Renaming to Animal Farm

The renaming of Manor Farm to Animal Farm was the first and most decisive symbolic act of the Rebellion, transforming a piece of property into a political entity and laying the groundwork for the new society the animals intended to build. Carried out within hours of Mr. Jones's expulsion, the act was both practical and ideological: it erased the old regime's name and replaced it with one that proclaimed the animals' ownership and their revolutionary principles.

The Act of Renaming

Immediately after the animals had driven Mr. Jones and his men from the farm and destroyed the instruments of their oppression—bits, nose-rings, dog-chains, and whips were all flung down the well or onto a rubbish fire—Snowball and Napoleon turned to the task of renaming. Napoleon sent for pots of black and white paint and led the way down to the five-barred gate that gave onto the main road. Snowball, who was the best writer among the pigs, took a brush between the two knuckles of his trotter and painted out "MANOR FARM" from the top bar of the gate. In its place he painted "ANIMAL FARM." This was to be the name of the farm from now onwards. The act was swift and public, performed at the very boundary of the farm where the name would be seen by anyone passing on the main road.

The Seven Commandments and the New Law

Immediately after the renaming, the pigs revealed that during the past three months they had taught themselves to read and write from an old spelling book that had belonged to Mr. Jones's children and had been thrown on the rubbish heap. They had succeeded in reducing the principles of Animalism to Seven Commandments, which would form an unalterable law by which all the animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after. Snowball climbed a ladder set against the end wall of the big barn, with Squealer a few rungs below him holding the paint-pot, and inscribed the Commandments on the tarred wall in great white letters that could be read thirty yards away. The Commandments began with "Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy" and ended with "All animals are equal." Snowball read them aloud for the benefit of the others, and all the animals nodded in complete agreement. The cleverer ones at once began to learn the Commandments by heart.

The Name as a Symbol of the New Order

The name "Animal Farm" became the rallying point for the animals' identity and pride. It was the name under which they fought the Battle of the Cowshed, when Mr. Jones and his men attempted to recapture the farm. The human beings who opposed them refused to tolerate the name, insisting on calling it the Manor Farm, but the animals held fast to their new designation. The name was also the banner under which Snowball and Napoleon sent out flights of pigeons to spread the story of the Rebellion and teach the tune of 'Beasts of England' to animals on neighbouring farms. For the animals, the name signified that they were no longer property but proprietors, and that the farm was theirs—every inch of it their own property.

The Name's Endurance and Final Abolition

For years, the name Animal Farm endured as the official designation of the community, even as the principles of the Rebellion were gradually eroded. The pigs moved into the farmhouse, the Commandments were quietly altered, and the pigs began to walk on their hind legs and carry whips. Yet the name remained. It was only at the very end of the story, when Napoleon hosted a dinner for the neighbouring farmers and declared that all misunderstandings were at an end, that he announced the name "Animal Farm" had been abolished. Henceforward the farm was to be known as "The Manor Farm"—which, he said, was its correct and original name. The green flag from which the white hoof and horn had been removed would now be a plain green flag. The final renaming completed the circle: the farm had returned to its original name, and the pigs had become indistinguishable from the human beings they had overthrown.