Animal Farm | Page 2

When Major saw that they had all made themselves comfortable and were waiting attentively, he cleared his
throat and began:

"Comrades, you have heard already about the strange dream that I had last night. But I will come to the
dream later. I have something else to say first. I do not think, comrades, that I shall be with you for many
months longer, and before I die, I feel it my duty to pass on to you such wisdom as I have acquired. I have
had a long life, I have had much time for thought as I lay alone in my stall, and I think I may say that I
understand the nature of life on this earth as well as any animal now living. It is about this that I wish to
speak to you.

"Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and
short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who
are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness
has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of
happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and
slavery: that is the plain truth.

"But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this land of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a
decent life to those who dwell upon it? No, comrades, a thousand times no! The soil of England is fertile, its
climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance to an enormously greater number of animals than
now inhabit it. This single farm of ours would support a dozen horses, twenty cows, hundreds of sheep-and
all of them living in a comfort and a dignity that are now almost beyond our imagining. Why then do we
continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us
by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word-Man.
Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and
overwork is abolished for ever.

"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is
too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He
sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest
he keeps for himself. Our labour tills the soil, our dung fertilises it, and yet there is not one of us that owns
more than his bare skin. You cows that I see before me, how many thousands of gallons of milk have you
given during this last year? And what has happened to that milk which should have been breeding up sturdy
calves? Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. And you hens, how many eggs have you
laid in this last year, and how many of those eggs ever hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to
market to bring in money for Jones and his men. And you, Clover, where are those four foals you bore, who
should have been the support and pleasure of your old age? Each was sold at a year old-you will never see
one of them again. In return for your four confinements and all your labour in the fields, what have you ever
had except your bare rations and a stall?

Animal Farm


Animal Farm

"And even the miserable lives we lead are not allowed to reach their natural span. For myself I do not
grumble, for I am one of the lucky ones. I am twelve years old and have had over four hundred children. Such
is the natural life of a pig. But no animal escapes the cruel knife in the end. You young porkers who are
sitting in front of me, every one of you will scream your lives out at the block within a year. To that horror
we all must come-cows, pigs, hens, sheep, everyone. Even the horses and the dogs have no better fate. You,
Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who
will cut your throat and boil