The four young porkers
The only pigs who ever object out loud. When Napoleon abolishes the Sunday-morning debates they utter shrill squeals of disapproval from the front row and all four spring up and try to speak at once, and the dogs growl them back into their seats.
The book
At a glance
- Four young pigs on Animal Farm, never named and never described
- A pig raised for meat; every male pig on the farm except Napoleon and Snowball was one
- The front row of the barn at the Sunday assemblies
- Objected out loud when the Sunday debates were abolished — the only pigs in the book who do
- Chapters V and VII
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeThese four are never named and never described. What the book establishes about them is their class: apart from Napoleon and Snowball, the two young boars who lead the Rebellion, every male pig on the farm was a porker, meaning an animal being raised for meat rather than for breeding. The four sit in the front row of the barn, and they are the only pigs in the story who ever contradict Napoleon where anyone can hear.
The moment comes in Chapter V. Snowball has been driven off the farm by Napoleon's dogs, and Napoleon announces from the raised platform that the Sunday-morning meetings are finished: they waste time, and in future a private committee of pigs presided over by himself will settle everything. The animals are dismayed. George Orwell says several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments, and shows Boxer, the cart-horse, setting his ears back and shaking his forelock and failing to think of anything to say. Some of the pigs, he writes, were more articulate. Four young porkers in the front row squeal their disapproval and all four spring to their feet and begin speaking at once. The dogs round Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls; the four sit down again; and the sheep bleat "Four legs good, two legs bad" for nearly a quarter of an hour, which ends any chance of discussion.
Two chapters later Squealer, the pig who does Napoleon's explaining for him, goes round the farm warning every animal to keep his eyes open, because Snowball's secret agents are thought to be among them. Four days after that Napoleon calls everyone into the yard, wearing both the medals he has awarded himself, and utters a high-pitched whimper. The dogs seize four pigs by the ear and drag them to his feet. Orwell then tells the reader who they are: the same four pigs as had protested when Napoleon abolished the Sunday Meetings.
How the book draws them
- What a porker isA pig raised for meat rather than breeding. The book states in Chapter II that every male pig on the farm except Napoleon and Snowball was one, and that is the whole of what it establishes about these four beyond their age and their seats.
- The interruptionShrill squeals of disapproval from the front row at the moment the Sunday debates are abolished, and all four springing to their feet and trying to speak at the same time. The book calls them more articulate than the rest of the animals, several of whom would have protested if they could have found the right arguments.
- What silenced themTwo things in succession. The dogs sitting round Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the four fell silent and sat down; then the sheep broke into their maxim and kept it up for nearly a quarter of an hour.
- SeizedAt a high-pitched whimper from Napoleon the dogs bound forward, take four pigs by the ear, and drag them squealing with pain and terror to his feet. Their ears are bleeding. The dogs have tasted blood and for a few moments appear to go quite mad.
- WaitingThe tumult dies down and the four wait, trembling, with guilt written on every line of their countenances. They are asked to confess and need no further prompting.
- The confessionThat they had been secretly in touch with Snowball ever since his expulsion, that they had helped him destroy the windmill, and that they had agreed to hand Animal Farm over to Mr Frederick of Pinchfield. They add that Snowball had privately admitted to them that he had been Mr Jones's secret agent for years past.