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GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government
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Animal Farm Summary 86705 Views
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Description:
We may not always agree with the government, but at least they aren't pigs. We mean that literally. Whether or not you think they're pigs in a figurative sense is your prerogative.
Transcript
- 00:04
Animal Farm, a la Shmoop. The name’s Napoleon – leader of the free
- 00:10
animal world, defender of animal justice, chief enlightener of the unenlightened, kisser
- 00:16
of babies, and overall good guy. My rise to glory begins with the death of
- 00:23
Old Major, a sort of “God pig” to whom I was always the “prophet of justice pig.”
- 00:29
When Old Major died, he told us animals to revolt against our owner and take rightful
Full Transcript
- 00:33
ownership over the farm as Leader Pig of All the Universe….
- 00:39
…ahem, I mean as equals in an animal utopia. And being equal is great and everything, but
- 00:46
let’s be honest here.
- 00:48
I mean, have you seen the horses? Those guys couldn’t lead a carrot into their own mouths,
- 00:52
let alone a revolution!
- 00:54
So we pigs took over, naturally.
- 00:57
We created seven commandments…
- 00:59
….which turned into a chant:
- 01:01
Four legs good. Two legs bad. Four legs good. Two legs bad. Four legs good. Two legs BAAAAAAAD!
- 01:09
Now, being a leader isn’t always smooth sailing. Sometimes, you have to fight for
- 01:14
what’s right.
- 01:17
Like when a whole bunch of farmers got together and tried to quash our rebellion. But we showed
- 01:21
them…
- 01:21
Especially me. But I didn’t get an “Animal Hero, first class” medal. Snowball did.
- 01:27
Snowball.
- 01:28
Sure, he was kind of smart. Between you and me, it was his idea to build a windmill. But
- 01:33
he never could have executed it as well as I could.
- 01:36
Which, you see, is why I peed on his plans and sic’ed my dogs on him when it came time
- 01:42
to vote for a leader. Because it was clear to everyone that I was meant to be lead.
- 01:48
Voting is silly! Why voice your opinion when the natural leader already knows what you
- 01:53
want?
- 01:54
…which is why I banned voting.
- 01:57
…and then built that windmill. Well, eventually the windmill collapsed because…
- 02:02
somebody might have missed a detail in the plan here or there. Whatever, that’s not
- 02:05
important.
- 02:06
What’s important is that animals started complaining, as though Animal Farm wasn’t
- 02:12
the best place ever!
- 02:15
…And when animals complain, that really puts a damper on my day. It’s like they
- 02:20
don’t even care how hard we worked to get here.
- 02:23
And when I find out they’re in cahoots with Snowball, or talking about the “good old
- 02:24
days” – when I find out they think that their ruler isn’t doing a good enough job….
- 02:28
…accidents happen.
- 02:32
So it was one of the rules of Animal Farm that you couldn’t kill another animal…so
- 02:36
what?
- 02:37
Sure, we’re all equal here, but I’m a natural-born leader. And you know how you
- 02:43
get to be a leader? Not by following rules, that’s for sure!
- 02:47
So when we pigs led the animals to victory against the humans yet again, I think we had
- 02:52
a right to celebrate.
- 02:52
We put on some clothes and got a little sloshed, because we deserved it.
- 02:55
…and because we had to keep leading Animal Farm, even in the hardest of times, we kept
- 02:55
having to drink and bundle up and live in the farmhouse. For the good of everyone.
- 02:55
So really, the moral of the story is: two legs good. Two legs best, for the good of
- 03:01
everyone.
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