It’s a sad story.I had read this book twice in the past two months.The aim of the first time was to understand what the story is;the aim of the second time was to understand the details including the use of words and the way of organizing sentences.Meanwhile the deep mean of some details came to me.”So it is!”Actually I paid little attention to the metaphor of the animals in this book.When I finished the second reading,I read the introduction of the book and the author. Certainly it was believed that the background of a book can help readers to understand the book better.

The setting of the story was a farm named animal farm to manor farm.The characters of the story were animals including pigs,horses,goat,hens,donkey,cats,cows and so on. It started from a dream of Old Major who died after the first meeting.”Our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. Why?” The animals were asked by this question.”Human beings steal the product from our labour.”Then Old Major told them rebellion could change their lives. He also taught them to sing the song of Beasts of England. But the uproar awoke the Manor and the meeting broke up hurriedly, everyone fled to his sleeping-place, the whole farm was asleep in a moment.

                              the characters of the story

After that meeting,there was much secret activity.Everyone saw that was their duty to prepare for the rebellion. Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer had elaborated Old Major’s teachings into a complete system of thought--animalism. And these three also taught them to learn the thought. But most of them had great difficulty in thinking anything out for themselves, but they absorbed everything that they were told, and passed it to other animals by simple arguments. Rebellion came much early than anyone had expected after Mr. Jones lost money in a lawsuits. One of the cows firstly took action after unfed on Midsummer’s Eve. After Mr. Jones and Mrs Jones were expelled, they destroyed everything that reminded of Mr. Jones. The Manor Farm was changed into Animal Farm. All were agreed that the farmhouse should be preserved as a museum and no animal must ever live there. And the principles of Animalism were induced to Seven Commandments and they also formed an unalterable law by which all animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after. From now on something had changed, for example the thing of milk.

Pigs were most clever on the farm. They directed and supervised the others. Snowball and Napoleon played key roles, but they were never in agreement. Napoleon took nine sturdy puppies up to a loft. Others worked as usual and even more hard. Back to the thing of milk, ” milk was mixed every day into pigs’ mash”, and “windfall apples were for the use of the pigs”, why? ”They were privilege for brainworkers. ”Others believed that because  “no one wants to see Jones come back.”

Jones attempted the recapture of the farm, which had been expected and all preparation had been made. So the animals won the battle.

Then the bitterly hard weather came.Snowball and Napoleon did not disagree with each other at every point.  Finally Snowball was expelled. Then a special committee of pigs was set up. Pigs met in private and others received orders with no debates. Why? ”You do not want Jones back?”  After that, others did more task and got less ration.

The build of windmill was a hard work.Boxer was key role in the build.But as summer wore on, various unforeseen shortage made them engage in trade with the neighbouring farms, selling hay,wheat crop and eggs for money. The animals felt uneasy and felt these had not been among the earliest resolutions passed on that first meeting after Jones was expelled. In fact, something had changed from that time. Pigs suddenly moved into the farmhouse and took their residence there . Again Squealer was able to convince them that this was not the case, against the beds not house. When the animals went to check the Seven Commandments,they didn’t tell which was true, the commandments on the wall or in their memory. Food was not plentiful, and the animals had a hard year. One day the new-built windmill was blown down.

The rebuilding of windmill started. This time they thickened the walls, which meant there were more hard work. The animals could not feel so hopeful about the windmill as they felt before. Only Boxer and Clover never lost heart. But food fell short.Animal Farm exchanged grain and meal with eggs. Hens protected taking the eggs away for the first time since the explusion of Jones. Meanwhile there was a rumor that Snowball was Jones’ agent from beginning. Some animals confessed that they were in contact with Snowball. Then they were all executed. Although killing any animal did not square with the Sixth Commandment, no one cared to mention it. In fact the Commandments had been changed by adding words or reducing words.

The animals did the regular work of farm and the rebuild of windmill together, but food was no better. Orders were issued through Squealer or one of the other pigs, and Napoleon himself was not seen in public as often as once in a fortnight and his safety was strengthened. Another attack came. This time the animals won,but they were weary and bleeding,the windmill had ceased to exist. Again there was another commandment which the animals had remembered wrong.

The rebuilding of the windmill was started the day after the victory celebrations were ended. So no animal had actually retired. Life was hard, food was even shorter and all rations were reduced except those of pigs and dogs. It was sad that hard-working Boxer was slaughtered.

Years passed, the seasons came and went, the short animals lives fled by. A time came there was no one who remembered the old days before the Rebellion,except some live old animals. The pigs learned to walk on their hind legs, and the “four legs good,two legs better.” So far, the Seven Commandments disappeared and were replaced by one Commandment”ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL  BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS”. After that it did not seem strange when next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters. It did not seem strange when the pigs put on clothes. The third windmill also was finished. One day human visitors came. Human visitors and pigs cheered enthusiastically, played cards.” 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.”

For other animals ,everything seemed never change,but their lives were more hard.I am thinking that they may start to miss Jones. 

“The Personality Decides Destiny”.The author introduced the personality of some animals in the start.As the story develops,the behavior agreed with its personality,even the  destiny.