Animal Farm Moses (a raven) Quotes

Moses (a raven)

Quote 1

The pigs had an even harder struggle to counteract the lies put about by Moses, the tame raven. Moses, who was Mr. Jones's especial pet, was a spy and a tale-bearer, but he was also a clever talker. He claimed to know of the existence of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to which all animals went when they died. It was situated somewhere up in the sky, a little distance beyond the clouds, Moses said. In Sugarcandy Mountain it was Sunday seven days a week, clover was in season all the year round, and lump sugar and linseed cake grew on the hedges. The animals hated Moses because he told tales and did no work, but some of them believed in Sugarcandy Mountain, and the pigs had to argue very hard to persuade them that there was no such place. (2.8)

Lump sugar and linseed cake? We want to go to there! But seriously: why are the pigs trying to convince the animals otherwise? Even if it's not true, there's no harm in believing it—right? Or is there?

Mrs. Jones looked out of the bedroom window, saw what was happening, hurriedly flung a few possessions into a carpet bag, and slipped out of the farm by another way. Moses sprang off his perch and flapped after her, croaking loudly. (2.12)

Without the Joneses around to feed him bread and beer, Moses has no reason to stay on the farm. It's not like the pigs are going to let him get away with lying to the animals and getting fed for doing nothing. Right? Well. Not at first.

Moses (a raven)

Quote 3

In the middle of the summer Moses the raven suddenly reappeared on the farm, after an absence of several years. He was quite unchanged, still did no work, and talked in the same strain as ever about Sugarcandy Mountain. He would perch on a stump, flap his black wings, and talk by the hour to anyone who would listen. "Up there, comrades," he would say solemnly, pointing to the sky with his large beak– "up there, just on the other side of that dark cloud that you can see– there it lies, Sugarcandy Mountain, that happy country where we poor animals shall rest for ever from our labours!" He even claimed to have been there on one of his higher flights, and to have seen the everlasting fields of clover and the linseed cake and lump sugar growing on the hedges. Many of the animals believed him. Their lives now, they reasoned, were hungry and laborious; was it not right and just that a better world should exist somewhere else? A thing that was difficult to determine was the attitude of the pigs towards Moses. They all declared contemptuously that his stories about Sugarcandy Mountain were lies, and yet they allowed him to remain on the farm, not working, with an allowance of a gill of beer a day. (9.8)

Weird. The pigs are still convinced that Moses is lying—but they also get why Jones kept him around. Turns out, it's fairly useful to have a talking raven convincing all your oppressed laborers that paradise is waiting for them on the other side if they just keep working hard enough. (You know, kind of like college is waiting for you after high school.)