Animal Farm 2026 will be released on May 1. This book review contains some spoilers.

Major, the pig who won titles at pig shows, is the pig who started it all. One night, shortly before his death, Major had a strange dream. He remembered a childhood song called “Beasts Of England”. It foretold a day when all beasts would be free of the rein and yoke of man. Major was a highly respected pig and he influenced all the farm animals with his lofty ideals.

Napoleon the pig, who takes after his namesake Napoleon the army chief and emperor. This is what I imagine Napoleon would look like.

This is what I imagine Snowball the pig would look like.

The pig who has the best interests of the animals at heart, is the pig who gets outlawed by Napolean. The latter is a power grabber.

I imagine Squealer looks like this.

He is a small pig who acts as a mouth-piece for those in authority. He has no principles except for his self-interest.

The adult dogs are Jessie, Bluebell and Pincher.

Mollie the white mare loved to eat sugar lumps and wear ribbons in her mane.

One Sunday, farmer Mr Jones and his farm helpers neglected to feed the animals and they rebelled. The humans were chased out.

This was how they established Animal Farm.

This is my copy of Animal Farm. There are many covers for this book. You can choose your preferred cover to buy.

I bought this edition in the store. The cover shows all the iconic symbols of this animal revolution. The barn on the top, left hand space, shows how the slogan has evolved into an exclusive one that pays homage to the fact that there are privileged animals of higher ranking. The image on the second row, at the left, shows a horse puulling a heavy rock up a slope. The horse represents Boxer, who is a quiet, hardworking horse who shows self-sacrifice. He wakes up earilier than the other animals, because he wants to start work earlier, to do more work. His resolution to solve problems is “I will work harder”. He thinks that by working harder, he can overcome difficulties.

In the human society, social and economic ranks determine one’s position in society. If, by working harder, you are able to climb up the corporate ladder, than the mxim “I will work harder”, works for you. However, sometimes, there is an invisible ceiling that limits your efforts to climb up. Then, you are held back.

This book cover shows the typical idiosyncrasies of a utopian society. The right hand corner of the cover shows a white pig. I assume he is Snowball. He is the far right, ideological leader, who believes in righteousness. He is beaten by Napoleon, who uses the force of nine dogs, to enforce his will.

Snowball had proposed to the animals, to. build a windmill, to harness kinetic energy, to work the farm. He said then, the animals would be free of toil.

Snowball wanted to improve the animals’ life style. He proposed building a windmill to do the manual work for the animals.

One day, Napoleon set his army of dogs on Snowball and chased him away from Animal Farm.

Napoleon wanted to protect his own life style.

All the pigs lived in the farm house. Napoleon had his own separate quarters.

The pigs didn’t work. They found a case of whiskey and learned to enjoy drinking alcohol. They decided to set aside a piece of land to grow barley, so they could ferment beer.

The pigs dealed with humans in trade.

The other animals could not remember their life under the humans. They could not remember if life under the humans was better than life under the rule of pigs.

Boxer fell down and became unwell. He was betrayed by the pigs who sold him to a slaughterhouse, instead of sending him to the animal hospital for treatment.

One day, matters came to a head when the pigs started to stand and walk on two legs. The transformation into the imitation of humans became complete.

What are the literary devices?

It is well known that animals slave under the yoke. When physical toil is not taken care of, with food, the animals will rebel.

Every utopia desires to start well with ideals. Slowly the ruling party members ger corrupted with good food, good drink and comfortable life. They become used to the privileges and are biased to maintain their preferred way of living.

There is always a military coup, suing might to usurp the throne.

Life under a “socialist” becomes worse than life under the capitalist.

Doctrine muddles.

The idealists turn back on their early pledges.

The betrayal is complete.

How does Animal Farm end?

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

(Orwell, p. 103)

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