Name changed back to Manor Farm

Napoleon's announcement that Animal Farm would henceforth be known as "The Manor Farm" was the culminating act in a long process of ideological reversal. The name "Animal Farm" had been painted on the five-barred gate by Snowball himself on the morning after the Rebellion, replacing the old name "Manor Farm" as the first public declaration of the animals' independence. That original renaming had been a triumphant act: Snowball, the most literate of the pigs, took a brush between the knuckles of his trotter and painted out the human name, inscribing instead the new identity of the liberated community. The name "Animal Farm" became the rallying point for the entire enterprise, appearing on the green flag, in the songs, and in the hearts of the animals who believed they were building a new world. To abandon that name was to abandon the founding principle of the farm itself.

The Announcement and Its Context

The renaming was announced at a banquet held in the farmhouse, to which a deputation of neighbouring farmers had been invited. Napoleon, occupying the seat of honour at the head of the table, rose to speak after Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood had proposed a toast to the prosperity of Animal Farm. Napoleon corrected his host: the name "Animal Farm" had been abolished. Henceforward the farm was to be known as "The Manor Farm"—which, he believed, was its correct and original name. He then proposed his own toast: "To the prosperity of The Manor Farm!" The pigs and the farmers drank together, and the animals outside, peering through the window, saw the faces of the pigs and the men become indistinguishable. The renaming was not an isolated decision but the final step in a series of reversals that had systematically dismantled every symbol of the Rebellion. The green flag, which had once borne a white hoof and horn representing the future Republic of the Animals, had already been reduced to a plain green banner. The skull of Old Major, which had been set up on a stump at the foot of the flagstaff for the animals to file past in reverence, had been buried. The custom of addressing one another as "Comrade" had been suppressed. The name "Animal Farm" was the last remaining emblem of the revolutionary ideal, and its erasure completed the pigs' transformation into the very thing they had risen against.

The Erasure of Revolutionary Memory

The renaming was possible only because the collective memory of the Rebellion had been systematically weakened. Years had passed, and most of the animals who remembered the old days were dead. Muriel, Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher were gone. Jones himself had died in an inebriates' home. Snowball was forgotten, and Boxer was remembered only by the few who had known him. The younger animals had been born after the Rebellion or bought from other farms, and they knew the story only as a dim tradition passed on by word of mouth. The pigs had long since taken control of the farm's narrative, rewriting history to suit their purposes. They had abolished the singing of 'Beasts of England', the anthem of the Rebellion, on the grounds that the Rebellion was completed and the song no longer needed. They had altered the Seven Commandments on the wall, adding qualifying phrases that justified their privileges. The final renaming was the logical conclusion of this process: if the Rebellion could be erased from memory, its name could be erased from the gate.

The Significance of the Return to the Old Name

The return to "Manor Farm" was not merely a cosmetic change. It signalled the pigs' complete acceptance of the human system they had once vowed to destroy. The original name had been a declaration of difference: the animals were no longer property but masters of their own labour. The new name acknowledged that the farm was once again a conventional agricultural enterprise, owned and operated by a ruling class that exploited the labour of others. The pigs had already adopted human habits: they walked on their hind legs, carried whips, wore clothes, slept in beds, drank alcohol, and engaged in trade. They had bought themselves a wireless set, arranged to install a telephone, and taken out subscriptions to human newspapers. Napoleon himself was seen strolling in the farmhouse garden with a pipe in his mouth. The renaming made explicit what had long been implicit: the pigs had become indistinguishable from the human beings they had expelled. The animals outside the window, looking from pig to man and from man to pig, found it impossible to say which was which. The name "Manor Farm" was the final confirmation that the circle of betrayal was complete.