CHAPTER 9 SUMMARY
Wearily and weakly, the animals set about rebuilding the windmill.
Though Boxer remains seriously injured, he shows no sign of being in pain
and refuses to leave his work for even a day. Clover makes him a poultice
for his hoof, and he eventually does seem to improve, but his coat doesn’t
seem as shiny as before and his great strength seems slightly diminished.
He says that his only goal is to see the windmill off to a good start before
he retires. Though no animal has yet retired on Animal Farm, it had
previously been agreed that all horses could do so at the age of twelve.
Boxer now nears this age, and he looks forward to a comfortable life in the
pasture as a reward for his immense labors.
Food grows ever more scarce, and all animals receive reduced rations,
except for the pigs and the dogs. Squealer continues to produce statistics
proving that, even with this “readjustment,” the rations exceed those that
they received under Mr. Jones. After all, Squealer says, when the pigs and
dogs receive good nourishment, the whole community stands to benefit.
When four sows give birth to Napoleon’s piglets, thirty-one in all, Napoleon
commands that a schoolhouse be built for their education, despite the
farm’s dwindling funds. Napoleon begins ordering events called
Spontaneous Demonstrations, at which the animals march around the
farm, listen to speeches, and exult in the glory of Animal Farm. When other
animals complain, the sheep, who love these Spontaneous
Demonstrations, drown them out with chants of “Four legs good, two legs
bad!”
In April, the government declares Animal Farm a republic, and Napoleon
becomes president in a unanimous vote, having been the only candidate.
The same day, the leadership reveals new discoveries about Snowball’s
complicity with Jones at the Battle of the Cowshed. It now appears that
Snowball actually fought openly on Jones’s side and cried “Long live
Humanity!” at the outset of the fight. The battle took place so long ago, and
seems so distant, that the animals placidly accept this new story. Around
the same time, Moses the raven returns to the farm and once again begins
spreading his stories about Sugarcandy Mountain. Though the pigs
officially denounce these stories, as they did at the outset of their
administration, they nonetheless allow Moses to live on the farm without
requiring him to work.
One day, Boxer’s strength fails; he collapses while pulling stone for the
windmill. The other animals rush to tell Squealer, while Benjamin and
Clover stay near their friend. The pigs announce that they will arrange to
bring Boxer to a human hospital to recuperate, but when the cart arrives,
Benjamin reads the writing on the cart’s sideboards and announces that
Boxer is being sent to a glue maker to be slaughtered. The animals panic
and begin crying out to Boxer that he must escape. They hear him kicking
feebly inside the cart, but he is unable to get out.
Soon Squealer announces that the doctors could not cure Boxer: he has
died at the hospital. He claims to have been at the great horse’s side as he
died and calls it the most moving sight he has ever seen—he says that
Boxer died praising the glories of Animal Farm. Squealer denounces the
false rumors that Boxer was taken to a glue factory, saying that the hospital
had simply bought the cart from a glue maker and had failed to paint over
the lettering. The animals heave a sigh of relief at this news, and when
Napoleon gives a great speech in praise of Boxer, they feel completely
soothed.
Not long after the speech, the farmhouse receives a delivery from the
grocer, and sounds of revelry erupt from within. The animals murmur
among themselves that the pigs have found the money to buy another
crate of whisky—though no one knows where they found the money.