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Animal Farm Foolishness and Folly Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
The stupidest questions of all were asked by Mollie, the white mare. The very first question she asked Snowball was: "Will there still be sugar after the Rebellion?"
"No," said Snowball firmly. "We have no means of making sugar on this farm. Besides, you do not need sugar. You will have all the oats and hay you want."
"And shall I still be allowed to wear ribbons in my mane?" asked Mollie.
"Comrade," said Snowball, "those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons?"
Mollie agreed, but she did not sound very convinced. (2.3-2.7)
Just as animals such as Boxer are later blinded by their loyalty to the farm, Mollie is blinded by her obsession for useless trinkets. Mollie’s blindness is immediately recognized as foolishness, whereas the animals’ loyalty is not.
Mollie refused to learn any but the six letters which spelt her own name. She would form these very neatly out of pieces of twig, and would then decorate them with a flower or two and walk round them admiring them. (3.8)
Mollie is unable to recognize the value of knowledge and learning as the other animals are.
When they had once got it by heart, the sheep developed a great liking for this maxim, and often as they lay in the field they would all start bleating "Four legs good, two legs bad! Four legs good, two legs bad!" and keep it up for hours on end, never growing tired of it. (3.11)
The sheep’s hunger for easy maxims is another brand of foolishness. Their desire for simplicity over complexity makes it easy for the pigs to manipulate them later on in the story.
