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Animal Farm Summary 86702 Views


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Description:

We may not always agree with the government, but at least they aren't pigs. We mean that literally. Whether or not you think they're pigs in a figurative sense is your prerogative.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Animal Farm, a la Shmoop. The name’s Napoleon – leader of the free

00:10

animal world, defender of animal justice, chief enlightener of the unenlightened, kisser

00:16

of babies, and overall good guy. My rise to glory begins with the death of

00:23

Old Major, a sort of “God pig” to whom I was always the “prophet of justice pig.”

00:29

When Old Major died, he told us animals to revolt against our owner and take rightful

00:33

ownership over the farm as Leader Pig of All the Universe….

00:39

…ahem, I mean as equals in an animal utopia. And being equal is great and everything, but

00:46

let’s be honest here.

00:48

I mean, have you seen the horses? Those guys couldn’t lead a carrot into their own mouths,

00:52

let alone a revolution!

00:54

So we pigs took over, naturally.

00:57

We created seven commandments…

00:59

….which turned into a chant:

01:01

Four legs good. Two legs bad. Four legs good. Two legs bad. Four legs good. Two legs BAAAAAAAD!

01:09

Now, being a leader isn’t always smooth sailing. Sometimes, you have to fight for

01:14

what’s right.

01:17

Like when a whole bunch of farmers got together and tried to quash our rebellion. But we showed

01:21

them…

01:21

Especially me. But I didn’t get an “Animal Hero, first class” medal. Snowball did.

01:27

Snowball.

01:28

Sure, he was kind of smart. Between you and me, it was his idea to build a windmill. But

01:33

he never could have executed it as well as I could.

01:36

Which, you see, is why I peed on his plans and sic’ed my dogs on him when it came time

01:42

to vote for a leader. Because it was clear to everyone that I was meant to be lead.

01:48

Voting is silly! Why voice your opinion when the natural leader already knows what you

01:53

want?

01:54

…which is why I banned voting.

01:57

…and then built that windmill. Well, eventually the windmill collapsed because…

02:02

somebody might have missed a detail in the plan here or there. Whatever, that’s not

02:05

important.

02:06

What’s important is that animals started complaining, as though Animal Farm wasn’t

02:12

the best place ever!

02:15

…And when animals complain, that really puts a damper on my day. It’s like they

02:20

don’t even care how hard we worked to get here.

02:23

And when I find out they’re in cahoots with Snowball, or talking about the “good old

02:24

days” – when I find out they think that their ruler isn’t doing a good enough job….

02:28

…accidents happen.

02:32

So it was one of the rules of Animal Farm that you couldn’t kill another animal…so

02:36

what?

02:37

Sure, we’re all equal here, but I’m a natural-born leader. And you know how you

02:43

get to be a leader? Not by following rules, that’s for sure!

02:47

So when we pigs led the animals to victory against the humans yet again, I think we had

02:52

a right to celebrate.

02:52

We put on some clothes and got a little sloshed, because we deserved it.

02:55

…and because we had to keep leading Animal Farm, even in the hardest of times, we kept

02:55

having to drink and bundle up and live in the farmhouse. For the good of everyone.

02:55

So really, the moral of the story is: two legs good. Two legs best, for the good of

03:01

everyone.

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