Mr. Pilkington
Mr. Pilkington, the owner of Foxwood, is introduced as an easy-going gentleman farmer who spends most of his time fishing or hunting according to the season. His farm, which adjoins Animal Farm, is large, neglected, and old-fashioned, with overgrown woodland, worn-out pastures, and hedges in a disgraceful condition. He is on permanently bad terms with his neighbor Mr. Frederick of Pinchfield, a tough, shrewd man perpetually involved in lawsuits, and the two dislike each other so much that they find it difficult to come to any agreement, even in defense of their own interests.
Role in the Rebellion and Early Relations
When the Rebellion first succeeds, Pilkington and Frederick are both thoroughly frightened and anxious to prevent their own animals from learning too much about it. At first they pretend to laugh to scorn the idea of animals managing a farm for themselves, insisting that the whole thing would be over in a fortnight. They refuse to tolerate the name "Animal Farm," insisting on calling it the Manor Farm, and spread stories that the animals are perpetually fighting among themselves and rapidly starving to death. When time passes and the animals do not starve, Pilkington and Frederick change their tune and begin to talk of the terrible wickedness now flourishing on Animal Farm, claiming that the animals practice cannibalism, torture one another with red-hot horseshoes, and have their females in common. Pilkington joins Frederick in the first attempt to recapture the farm, sending half a dozen men from Foxwood to join Jones and his men in the attack that becomes the Battle of the Cowshed. During that battle, a stable-lad from Foxwood is struck on the skull by Boxer's iron-shod hoof and stretched lifeless in the mud.
Shifting Alliances and the Timber Negotiations
As Napoleon consolidates power, Pilkington becomes a player in the pigs' economic dealings. When Napoleon decides to sell a pile of well-seasoned timber that has been stacked in the yard for ten years, both Pilkington and Frederick are anxious to buy it. Napoleon hesitates between the two, and 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. For a time, Napoleon appears to favor Pilkington, entering into a regular agreement for the exchange of certain products between Animal Farm and Foxwood, and the animals, who distrust Pilkington as a human being, greatly prefer him to Frederick, whom they both fear and hate. However, Napoleon's seeming friendship with Pilkington is a ruse: throughout the whole period, Napoleon has really been in secret agreement with Frederick, and he sells the timber to Frederick for real five-pound notes, which turn out to be forgeries. When Frederick's men attack and destroy the windmill, the animals send four pigeons to Foxwood with a conciliatory message, hoping to re-establish good relations with Pilkington, but Pilkington's reply is a scrap of paper penciled with the words "Serves you right."
Final Reconciliation and the Banquet
Years later, after the windmill has been successfully completed and the farm has grown more prosperous, Pilkington is invited to Animal Farm for a tour of inspection. He expresses great admiration for everything he sees, especially the windmill, and that evening he joins Napoleon and half a dozen other farmers and eminent pigs for a banquet in the farmhouse. In his speech, Pilkington declares that a long period of mistrust and misunderstanding has come to an end, and that the existence of a farm owned and operated by pigs is no longer seen as abnormal. He praises the discipline and orderliness on Animal Farm, claiming that the lower animals there do more work and receive less food than any animals in the county, and he intends to introduce many of the same features on his own farm immediately. He toasts "To the prosperity of Animal Farm!" and Napoleon, gratified, leaves his place to clink his mug against Pilkington's. Later, after Napoleon announces that the farm's name has been changed back to Manor Farm, Pilkington and Napoleon each play an ace of spades simultaneously, sparking a violent quarrel. As the animals outside look through the window, they see that the faces of the pigs and the men have become indistinguishable, and it is impossible to say which is which.
