Chapter 2 (by Kyle)

This chapter was very important because it set up the majority of the plot and established some important key points. Obviously the animals decide to take on the ideas of Major, who died, and use those ideas to essentially create a powerful society, which leads me to my first argument. The animals all see humans as the enemy, and because of this, their mini-society was created with anti-human ideas in mind; they burnt everything that reminded them of the evilness of man, they created seven commandments that were against human ways, etc. The fact of the matter is, they are doing very human things; they haved organized their society almost exactly like humans would. Like humans, the animals created basic guidelines which every animal must follow. In our world, we have laws that every single citizen is to live by. The animals have picked up on the English language, which again, is a human language. They even have what could be considered a national anthem, "The Beasts of England". The animals may have chosen not to follow what the human do, but rather, they chose to follow how they do things. This is a concept I believe is important to understand as we go along reading this novel. After all, how else would the animals create a society? They unknowingly picked up on human ideas over the years and have applied them to their lives. Another thing I have noticed as I read this chapter is how the plot and the characters in Animal Farm relate to the real live events and people involved in the Soviet Union during the time period it was written (1946). It seems like certain animals such as Snowball and Napoleon are taking complete charge over everyone else and what they do, just like what would happen in a Communist country like the Soviet Union where Joseph Stalin ruled. As I get farther into the novel, I plan on doing some more research on the Soviet Union during this time period in order to get a better idea of the historical background of Animal Farm so it will be easier to connect it with the story. That way, it will be easier for me to comprehend the points Orwell is trying to get across to readers in this novel. I think Major may represent some Russian Revolution figure such as Vladimir Lenin because he was the one who created the ideas that Napoleon and Snowball would later use to organize the Animal Farm. One last thing I want to know is what happened to the milk mentioned at the end of the chapter? I can't wait to read and find out!