Animal Farm-Foxwood·Pinchfield conflict

The neighboring farms Foxwood and Pinchfield, owned respectively by the easy-going Mr. Pilkington and the tough, shrewd Mr. Frederick, were permanently on bad terms with each other, yet they shared a common hostility toward the newly liberated Animal Farm. Within months of the Rebellion, they joined forces with the expelled Mr. Jones to attempt the recapture of the farm. In the Battle of the Cowshed, the animals, under Snowball's command, routed the human invaders, killing a stable-lad from Foxwood and driving the rest in ignominious retreat. That defeat, however, did not erase the threat; the human farmers continued to spread stories of cannibalism and disorder on Animal Farm, while secretly fearing the example of animal self-government. The ideological foundation of the Rebellion—the maxim "Four legs good, two legs bad"—had defined all humans as enemies, and the conflict with the neighboring farms seemed to confirm that enmity was permanent.

As time passed and the animals proved capable of managing their own affairs, the human farmers' posture shifted from outright hostility to grudging respect. They began to call the farm by its proper name, Animal Farm, and stopped championing Jones's cause. Napoleon, needing materials for the windmill, engaged Mr. Whymper as an intermediary and entered into trade negotiations. The farm oscillated between dealing with Pilkington and Frederick, but never with both simultaneously. Rumours spread that Frederick, who was known for cruelty to his own animals, was plotting an attack. The absolute boundary between the four-legged animals and the two-legged humans, once the cornerstone of Animalism, now became negotiable as the pigs insisted that trade was necessary for survival.

Napoleon's double-dealing reached its peak when, after a period of seeming friendship with Pilkington, he suddenly announced that he had sold the pile of timber to Frederick and demanded payment in cash. Frederick paid with forged banknotes, and the next day launched a full-scale assault on Animal Farm. The Battle of the Windmill was far bloodier than the first: fifteen men with half a dozen guns opened fire, and later used blasting powder to destroy the windmill, killing a cow, three sheep, and two geese. But the animals, enraged, drove Frederick's men off. The windmill lay in ruins, and the farm was left to rebuild yet again, working even harder than before.

The long-term consequence of the conflict was the erosion of every principle the Rebellion had stood for. The pigs gradually moved into the farmhouse, slept in beds, drank alcohol, and engaged in trade. Ultimately, they began walking on their hind legs, carrying whips, and wearing human clothes. When a delegation of neighboring farmers, including Pilkington, visited the farm, the pigs and the humans drank together, played cards, and toasted the prosperity of the newly renamed Manor Farm. The animals watching from outside could no longer tell pig from man. The original conflict between Animal Farm and the human world had not been won; it had been resolved by the pigs' complete assimilation into the human order, and the farm's name was changed back to Manor Farm, completing the circle.