Animal Farm Chapter 11

The next day, the animals went about the farm work as normal, with the pigs hovering over them, whips in their trotters.  A few courageous animals refused to work.  Among these animals were a few sheep, two cows, and a small flock of chickens.  After hearing the commotion about the protesting animals, Squealer hurried on over with two of the vicious dogs at his heels.

“Comrades!  Comrades, why are you refusing to work?” the pig asked, looking over the small group.

“You’re no better than then the humans,” clucked one of the hens, hopping furiously.

“Are you mad, comrade?  Production is so much better then when Jones was around.  Everything is better then when the humans ran this farm!” the pig exclaimed, the dogs growling fiercely.  The smaller animals jumped back, startled and fearful.

“You…you talked with the humans.  We heard talk of the conditions being worse here then on the other farms!” the hen cried, wings flapping madly.

“It was but a ploy for their visit.  Our great leader, comrade Napoleon, set all this up for the visit of the humans.  It was all to get in good relations with them, so as to gain better trade options and so that we might expand into their farms at a later date,” Squealer said in a tone that sounded very truthful.  The hen calmed down, thinking.

“If that is what you were doing, why not telling us about it first?” one of the cows asked lowly, curious.

“We did not tell you because some animals are so witless as to reveal a plan such as that while the humans were around.  We could not take that risk, comrades.  You see, comrades, you have only misunderstood the actions of comrade Napoleon,” Squealer explained, pacing a small bit as he talked.

“Then why are you still on two legs?” Clover asked, just now walking into view from the barn house.
Squealer seemed shocked and dropped back to four legs.  “Its is but a habit from walking on two legs for so long, comrades.  It really does grow on one,” the pig said, starting to turn away.  The animals looked to each other, finding his explanation valid.  Clover trotted back to the pasture, thinking if things really were better.  The other animals that had gathered, thoroughly convinced, had gone back to work in the fields under the pigs’ supervision.

The days went on living under the strict supervision of the pigs, the animals being worked hard, and no sign of conditions getting better for the working animals.  It soon turned out that the humans met weekly at the farm with the pigs, to talk and play cards.  The animals continued believing it was all a set up against the humans, but they were seeing no progress towards it.  The animals went on believing this until weeks later, when Napoleon sold a portion of the farm to a neighboring farm, and sold a considerable bit of the harvest for money that he claimed was to be used to buy supplies for the new windmill
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The animals didn’t hear of any work of the second windmill either.  To many of the animals, it became obvious the pigs had been lying to them.  The animals, crushed and confused, looked to each other for ideas of what to do.  Some of the animals suggested running away, but that was avoided because they wouldn’t know how to live outside the farm.  Someone then suggested they stand up to the pigs.

“If they have the dogs attack all of us and we all die, then the pigs won’t be able to work the farm.  They won’t do that, we might be able to get them to make everything more even,” that someone said.  It ended up being a young pig.  When questioned as to why he was helping, he responded by saying he didn’t like how the other animals were being treated.

The animals thought on the piglet’s idea, and found it to be, in one of the hen’s words, “Just crazy enough to work.”  The next day, the animals all got together in the middle of the barn house and stayed there, talking amongst themselves.  The pigs, utterly confused at where the animals were, went looking for them.  They followed post haste after the nine dogs, which led them to the barn house.

“What is the meaning of this?  Why are you not working in the fields, comrades?” Squealer asked, walking up to them.

“We don’t want to work,” a cow lowed, looking around at the others, who quickly agreed.  Even old Benjamin was there, and near the front of the group too.  The animals stayed in place when the dogs began their ferocious growling.

“Comrades, do you not want our beloved farm to prosper?” Squealer asked, amazed.

“The only thing prospering on this farm are the pigs running it,” said Clover.  With the courage of the animals around her, she had brought herself to say something.  “We all dreamed so long ago to live happily without humans, to live where we are without hunger and are not driven like slaves.  I do not see that dream now.  It is just like before, only worse.”

“What are you speaking of?  Surely things cannot be worse, comrades, then when Jones was running this farm,” Squealer argued.

“But it is.  We are fed little, and we get little of what we work so hard to produce.  I remember now…you have taken advantage of us so many times and all the animals let it by without thinking.  But now…now we want to live without your hard labor.”

Squealer was, for once, stunned speechless.  He couldn’t think how to retaliate to the words Clover spoke.  Napoleon stepped forward, glancing around.

“Get back to work, comrades.  You need this farm, but it doesn’t need you,” Napoleon said sternly, looking around at them.

“That’s where you are wrong,” the piglet said, pulling out of the crowd.  “The farm needs them too.  You need them around to work.  If you were to kill even half of them, you and your farm would suffer,” he said gleefully.  The animals quickly agreed to what the piglet said.  “Why not let them live like they want to?  Getting more of what they work for.  I think the farm will do fine if its workers receive more food.  Say, as much as they want and deserve?” the piglet suggested, sitting in front of the other animals.  The animals seemed more than eager to agree.

Napoleon looked around at the animals, seeing their serious courage and determination.  He pulled the pigs outside for a bit.  The pigs conversed quietly, a few loud grunts being heard on occasion.

Squealer was the only one who came back to the group of waiting animals.  “Very well, comrades, you have made your point clear to comrade Napoleon.  He has agreed to increase your rations greatly and reward your better, so long, comrades, as you do your work well,” Squealer said, seeming a little disappointed.  He then trotted off back to the farmhouse with the other pigs.  The animals cheered victoriously and dispersed to get on with their work.  Things were looking up for the first time in a long while.

Napoleon kept his promise, as he was constantly reminded about it by the piglet who was always in the company of various other animals, many of which strong enough to protect him from the dogs.  Each animal received a large serving of rations daily that kept them full and happy, along with an weekly treat for their work.  Animal farm seemed, to Clover, to be much more like it had been just after the revolution.