Discussion Topic
Milk and Apples Symbolism and Fate in Animal Farm
Summary:
In George Orwell's Animal Farm, milk and apples symbolize the pigs' exploitation and privilege, mirroring the corruption of Soviet communist elites. Initially promised to be shared among all animals, these luxuries are reserved for the pigs, who justify their consumption by claiming it's necessary for their leadership roles. This reflects the betrayal of revolutionary ideals, as the pigs, like Stalin's regime, prioritize their comfort over the collective good, echoing the pre-revolutionary oppression they sought to escape.
What do the milk and apples symbolize in Animal Farm?
In Animal Farm, the milk and apples symbolize the unfairness of the system that the pigs run. In a larger sense, the milk and apples symbolize the graft that the communist party elite, including Stalin, carried out in the Soviet Union.
In Chapter 3, the animals learn that the pigs take the farm's milk and fallen apples to combine in their food each day. The other animals had thought that the farm's provisions were to be shared equally, and they object. Squealer, sent by the other pigs to explain why the pigs get better provisions, says:
"You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health" (page 14).
Squealer says that the pigs dislike...
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this better food, but they make a sacrifice to eat milk and apples because they are the "brainworkers" and are essential to organizing and managing the farm. He also says that the pigs need this richer, better food because the whole farm depends on them. In addition, Squealer does not hesitate to remind the animals that they don't want Jones to return; he mentions Jones's name so that the animals stop complaining about the pigs when they recall how much they hated the old days. This is a reference to the tendency of the communist elite to justify their receiving more perks than other people and to distract people from this unfairness by referring to the injustices of the old system of the czars.
In Animal Farm by George Orwell, where did the milk and apples go?
The first item which disappeared was the milk. Soon after the Rebellion, the cows' udders were filled to bursting point since they had not been milked for some time and when they had finally been relieved of their load, there were five buckets of creamy milk.
But at this moment the three cows, who had seemed uneasy for some time past, set up a loud lowing. They had not been milked for twenty-four hours, and their udders were almost bursting. After a little thought, the pigs sent for buckets and milked the cows fairly successfully, their trotters being well adapted to this task. Soon there were five buckets of frothing creamy milk at which many of the animals looked with considerable interest.
The animals were quite interested in the milk and wondered what was going to be done with it. Snowball told them not to worry about it for it would be taken care of. When they returned from the harvest that evening, they saw that the milk had disappeared.
The mystery was later cleared up when it was discovered that the milk was mixed into the pigs' mash every day.
It was also about this time that the early apples were ripening and there were windfall apples spread all around. The apples were claimed by the pigs and they were taken to the harness room for their exclusive use. The animals had assumed that these would be shared equally amongst them and some of the animals moaned about this. Their complaints went unheard for all the senior pigs were in agreement that the apples should be reserved for their exclusive use.
Snowball was sent around to explain this to the other animals and he cleverly informed them that the pigs needed the animals for brain food so that they could manage the farm properly for, if they did not, Jones would return. Obviously, none of the animals wanted this to happen and all complaints stopped.
These two events clearly indicate how the pigs could (and would) manipulate the other animals with lies and misleading information. Since they were not intelligent enough to challenge these stories, the other animals submitted to the pigs' authority. This gave the pigs the ideal opportunity to create even greater privileges for themselves at the cost of the others - a situation similar to the one these animals (except of course, the pigs) found themselves in before the Rebellion.