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Animal Farm Summary 86711 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.

Author:

Author / Orwell - George Orwell

Language:

English Language

Subjects:

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Common Core Standards:

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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