Sugar

Sugar first appears in the story as a point of contention when Mollie, the white mare, asks Snowball, "Will there still be sugar after the Rebellion?" Snowball's unequivocal "No" and his assertion that liberty is worth more than ribbons underscores the pigs' rejection of human luxuries. Yet Mollie's attachment to sugar persists. Months later, Clover discovers a hidden stash of "a little pile of lump sugar and several bunches of ribbon" beneath the straw in Mollie's stall, revealing that the mare has secretly clung to the forbidden comforts of her old life. The discovery precedes Mollie's defection to a human who feeds her sugar, confirming that sugar, for her, is an emblem of the servitude she cannot renounce.

Sugar reappears not as a material reality but as a promise in the myth of Sugarcandy Mountain, preached by Moses the raven. Moses describes a paradise where "lump sugar and linseed cake grew on the hedges," offering a vision of eternal abundance that many hungry animals find consoling. The pigs publicly denounce the myth as a lie, yet they permit Moses to remain on the farm and even grant him a daily ration of beer. Thus sugar, once denied as a luxury, is repackaged as a transcendent reward—a fantasy that the pigs tolerate because it pacifies the animals without costing them anything.