Foxwood
Foxwood is the large, neglected, old-fashioned farm that adjoins Animal Farm, owned by the easy-going gentleman farmer Mr. Pilkington. Unlike its smaller, better-kept rival Pinchfield, Foxwood is much overgrown by woodland, with all its pastures worn out and its hedges in a disgraceful condition. Mr. Pilkington spends most of his time in fishing or hunting according to the season, and is perpetually on bad terms with Mr. Frederick of Pinchfield, so much so that the two can hardly come to any agreement, even in defence of their own interests. Foxwood thus enters the story as a symbol of the old, inefficient, human-run agricultural order that the Rebellion was meant to overthrow.
Role in the Rebellion and Its Aftermath
When the news of the Rebellion spreads, both Foxwood and Pinchfield are thoroughly frightened and anxious to prevent their own animals from learning too much. At first they pretend to laugh to scorn the idea of animals managing a farm, insisting on calling it the Manor Farm and putting it about that the animals are perpetually fighting and starving to death. When time proves this false, they change their tune and talk of the terrible wickedness on Animal Farm, spreading stories of cannibalism, torture with red-hot horseshoes, and females held in common. Nevertheless, these stories are never fully believed, and rumours of a wonderful farm where animals manage their own affairs continue to circulate. Foxwood men participate in the human attempt to recapture the farm in the Battle of the Cowshed, where a stable-lad from Foxwood is struck on the skull by Boxer's iron-shod hoof and stretched lifeless in the mud.
Foxwood as a Political Pawn
As Napoleon consolidates power, Foxwood becomes a pawn in his political manoeuvres. When Napoleon is hesitating over selling a pile of well-seasoned timber, it is noticed that whenever he seems on the point of coming to an agreement with Frederick, Snowball is declared to be in hiding at Foxwood, while when he inclines toward Pilkington, Snowball is said to be at Pinchfield. Later, Napoleon publicly breaks off all relations with Foxwood, sending insulting messages to Pilkington and ordering the pigeons to alter their slogan from "Death to Frederick" to "Death to Pilkington." It is then revealed that Napoleon had all along been in secret agreement with Frederick, using the apparent friendship with Pilkington to force Frederick to raise his price by twelve pounds. After Frederick's forged banknotes are discovered, Napoleon sends four pigeons to Foxwood with a conciliatory message, hoping to re-establish good relations. When Frederick's men attack and destroy the windmill, the animals look wistfully toward Foxwood for help, but the pigeons return bearing a scrap of paper from Pilkington that reads simply: "Serves you right."
The Final Alliance and the Erasure of Revolutionary Identity
In the final chapter, Foxwood becomes the site of the pigs' ultimate betrayal of Animalism. Mr. Pilkington is invited to make a tour of inspection, and he expresses great admiration for everything he sees, especially the windmill. That evening, a deputation of neighbouring farmers, including Pilkington, dines with the pigs in the farmhouse. Pilkington gives a toast, congratulating the pigs on the low rations, the long working hours, and the general absence of pampering he has observed, and declares that between pigs and human beings there is no clash of interests whatever. Napoleon responds by announcing that the name "Animal Farm" has been abolished and the farm is henceforth to be known as "The Manor Farm"—its correct and original name. The green flag is changed to a plain green one, with the white hoof and horn removed. The animals outside the window look from pig to man and from man to pig, and find it impossible to say which is which. Foxwood, once a symbol of the oppressive human order the animals rebelled against, has become the mirror in which the pigs see their own reflection as indistinguishable from the humans they set out to overthrow.
