Willingdon
Willingdon is the nearby market town that serves as the primary point of contact between Animal Farm and the human world, a place whose name recurs throughout the narrative as the site of trade, the origin of rumors, and the destination of the van that carries Boxer to his death. It is the town where Mr. Jones drinks at the Red Lion, where Mr. Whymper the solicitor operates, and where the knacker Alfred Simmonds runs his business—a geography that marks the boundary between the animals' self-governing experiment and the human society that surrounds, infiltrates, and ultimately reclaims it.
Location and Role as a Hub of Human Commerce
Willingdon is the nearest market town to Animal Farm, reachable by the main road that passes the farm's five-barred gate. It is the place where Mr. Jones goes to drink at the Red Lion, getting so drunk on Midsummer's Eve that he fails to return until midday on Sunday, a dereliction that directly precipitates the Rebellion. After his expulsion, Jones spends most of his time sitting in the taproom of the Red Lion, complaining to anyone who will listen about the "monstrous injustice" of being turned out by a pack of animals. The town also houses the solicitor Mr. Whymper, a "sly-looking little man with side whiskers" who acts as the intermediary between Animal Farm and the outside world, visiting every Monday morning to receive his instructions. It is through Whymper that Napoleon sells eggs, negotiates the sale of timber, and attempts to purchase machinery for the windmill. The town's commercial function is further underscored when Napoleon instructs Whymper to purchase booklets on brewing and distilling, and when a grocer's van drives up from Willingdon once a week to collect the eggs that the hens have been forced to surrender.
The Spread of Rumors and the Song
Willingdon is also the origin point for the rumors that circulate about Animal Farm. The human beings in the town, including the farmers Frederick and Pilkington, spread stories that the animals are starving, fighting among themselves, practicing cannibalism, and torturing one another with red-hot horseshoes. These tales are never fully believed, but they contribute to the atmosphere of hostility. At the same time, the song "Beasts of England" spreads from Animal Farm outward, carried by pigeons whose instructions are to mingle with animals on neighboring farms and teach them the tune. The song becomes irrepressible, getting into "the din of the smithies and the tune of the church bells" in Willingdon and beyond, and when human beings hear it, they secretly tremble, hearing in it a prophecy of their future doom. The town thus becomes a node in a network of information—both true and false—that connects the farm to the wider world.
The Site of Boxer's Betrayal and Death
Willingdon's most devastating function in the narrative is as the destination of the van that takes Boxer away. When Boxer collapses from overwork, Squealer announces that Napoleon is making arrangements to send him to the hospital in Willingdon, where a veterinary surgeon can treat his case. The animals are uneasy but are convinced. The van that arrives, however, is a large closed vehicle with lettering on its side that reads: "Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied." Benjamin reads this aloud, and the animals realize with horror that Boxer is being taken to the knacker's yard. The van gathers speed and disappears down the road toward Willingdon; Boxer is never seen again. Three days later, Squealer announces that Boxer has died in the hospital at Willingdon, in spite of receiving every attention a horse could have, and he claims to have been present at Boxer's bedside during his last hours. The town thus becomes the site of the most profound betrayal on the farm, the place where the pigs' lies and the animals' trust converge in a final, irreversible loss.
The Town as a Measure of Change
Willingdon also serves as a benchmark for the farm's changing relationship with the human world. In the early days, the animals have no contact with the town except through the pigeons they send out. Later, Napoleon engages in trade through Whymper, and the farm's prosperity is measured by the fact that Whymper buys himself a dogcart. The town's grocer's van delivers a large wooden crate to the farmhouse for the memorial banquet in Boxer's honor, and the pigs acquire the money to buy themselves another case of whisky. By the end of the novel, the farm has become so integrated into the human economy that the pigs sit down to dinner with the neighboring farmers, and Napoleon announces that the farm's name has been changed back to Manor Farm. Willingdon, which once represented the hostile human world that the animals had expelled, has become the conduit through which that world reasserts its dominance, and the town's name echoes through the narrative as a reminder of the distance between the animals' revolutionary ideals and their eventual capitulation.
