ensconced on his bed of straw, under a lantern which hung from a beam. He was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut.

2. The three dogs and the pigs come in first and sit down right in front of Old Major, which shows that they are prompt and obedient:

First came the three dogs, Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher, and then the pigs, who settled down in the straw immediately in front of the platform.

3. The hens and pigeons come in and settle themselves in the places where they are most comfortable, showing that they are prompt and attentive, but perhaps less eager than the dogs and pigs:

The hens perched themselves on the window-sills, the pigeons fluttered up to the rafters…

4. The sheep and cows come stretch themselves out comfortably behind the pigs and chew their cud. This shows that, like the birds, they are perhaps ready to listen and follow orders, but perhaps they care a bit more about eating than doing so, and they aren’t quite as excited as the dogs or pigs:

… the sheep and cows lay down behind the pigs and began to chew the cud.

5. The horses come in as a pair, showing their friendship, and they sit down carefully so that they don’t hurt any of the tiny animals, showing their conscientious manners:

The two cart-horses, Boxer and Clover, came in together, walking very slowly and setting down their vast hairy hoofs with great care lest there should be some small animal concealed in the straw.

In particular, the narrator tells us directly that although the horse Boxer looks and is rather stupid, he’s actually very respected on the farm because of his good character and his hard work:

A white stripe down his nose gave him a somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact he was not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous powers of work.

6. Muriel, the goat, and Benjamin, the donkey come in next, and although we don’t see how they enter or where they sit, the narrator tells us directly that Benjamin has a bad attitude, that he’s very negative and serious, and that somehow he was still very good friends with Boxer:

Benjamin was the oldest animal on the farm, and the worst tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark—for instance, he would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies. Alone among the animals on the farm he never laughed. If asked why, he would say that he saw nothing to laugh at. Nevertheless, without openly admitting it, he was devoted to Boxer; the two of them usually spent their Sundays together in the small paddock beyond the orchard, grazing side by side and never speaking.

7. The ducklings wander in helplessly next, then get cozy and fall asleep, revealing how clueless and useless they are:

The two horses had just lain down when a brood of ducklings, which had lost their mother, filed into the barn, cheeping feebly and wandering from side to side to find some place where they would not be trodden on. Clover made a sort of wall round them with her great foreleg, and the ducklings nestled down inside it and promptly fell asleep.

8. Mollie, the mare, comes “mincing daintily in,” meaning she prances in, showing off. Right away she sits down in the front of the room and shows off her mane, which is decorated with fancy ribbons. She’s also enjoying a sugary treat. So, we can see that she’s self-indulgent, a show-off, someone who loves attention:

At the last moment Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare who drew Mr. Jones’s trap, came mincing daintily in, chewing at a lump of sugar. She took a place near the front and began flirting her white mane, hoping to draw attention to the red ribbons it was plaited with.

9. The last animal to come in is the cat, whose name we aren’t told; she looks for a warm place to sleep and ignores absolutely everything being discussed. She purrs, enjoying herself. So, we know that she is utterly uninterested in what Old Major has to say, nor does she care much about the farm as a whole.

Last of all came the cat, who looked round, as usual, for the warmest place, and finally squeezed herself in between Boxer and Clover; there she purred contentedly throughout Major’s speech without listening to a word of what he was saying.

10. Finally, one animal didn’t enter the barn at all. Moses, the raven, instead remains sleeping outside of the barn, revealing his total indifference to the other farm animals:

All the animals were now present except Moses, the tame raven, who slept on a perch behind the back door.

The dogs and pigs enter the barn at once and claim front-row seats, as their status demands. It is, after all, a pig they have come to hear. The birds, in sharp contrast, have the humility to accept a seat on the periphery: hens on the windowsills and pigeons in the rafters. This immediately establishes an order of precedence among the animals which is reinforced by the sheep and cows settling themselves behind the pigs. Clover and Boxer come in very carefully, checking to ensure that they are not harming any other creatures with their big hooves, emphasizing their protective, gentle natures.

The ducklings are lost and vulnerable, entering in a vague and purposeless manner that befits their youth and inexperience. Clover shows her motherly nature by protecting them. Mollie, the white mare shows her rather feckless nature by leaving her entry to the last moment and chewing a lump of sugar as she comes in. Finally, the cat demonstrates a selfish obsession with comfort by failing to listen at all and instead focusing on finding the warmest place to sit—despite having come in last.

In chapter 6 of Animal Farm, the animals are still firmly committed to making a success of the Animalist revolution. To this end, they're prepared to work incredibly hard, even if it brings them considerable hardship and suffering.

As well as working hard to produce more food, the animals toil long hours to build a windmill, which it is hoped will make the farm self-sufficient in energy. The animals are prepared to do this despite the fact that they're given less food to eat. In fact, they will receive no food at all if they refuse to work on Sundays.

Here, we can see an allegory of life under Stalin in the USSR. During the early years of his regime, Stalin embarked on an ambitious plan of mass-industrialization designed to help the Soviet Union catch up with the West. For the most part, the working people were strongly committed to making a success of this project even though there was a lot less food available thanks to the man-made famine caused by Stalin's collectivization policy.

By the time we reach chapter 7, the windmill, which the animals worked so hard to build has been wrecked by a powerful storm. But Napoleon insists that it was deliberately destroyed by Snowball, who apparently is committed to sabotaging the gains of the revolution. This is nonsense, of course, but Napoleon is determined to make a scapegoat of his arch-enemy in order to deflect attention from the failings of his regime.

Much the same thing happened in the USSR under Stalin. The program of mass-industrialization was beset by all manner of technical problems due largely to inadequate planning and over-ambitious targets. But instead of addressing those problems, the regime sought to put the blame on so-called wreckers and saboteurs, many of whom were accused of being supporters of Trotsky, Stalin's bitter enemy and the man upon whom the character of Snowball is based in Animal Farm.

An allegory is a story which has a deeper meaning. We can find many examples of allegory throughout Animal Farm. In Chapter Seven, Orwell uses allegory when Napoleon suddenly sets his guard dogs on four pigs. When Boxer intervenes, the "tumult" dies down, but the worst it yet to come:

The four pigs waited, trembling, with guilt written on every line of their countenances. Napoleon now called upon them to confess their crimes.

This scene is allegorical because Orwell uses it to represent the Stalinist Purges which took place in Soviet Russia between 1936 and 1938. In this bloody episode of history, Stalin (represented here by Napoleon) eradicated his enemies through a series of "elaborately staged show trials" which resulted in their deaths. (See the first reference link provided.) Just like the four pigs, these men had not really committed any crimes; they were simply victims of Stalin's paranoia.

In Chapter Eight, Orwell uses allegory to further reinforce his link between Napoleon and Stalin. The poem "Comrade Napoleon" is reminiscent of the Cult of Personality, which reached its peak in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. This cult transformed Stalin from an ordinary man into an "almighty leader and saviour of Russia" and helped to maintain his absolute power over the people. (See the second reference link provided.)

Although Animal Farm is a polemic against totalitarianism in general, as an allegory it sticks fairly closely to the events of the Russian Revolution. For Orwell's original audience, perhaps the first clear sign that the beast fable they are reading is an allegory of Soviet communism is Old Major's use of the word "comrades." This is a word that had become thoroughly associated with international socialism, and was liberally sprinkled through the literature of the movement. Following this signal, anyone who has even a rudimentary acquaintance with Marxism will recognize the old boar's speech as a distillation of The Communist Manifesto, with the animals taking the place of the proletariat.

Chapter 2 makes the allegory clearer and adds detail. Mr. Jones the farmer is not merely any member of the bourgeoisie to be overthrown. He is the Tsar of Russia, who still inspires loyalty in some of the animals. The tsar had not only a political role, but a special religious status, which gave him the backing of the Orthodox Church. The role of the church is played by Moses the Raven, with his tales of Sugarcandy Mountain, a myth which the rationalist pigs do not altogether manage to dispel. Chapter 2 contains the decisive act of Revolution itself, but ends with the disappearance of the milk, signifying that the corruption of the Revolution begins immediately.

I think that one of the most important things we learn about the pigs from the first two chapters is that they covet power and control.  They wish to be "in the middle of things."  The pigs sit in the front of Old Major's speech in the first chapter.  They are keenly hanging on every word he says in terms of articulation of his new dream of Animalism.  In the second chapter, the pigs are instrumental in sending out the message of Animalism.  They are willing to talk to any and every animal about the need to change and the ideas inherent in Animalism.  These two realities convey to the reader how politically active the pigs are.  They are not passive animals regarding change.  Rather, they are active and forceful in the process of change.  They understand that there is something within Old Major's message and if it can be harnessed amongst the animals, it can represent an entirely new way to perceive reality and to construct it.  For this reason, the pigs' zeal and enthusiasm regarding change has to be evident.  Even though the revolution starts outside of the pigs, it becomes clear that they will have a role in the new farm order that emerges from it.

The first chapter of Animal Farm centers on the elderly boar Old Major, who has summoned all the animals to a meeting. In a moving speech, Old Major explains how the animals' lives are full of labor and misery for the benefit of humans. He issues a call for the animals to work together to overthrow their oppressive human masters. This chapter also indicates to the reader that a hierarchy exists among the animals with the pigs at the top, the horses in the middle, and the rest of the animals at the bottom.

Chapter 2 begins with the burial of the recently deceased Old Major. Led by the pigs, meetings concerning a potential animal uprising become a regular occurrence on the farm. After Farmer Jones neglects to feed the animals, the cows break out of the barn and are joined by the other animals in a full-scale revolt. After the humans are expelled from the farm, the animals establish their revolutionary philosophy, which is spelled out by the Seven Commandments written prominently on the side of the barn. Now that they are in control of the place, the animals divide up the labor on the farm between themselves.

The third chapter opens after some time has passed. Now that they control the farm, there have been large and successful harvests. However, it isn't long before the other animals discover that the pigs, who have taken on a supervisory role, are giving themselves special treatment, such as adding milk and apples to their mash. Divisions among the animals are starting to show, with some doing more labor than others. There are also disagreements between the pigs, particularly between Snowball and Napoleon.

In chapter 4, the revolution begins spreading to other farms. Exiled Mr. Jones joins up with other farmers in an attempt to retake the farm. An intense battle ensues, but the animals are ultimately victorious.

Taken altogether, these chapters are meant to parallel the Communist Revolution in Russia. They particularly focus on the inception and spread of revolutionary ideas as well as set the stage for the internal divisions that threaten to destroy the revolution from within.