality.

That night, sounds of hilarity come from the farmhouse and some of the animals approach the house and look through the windows. They see Napoleon and the other leading pigs partying with the humans, Pilkington and some others. They are toasting the prosperity of Manor Farm.  The name “Animal Farm” has been abolished.  They are playing a game of cards and both Napoleon and Pilkington cheat, and there is a violent quarrel.  The party ends in uproar with angry shouting, and the witnessing animals, “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.”

Interpretation
Napoleon has made his position secure as head of this Totalitarian State. He has achieved this by purging the dissenters, controlling the food supply, ensuring that future generations are indoctrinated into his system, and by keeping the workers occupied through toil enforced by fear. As the first generation of animals dies out, so do the original ideas of Major. When we arrive at Chapter 10, few animals remember the initial Commandments and none have the will to oppose Napoleon’s regime. The Seven Commandments are replaced by the nonsensical slogan concerning the equality of animals. This is, perhaps, one of the most famous quotations to come from Orwell’s pen.

The animals are now reduced to hoping for a better life after death rather than any comfort on Animal Farm, which has reverted back to Manor Farm.

Napoleon is also able to keep control due to the fact the farm is isolated and there is now no mechanism for the animals to contact the outside world.

One cannot expect a happy ending to this tale. Orwell, a true Socialist, wishes to decry Communism, or as it is called here Animalism, and the Fascist and Totalitarian systems that are based on this doctrine. None of these societies exercise freedom, justice and equality, which are the foundations of the Democratic Socialist society that Orwell supported.

The book ends with the humans taking centre-stage, just as they did at the start of the book, thus they frame the whole story.

The final paragraphs of the book are again taken from Clover’s viewpoint in the third person narrative, and they provide a poignant end to “Animal Farm”.