In Animal Farm, how do the Sunday morning meetings change over time?
When the Sunday morning meetings begin, they function as a celebration of the Rebellion and the overthrowing of Mr Jones. They also have a practical purpose in that they enable a discussion of any pressing issues and the preparation of the next week's work. They are not, however, wholly democratic: in fact, only the pigs ever put forward a resolution, as the reader learns in Chapter Three. The meetings always close with a rendition of Beasts of England and the rest of the day is set aside for recreation.
By Chapter Five, however, the Sunday morning meetings are changed considerably. After a discussion over the windmill, Napoleon uses unprecedented violence to oust Snowball from the farm and he puts an end to any future meetings. From this point on, all decisions are to be made in private by the pigs and without any input from the other animals.
Evidently, Napoleon...
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feels that the Sunday morning meetings represent a threat to his authority. In this respect, the end of the Sunday morning meetings is symbolic of Napoleon's transformation from a leader into a dictator.
What events took place on Sundays in Animal Farm?
There are several significant events that take place on Sunday in Orwell's classic novel Animal Farm. In chapter two, Mr. Jones stays out late drinking on Saturday night and forgets to feed the animals the next day. On Sunday, the starving animals break into the store shed to eat, which prompts Mr. Jones and his men to attack the animals with whips. The animals then rebel against the humans and successfully drive them from the farm.
Following the Rebellion, the animals assemble every Sunday, discussing policy issues, debating, and voting to forward various resolutions. The Sunday general assembly is referred to as the "Meeting" and is initially a cornerstone of their egalitarian society.
The most significant event that takes place on Sunday happens in chapter five during their weekly assembly. While Snowball is giving a passionate speech regarding the construction of a windmill, Napoleon signals his nine ferocious dogs to attack Snowball on the platform. The vicious dogs chase Snowball off the farm, and Napoleon proceeds to usurp power. Napoleon's first order of business is to put an end to the Sunday meetings and simply give the other animals their weekly orders instead. Napoleon establishes his dictatorship on Sunday and proceeds to rule over the farm as a tyrant.
In Animal Farm, what events typically occur on Sundays?
Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest for the farm animals. Ominously, however, it's also a day of devotion to the cause of Animalism, a time for the animals to come together and reaffirm their commitment to the revolution and its principles. As those principles prove to be very flexible, determined largely by the selfish needs of Napoleon and his gang, Sundays come to symbolize the betrayal of Old Major's ideas.
Once Snowball has been chased from the farm by Napoleon's dogs, Sunday mornings take on an altogether more sinister character. From now on, the animals won't just gather together, salute the flag and sing "Beasts of England"—they'll be given their orders by a self-appointed committee of pigs. The previously carnivalesque atmosphere of Sundays has gone forever, completely replaced by propaganda and control. The rapid change in the whole nature of Sundays represents in microcosm what has happened to the Animalist revolution in general; they've both been hijacked by Napoleon and the other pigs.
Immediately after the revolt, the Sundays are indeed a day of rest as well as a day of propaganda, in that they sing “Beasts of England,” and some learn to read, and so-called committees pretend to convene. Soon, however, this goal of the revolution collapses in the pigs’ effort to reach production goals. Animals begin working on Sunday by Chapter 6 to meet a 60 hour work week. Soon after that, the new baby pigs get to “dress up” on Sundays by wearing ribbons on their tails, signifying the growing transformation of the pigs into to humans. And so life becomes more and more as life was during the days of Manor Farm: the animals work, and the pigs, now becoming human, dress up and relax. The change of activities on Sundays is significant to the meaning of the novel.