wagon

The wagon is a large, closed van drawn by two horses, with lettering on its side and a sly-looking man in a low-crowned bowler hat sitting on the driver's seat. It appears in the yard of Animal Farm in the middle of the day, when all the animals are at work weeding turnips under the supervision of a pig. The van is marked with the name of its owner: "Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied." It is the vehicle that takes Boxer away from the farm forever.

Boxer's Removal

Boxer, the cart-horse who has been the backbone of the farm's labor, has collapsed from overwork and is lying in his stall. The pigs, led by Squealer, announce that Comrade Napoleon has made arrangements to send Boxer to be treated in the hospital at Willingdon. The animals feel uneasy, but Squealer convinces them that the veterinary surgeon there can treat Boxer's case more satisfactorily than can be done on the farm. The wagon arrives to take him away. Benjamin, who has never before been seen to gallop, comes racing from the direction of the farm buildings, braying at the top of his voice, and shouts that they are taking Boxer away. The animals crowd round the van, chorusing "Good-bye, Boxer!" Benjamin reads the lettering on the side and reveals the truth: the van belongs to a horse slaughterer and glue boiler. The animals cry out in horror. Clover forces her way to the front and tries to stir her stout limbs to a gallop, crying "Boxer! Boxer! Boxer!" Boxer's face, with the white stripe down his nose, appears at the small window at the back of the van. Clover cries out in a terrible voice, "Boxer! Get out! Get out quickly! They're taking you to your death!" All the animals take up the cry, but the van is already gathering speed and drawing away from them. Boxer tries to kick his way out, but his strength has left him, and the sound of drumming hoofs grows fainter and dies away. The van passes through the five-barred gate and rapidly disappears down the road. Boxer is never seen again.

The Pigs' Deception

Three days later, Squealer announces that Boxer has died in the hospital at Willingdon, in spite of receiving every attention a horse could have. He claims to have been present during Boxer's last hours and reports that Boxer's sole sorrow was to have passed on before the windmill was finished, and that his last words were "Forward, comrades! Forward in the name of the Rebellion. Long live Animal Farm! Long live Comrade Napoleon! Napoleon is always right." Squealer then changes his demeanor and, with suspicious glances, addresses the rumor that the van was marked "Horse Slaughterer." He explains that the van had previously been the property of the knacker and had been bought by the veterinary surgeon, who had not yet painted the old name out. The animals are enormously relieved to hear this, and their last doubts disappear. Napoleon himself pronounces a short oration in Boxer's honor, ordering a large wreath to be made from the laurels in the farmhouse garden and sent down to be placed on Boxer's grave. The pigs hold a memorial banquet in Boxer's honor, and that night there is the sound of uproarious singing, followed by what sounds like a violent quarrel and ends with a tremendous crash of glass.

Narrative Significance

The wagon is the instrument of the pigs' most profound betrayal. It is the vehicle that carries away the most loyal and hardworking animal on the farm, not to a hospital but to the knacker's yard. The pigs' elaborate deception—the false story of Boxer's peaceful death, the invented last words, the memorial wreath, the banquet—is built around the wagon's true purpose. The wagon thus becomes the story's most devastating symbol of the pigs' corruption: they have become indistinguishable from the human beings they once overthrew, and they are willing to sacrifice even their most devoted followers for their own comfort and power. The wagon's appearance marks the point at which the animals' hope for a just society is finally and irrevocably destroyed.