Chapter+7

= Chapter 7  =

**__Summary __**
**In Chapter 7, the farm is struggling with starvation, and Napoleon accepts a contract from Whymper for four hundred hen eggs per week to solve the problem, but this caused nine of the hens to die. The animals are then led to believe that Snowball sneaks into the farm each night and vandalizes the farm in different ways, and Squealer announces to everyone that Snowball sold himself to Frederick and was in alliance with Jones the whole time. Later, Napoleon calls a meeting and has everyone who has questioned him in the past confess to a crime, causing them to be killed by the dogs, and it turns out a lot of animals confessed to crimes that were blamed on Snowball. The animals who are left begin to sing "Beasts of England" for some hope, but then they find out Napoleon has abolished, and Minimus writes a new song in which the animals do not feel is as meaningful.**

**__Patterns and Changes __**

 * **"The Beasts of England" has now been abolished by Napoleon. Minimus, the poet, was told to write another song to be sung every Sunday morning. The animals were not pleased with this. **

**__Chapter Parallels to History __**

 * **The Chapter begins with the acknowledgment that all the animals were dying of famine and disease, and that they were continually fighting amongst themselves and had resorted to cannibalism and infanticide (85). This description is linked to the Soviet Union's failing economy. The people of the Soviet Union were dying from starvation and disease and just like Napoleon, Stalin had no solution. The description also mentions the fact that the animals had resorted to cannibalism, this presents the idea that Russia was had many internal struggles within the economy. **
 * **Throughout Chapter 7, Napoleon and Squealer persistently suggest that Snowball is the cause for all of their problems. Both of the pigs are attempting to hide the fact that Napoleon is the problem by integrating Snowball into the mix. This is directly related to how Stalin tried to blame all of Russia's problems on Leon Trotsky. Even after Trotsky was exiled, as was Snowball, Stalin proceeds to put all of the country's problems on Trotsky, knowing that with the right supporting facts, the people would soon fall victim to the idea. **
 * **On pages 92-93, Napoleon holds a farm meeting where many of the animals, including three pigs, confess to be in relations with Snowball. The pigs are killed after their admissions of guilt, along with three hens, a goose, and three sheep. This execution assembly represents the Moscow Trials and The Great Purge. This was "Stalin’s widespread campaign to suppress any and all dissent in the Soviet Union." Stalin’s intent on this is to purge anyone who may not be in compliance with him, as well as to form a common enemy. Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev were the chief defendants of the first trial in the Moscow Trials, in which everyone was sentenced to deatha nd executed. "The Soviet population became terrified of execution and internment..." Compared to the book, the animals respond to this purge with "fear and disillusionment." **

**__Important Quotes __**

 * **On page 90, Squealer proceeds to say when speaking to Boxer, "Jones's shot only grazed him. I could show you this in his own writing, if you were able to read it." **
 * **This quote is an example of how the Russian Newspapers and propaganda were able to sway the opinions of the working class into favoring the government because of a lack of knowledge contained by the working class. Stalin took complete advantage of the fact that his working class was easily swayed because they had no one else to believe. Squealer was easily able to convince Boxer that snowball was the culprit to all of the farm's problems because Boxer was not able to read so there was no need for Squealer to show him documents that never existed. This is alike the Russian people because Stalin was able to say whatever he wanted without any question from the people because they did not know any better. **

[[image:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Bq5v8T4ediQ/S0vXcbmHxQI/AAAAAAAAAdI/d3YBQdw-PLs/s400/Animal+Farm.jpg width="313" height="213" caption="Squealer "]]

 * **"In January food fell short...For days at a time the animals had nothing to eat ... Starvation seemed to stare them in the face." (74) **
 * **Stalin’s vaunted Five-Year Plans, in 1928, for agriculture resulted in the starvation of millions of people, and industrial production lagged. This relates to the farm because Napoleon's plans and rations never really helped the animals, but only deprived them of food. **


 * **"It was vitally necessary to conceal this fact from the outside world."(74) **
 * **Stalin wanted to keep the fact that his nation was starving, because he did not want to seem weak to the other countries. This is a direct parallel because Napoleon goes out of his way to show Whymper that everything is fine in Animal Farm and that no starvation was taking place. **


 * **"Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball." (78) **
 * **This extremely important because when Trotsky was exiled from Russia, Stalin contiued to make everyone believe that Trotsky was still plotting against Russia. **


 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">"Napoleon now called upon [the animals] to confess their crimes." (83) **
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">This relates to The Great Purge, which was a series of campaigns orchestrated by ﻿Stalin﻿ in 1936–1938. It involved a large-scale widespread suspicion of "saboteurs", imprisonment, and executions. Napoleon calls forth all animals to confess to their crimes. Once they have confessed, they are then executed. **


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">**"Our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, has stated categorically...that Snowball was Jones's agent from the very beginning--yes, and from long before the Rebellion was ever thought of." (91)**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">**This represents back in 1929 when Stalin declared Trotsky a traitor during the Revolution because initially, Trotsky agreed on Stalin's promotion as Party General Secretary, yet Trotsky thought of him as "** **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 15px;">a man with a callous disregard for human life and ambitions to ally himself with Hitler." Stalin then kicked Trotsky out of the Soviet Union. Trotsky started a new life with his family in Mexico, but Stalin first came to him new home and, with help, threw grenades at it. **

[|Trotsky: a biography] [|Animal Farm Overview]