Flag

The green flag of Animal Farm is the most visible emblem of the Rebellion and the promise of animal liberation. Created by Snowball from an old green tablecloth of Mrs. Jones's, it bore a white hoof and a horn, signifying the future Republic of the Animals that would arise when the human race had been finally overthrown. The flag was hoisted every Sunday morning on the flagstaff in the farmhouse garden, a ceremony that marked the beginning of the weekly Meeting and the collective life of the farm. From the moment of its first raising, the flag was a source of pride and identity, a tangible symbol that the animals were no longer slaves but masters of their own destiny.

The Flag as a Symbol of Unity and Hope

In the early days after the Rebellion, the flag was central to the farm's rituals and the animals' sense of purpose. It was run up after the Battle of the Cowshed, during the impromptu celebration of victory, and it flew as the animals sang 'Beasts of England' in tremendous unison. The flag was also a fixture of the Spontaneous Demonstrations, where Boxer and Clover would carry a green banner marked with the hoof and the horn and the caption "Long live Comrade Napoleon!" The flag, along with the gun fired on anniversaries and the singing of the anthem, helped the animals forget their empty bellies and reaffirmed their belief that they were truly their own masters. The flag was a constant reminder of the heroic days of the expulsion of Jones and the writing of the Seven Commandments, and it kept alive the dream of the Republic of the Animals.

The Flag's Transformation and the Erosion of Ideals

As Napoleon's dictatorship solidified, the flag's meaning began to shift. The flag was still flown, but the ceremonies around it became hollow rituals. The Sunday-morning Meetings were abolished, and the animals merely filed past the skull of Old Major, saluted the flag, and received their orders. The flag was still a source of pride, but it was increasingly used to mask the growing inequality and hardship. The pigs moved into the farmhouse, the Commandments were altered, and the animals worked longer hours for less food, yet the flag continued to fly. The flag became a tool of propaganda, a symbol of a freedom that no longer existed, used to maintain the illusion that the animals were still working for themselves.

The Final Erasure: The Plain Green Flag and the Return to Manor Farm

The final degradation of the flag occurred in the book's closing chapter, when Napoleon, now fully transformed into a human-like tyrant, announced a series of changes designed to reconcile with the neighbouring human farmers. He declared that the green flag would henceforth be a plain green flag, with the white hoof and horn removed. This act stripped the flag of its revolutionary symbolism, reducing it to a mere piece of cloth. Simultaneously, Napoleon announced that the name "Animal Farm" had been abolished and the farm would once again be known as "The Manor Farm." The flag, which had once represented the hope of a new world, was now a blank banner, a fitting symbol for a revolution that had completely betrayed its ideals. The final image of the pigs and the human farmers playing cards together, indistinguishable from one another, completes the circle: the flag that once stood for the overthrow of tyranny now flies over a farm where the pigs have become indistinguishable from the men they overthrew.