Essay Database

The basic ideas Old Major passes on in his first speech are that humans are the enemy because they overwork the animals and treat them badly. He says all animals should cooperate to overthrow the humans. He teaches that all animals are equal, even the wild creatures like rats and rabbits, and that they should all protect each other as friends. All humans are enemies. He warns the animals never to live in houses, sleep …

…legs good, two legs bad. In the end the Seven Commandments of Animalism are obliterated and replaced with one commandment which is the opposite of the originals: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." Right after this, the pigs order a telephone and newspaper subscriptions and start wearing clothes, carrying whips and smoking pipes. After so completely subverting the principles of Animalism, the pigs actually turn into humans in the mind.