Pigs' privilege

The pigs' privilege, a systematic concentration of resources and status in the hands of the pigs at the expense of the other animals, constitutes the central mechanism by which the revolutionary ideals of Animal Farm are corrupted. Within weeks of the Rebellion, the milk from the cows, which the animals had expected to be shared, was discovered to be mixed daily into the pigs' mash. Shortly afterward, the order went forth that all windfall apples, and later the main crop, were to be reserved for the pigs alone. When some animals murmured, Squealer was dispatched to explain that the pigs, as brainworkers, required milk and apples to maintain their health, and that their consumption was a sacrifice for the welfare of all—for if the pigs failed in their duty, Jones would return. The animals, fearing the return of Jones above all, accepted this reasoning.

The privileges expanded steadily. The pigs moved into the farmhouse, taking their meals in the kitchen, using the drawing-room as a recreation room, and sleeping in the beds. When Clover remembered a ruling against beds, Squealer convinced the animals that the Fourth Commandment had actually said "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets," and that the pigs had removed the sheets, so they were not violating the rule. The resolution against living in houses, which the animals vaguely recalled, was similarly denied to have ever existed. Later, the pigs began to get up an hour later than the other animals. The barley crop was reserved for the pigs, and a brew-house was put into operation, providing each pig with a daily pint of beer and Napoleon himself with half a gallon, served in the Crown Derby soup tureen.

The pigs' assimilation of human habits reached its symbolic climax. They began to wear clothes—Napoleon appeared in a black coat, ratcatcher breeches, and leather leggings, while his favorite sow wore Mrs. Jones's watered silk dress. The pigs carried whips, installed a wireless set and telephone, and took out subscriptions to human newspapers. Minimus composed a poem in Napoleon's honor, and Napoleon's portrait was painted on the barn wall. The final, most striking transgression of the boundary between animal and human came when the pigs began to walk on their hind legs. Squealer was first, followed by a long file of pigs, and finally Napoleon himself, majestically upright and carrying a whip. The sheep immediately bleated a new slogan: "Four legs good, two legs better!" The pigs' adoption of the bipedal posture completed the reversal of the original Animalist principle that "whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy."

The ultimate expression of the pigs' privilege came in the final chapter, when the farm was renamed back to "The Manor Farm," the green flag was rendered plain, the custom of addressing one another as "Comrade" was suppressed, and the skull of Old Major was buried. The Seven Commandments were reduced to a single, cynical maxim: "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." When neighboring farmers visited, Napoleon sat at the head of the table, drinking beer and playing cards, and Mr. Pilkington toasted the prosperity of the farm. The pigs' faces had become indistinguishable from those of the humans. The revolution had completed its full circle: the pigs had become the very thing they had overthrown.