Table of Contents
Animal Farm Chapter 10 Summary
Animal Farm Chapter 10: Years pass. Moses, Clover, Benjamin and a number of pigs are the only ones remaining who remember the Rebellion.
The farm has increased in prosperity in the meantime although none of that prosperity appears to have been passed down. The pigs deserve it thanks to all of the paperwork that they do. Squealer also continues to speak of statistics, telling the rest of the animals how much better they have it now than they used to when working for Mr. Jones.
The pigs start walking on two legs, not four, as the sheep cry, “Four legs good, two legs better!” The final commandment now reads, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others,” and the pigs carry and are not hesitant to use whips. The other commandments have been erased.
Humans inspect the farm after an invite from Napoleon and are impressed. At a card game, he and Mr. Pilkington speak of leaving their misunderstandings in the past. Napoleon also announces that Animal Farm has been renamed Manor Farm.
However, a few moments later, both players attempt to play an ace of spades during their card game and violently accuse the other of cheating. The other animals looking in on the scene are unable to tell who are the humans and who are the pigs.
Animal Farm Chapter 10
Years pass as we enter the novella’s final chapter. The only ones still alive who remember the Rebellion are some pigs, Moses, Benjamin and Clover. Even Mr. Jones has died. Nobody knows what happened to Snowball. Boxer has no legacy other than in the minds of those who lived when he was around. Benjamin has changed little. Napoleon and Squealer have gained quite a bit of weight.
The farm is now better organized and more prosperous. It has also increased in size after two fields previously owned by Mr. Pilkington were purchased. There is now a completed windmill, but it’s used to mill corn, not provide electrical power. Another one is being built with that as its intended purpose. The workers are reminded that living frugally and working hard provides the greatest happiness. In the end, the farm is richer, but the animals, with the exception of the pigs and dogs, have not seen any change or, if there has been a change, a change for the worse.
The number of pigs and dogs has increased, and much of their time, according to Squealer, is spent on a tremendous amount of important paperwork. They do not go hungry.
The non-pigs who were around since prior to the Rebellion attempt to remember with clarity what it was truly like then, but they fail. However, Squealer is only too eager to fill them in with endless statistics of how times have improved since then.
All of the animals remain proud of Animal Farm regardless of their personal circumstances. This is still the only farm run entirely by animals. The workers still believe that all animals are equal.
However, the sheep start bleating, “Four legs good, two legs better!” This was preceded by the pigs walking on just two legs, and it is followed by the discovery that all of the commandments have been erased except for one, which had greatly expanded beyond its original four words to read, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
At this point, the pigs no longer even attempt to show any sort of equality between them and the rest of the animals, carrying whips, using telephones, subscribing to periodicals and wearing clothes.
Several days later, a number of humans come to inspect the farm and are impressed. They and the pigs gather that evening in the farmhouse, and Clover leads the rest of the animals to the window to look in on the gathering. The humans and pigs are enjoying a game of cards before Mr. Pilkington stands up to raise a toast. He compliments Napoleon on things like how the “lower animals” do more work and are fed less than on any farm in the county. He closes by saying that he hopes that he and Napoleon can remain on friendly terms.
Napoleon responds by saying that he is also happy that the misunderstandings have come to an end and blames rumors that were said to have come from Animal Farm on “some malignant enemy.” He then announces changes that will be made such as the burying of old Major’s skull and the renaming of the farm from Animal Farm to Manor Farm.
However, within moments, the two are yelling at each other, both accusing the other of cheating at their card game after an ace of spades was played by both players on the same hand.
It was at this point that the other animals looking in realized that they could not tell which of those at the table are pigs and which are men.
Analysis
The pigs are engaged in “endless” work organizing and supervising the farm, and much of their time is spent on paperwork. For these sacrifices, they deserve all of the riches that the farm produces, including no limit to how much food they are provided, despite not engaging in any labor and not producing any food themselves. Sadly, the rest of the animals accept this explanation. In fact, they are proud of Animal Farm, and they are proud that theirs is the only animal-run farm in England and not run by “tyrannical” humans. This despite the fact that they are oppressed even more than animals working at human-run farms are. Of course, they likely don’t know what the working conditions are like elsewhere.
The completion of the pigs’ descent into becoming humans occurred in this chapter with the name of the farm returning to Manor Farm and the pigs starting to look so much like humans that the rest of the animals could no longer tell them apart.
The final version of the commandments before the novella ends is the best example yet of how those in power often use language to help them keep and cultivate more of it. It also shows how gradual these changes have been. If the phrase, “more equal,” had been used at the very beginning, when the commandments were first written and posted, nobody would have accepted it. Now that the pigs have totalitarian-like power, there’s not really anything that the rest of the animals can do to oppose anything that the pigs do.
The burying of old Major’s skull symbolically buries any hope of his ideals coming to fruition.
Despite both Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington agreeing to leave their old suspicions in the past, this lasts mere moments until they both play an ace of spades at the same time during their card game and engage in a “violent quarrel.” It appears that the distrust between them will continue through the rest of their lives.
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Animal Farm Chapter 10 Questions and Answers
The pigs, Moses, Clover and Benjamin.
Benjamin.
He died in an inebriates’ home.
We don’t know. He was never heard from again after the dogs chased him off of Animal Farm.
Fourteen.
Twenty-four stone, which is 336 pounds.
Four.
Milling corn.
Supervising others, organizing the farm and quite a bit of paperwork.
Benjamin.
It is still the only animal-run farm in England.
Walk on two legs.
“Four legs good, two legs better!”
“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
Whips.
The Daily Mirror, Tit-Bits and John Bull.
Clover.
Beer.
Mr. Pilkington.
The long hours, low rations and absence of pampering that the other animals receive on Animal Farm.
It was reburied.
It went from being green with a white horn and hoof on it to just being green.
Manor Farm, the same name that it was before it was renamed Animal Farm after the rebellion and just prior to the revealing of the seven commandments.
They had both played the ace of spades during their card game.
We don’t know. But we know that one of them was since it’s impossible for two players to have the same card in a fairly played game that is using just one deck.
The pigs and humans now looked so similar that they could not be told apart.
