Commandments Flashcards
When do the animals first begin to become unequal?
Chapter 2: Pigs take the milk for themselves, violating the “All animals are equal” commandment. ‘… and when they came back in the evening, it was noticed that the milk had disappeared.’
This shows that from the beginning of Animal Farm as a society, there is inequality, and the pigs have intentions of making the society unequal.
What happens in chapter 5?
Chapter 5: “Nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn.”
The dogs are wearing collars, showing Napoleons’ ownership of them and a control over them similar to Jones over his dogs. This event touches upon breaking two key commandments, “No animal shall wear clothes” and “All animals are equal”.
Snowball criticises Molly for wearing ribbons, as they are “badges of slavery” and “liberty is worth more than ribbons.” but once Snowball is exiled Napoleon blatantly disregards this thought and puts collars on his dogs, symbolising ownership and taking away their liberty. The very fact that they follow his orders and can be considered ‘Napoleons dogs’ means that they are not equal to him, but far enough below him to be his bodyguards and servants.
When is the “No animal shall sleep in a bed.” Commandment broken ?
Chapter 6; the pigs took up residence in the farmhouse, took their meals in the kitchen and used the drawing room as a recreation room. They also began to sleep in beds, “Some of the animals were disturbed when they heard that the pigs… also slept in the beds.” violating the “No animal shall sleep in a bed” commandment.
However when Clover takes Muriel to the commandments written on the wall to clarify her suspicions that there had been a previous ruling against sleeping in beds, the commandment now read “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.”
When is the “No animal shall kill another animal” commandment broken?
In chapter 7 the executions occur, and once the terror of these events die down, in chapter 8 the animals are pondering the commandments, especially “No animal shall kill another animal.” Which had been violated in the previous chapter.
However once Clover takes Muriel to read the commandments on the wall once again, it reads “No animal shall kill another animal without cause.”
This shows how far the pigs’ influence has taken the animals, to forget the previous commandments and accept the new ones so easily as if they had been like that since the beginning, despite still being shaken and terrified when the executions were occurring.
When is the “whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy” commandment broken?
Chapter 6 - “From now onwards Animal Farm would engage in trade with the neighbouring farms.”
Napoleon begins to trade with the humans of other farms, and organises a solicitor (Mr Whymper) to act as intermediary between Animal Farm and the outside world. Already this hints that Napoleon does not consider humans as enemies, otherwise he would not wish for any contact at all between the farm and humans, let alone allow and trust a human to handle their trading affairs.
Chapter 10: “It was a pig walking on his hind legs”
By Squealer, followed by the other pigs, beginning to walk on their hind legs and teach the sheep to bleat “Four legs good, two legs better” it truly breaks this commandment by the pigs completely disregarding yet another rule.
When is the commandment “Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend” broken?
Chapter 5: “… and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws.”
This breaks the commandment of “Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.” because the dogs intentions towards Snowball are by no means friendly.
When is the commandment “No animal shall wear clothes” broken?
There are various moments in animal farm in which the pigs have put clothes on, such as in chapter 8 when, while drunk, Napoleon puts on Jones’ old bowler hat.
However this commandment is truly broken in chapter 10 when all the pigs “took Mr Jones’s clothes out of the wardrobes and put them on.”
This is the point when the pigs truly begin to become like humans in nature, but also in appearance. No other animals wear clothes, and so when the pigs begin to wear them it’s part of the finalising process to which they become more human than pig.
When is the “No animal shall drink alcohol” commandment broken?
Chapter 8: “It was a few days later than this that the pigs came upon a case of whiskey in the cellars of the farmhouse.”
This is also a turning point for the pigs, because in the first chapter the first few character descriptions of Jones include that he was “too drunk to remember to shut the pop holes” and this showed his ignorance in looking after the animals, just as the pigs are doing in this chapter.
Once again it is noticed that this commandment surely had correlation to the actions of the pigs during their intoxication and the hangover afterwards, however when Muriel reads over the commandments it reads “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.” And once again the animals are satisfied with having their with memories at fault for questioning this.
