Napoleon-Whymper business dealings

When Napoleon announced that Animal Farm would engage in trade with the neighbouring farms, the decision marked a fundamental departure from the revolutionary principles established after the expulsion of Mr. Jones. To manage this new relationship with the human world, Napoleon appointed Mr. Whymper, a solicitor from Willingdon, as intermediary. Whymper agreed to visit the farm every Monday to receive instructions. The animals, who had been taught that all human contact was corrupting, were uneasy, but Squealer's persuasive arguments—that the windmill's needs overrode everything else—quieted their doubts.

Whymper proved to be a sharp, sly-looking man with side whiskers, a small-time solicitor who had quickly grasped the commissions to be earned from the farm's business. The animals watched his weekly visits with a kind of dread, keeping their distance. Yet a paradoxical pride stirred in them when they saw Napoleon, on all fours, delivering orders to Whymper, who stood on two legs. This scene, which reversed the usual human-animal hierarchy, partly reconciled them to the arrangement.

Napoleon soon exploited Whymper's role for propaganda purposes. When the winter brought severe food shortages, Napoleon ordered the almost empty grain bins to be filled nearly to the brim with sand, which was then covered with a thin layer of grain. Selected animals were instructed to remark casually in Whymper's hearing that rations had been increased. Whymper was led through the store-shed and allowed a glimpse of the seemingly full bins. Deceived, he reported to the outside world that Animal Farm faced no food crisis, thus helping Napoleon maintain the fiction of prosperity.

Through Whymper, Napoleon engaged in protracted negotiations with the neighbouring farmers, Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood and Mr. Frederick of Pinchfield, over a pile of seasoned timber. The talks were marked by deception and shifting allegiances. Napoleon eventually sold the timber to Frederick, demanding payment in cash rather than a cheque. The sum, paid in five-pound notes, was intended to buy machinery for the windmill. However, three days later, Whymper arrived at the farm in a panic, his face deadly pale, and rushed into the farmhouse. The bank-notes were forgeries; Frederick had obtained the timber for nothing.

The forgery scandal sent a roar of rage through Napoleon's apartments, but the animals were soon rallied by the announcement that the windmill had been destroyed by Frederick's men in the subsequent Battle of the Windmill. The business dealings with Whymper, though ultimately disastrous in this instance, had established a lasting channel for trade. Napoleon continued to use the solicitor for purchases and sales, later instructing him to buy booklets on brewing and distilling. The farm's economy became increasingly entangled with the human market, epitomizing the pigs' growing pragmatism and their gradual adoption of human methods—a far cry from the original ideals of Animalism.