Animal Hero, Second Class

Animal Hero, Second Class was the lower grade of the military decoration instituted by the animals of Animal Farm immediately after their first armed conflict with human beings. The medal was created in the aftermath of the Battle of the Cowshed, a victory in which the animals, led by Snowball and Boxer, repelled an attempt by Mr. Jones and his men to recapture the farm. During that battle a sheep was killed, and the animals decided unanimously to establish a formal system of recognition. Animal Hero, First Class was conferred on Snowball and Boxer, while Animal Hero, Second Class was awarded posthumously to the dead sheep. The medals themselves were old horse-brasses found in the harness-room, to be worn on Sundays and holidays.

Creation and Original Purpose

The decoration was born from the spontaneous celebration that followed the Battle of the Cowshed. The animals, recounting their exploits at the top of their voices, held an impromptu victory celebration, ran up the flag, sang "Beasts of England" several times, and gave the dead sheep a solemn funeral with a hawthorn bush planted on her grave. At the graveside Snowball made a speech emphasizing the need for all animals to be ready to die for Animal Farm. The medal system was thus originally an expression of collective gratitude and the principle that sacrifice for the common good deserved honor. The posthumous award to the sheep marked the first death in the animals' struggle to maintain their independence.

Debased by Napoleon

The medal's meaning was rapidly corrupted after Napoleon seized sole power. When the windmill was destroyed in a storm, Napoleon blamed Snowball, pronouncing a death sentence on him and offering a reward: "'Animal Hero, Second Class,' and half a bushel of apples to any animal who brings him to justice. A full bushel to anyone who captures him alive!" The same decoration that had been a posthumous honor for a comrade killed in battle was now offered as a bounty for the capture of a former leader, transforming a symbol of sacrifice into an instrument of persecution. Later, Napoleon awarded both Animal Hero, First Class and Animal Hero, Second Class to himself, wearing both medals when he emerged from the farmhouse to preside over the executions of animals accused of conspiring with Snowball. The medals, originally horse-brasses worn on Sundays, became part of the regalia of a dictator.

The Medal in the Context of the Purge

When Napoleon ordered all the animals to assemble in the yard, he appeared wearing both his medals, with his nine huge dogs frisking round him and uttering growls that sent shivers down the animals' spines. The medals were thus displayed at the very moment when the dogs tore the throats out of four pigs who had confessed to being in touch with Snowball, and then slaughtered a succession of other animals—hens, a goose, sheep—who confessed to various offenses supposedly inspired by Snowball. The medal that had once honored a dead sheep now adorned the pig who presided over the slaughter of his own comrades. The animals, huddling together on the knoll where the half-finished windmill stood, felt that the scenes of terror and slaughter were far worse than anything in Jones's day, because now it was happening among themselves. Clover, looking down the hillside with tears in her eyes, thought that this was not what they had aimed at when old Major first stirred them to rebellion.

The Medal's Place in the System of Honors

The Animal Hero medals were part of a broader apparatus of symbols and ceremonies that the pigs used to control the farm. The green flag with the hoof and horn, the weekly singing of "Beasts of England," the firing of Mr. Jones's gun on anniversaries, and the display of Old Major's skull at the foot of the flagstaff all served to create a sense of shared identity and purpose. The medals were the only individual decorations, and their debasement reflected the general corruption of the revolution's ideals. By the time Napoleon awarded himself both classes of the medal, the honors system had become a tool of personal glorification rather than a recognition of genuine service. The medal's original meaning—a posthumous tribute to a sheep who died fighting for freedom—was buried under the weight of propaganda and terror.

The Medal's Legacy

In the final years of the farm, the medal system was forgotten along with many other early institutions. The sheep who had received Animal Hero, Second Class was never named; her identity was subsumed into the collective memory of the Rebellion. The medal itself, a brass horse-brass, likely disappeared into the farmhouse along with other relics of the early days. The medal's trajectory—from a sincere tribute to a fallen comrade, to a bounty for a political enemy, to a self-awarded decoration for a tyrant—mirrors the larger arc of Animal Farm's descent from a community of equals into a dictatorship. The medal system, like the Seven Commandments, was ultimately rewritten by power.