The sheep
The flock. They cannot learn the Seven Commandments, so Snowball reduces the whole of Animalism to one maxim for their benefit — and from then on the sheep are the loudest voice on the farm and the reliable way to end a discussion.
To have something to say, and to say it in unison. The maxim they are given is the only piece of the doctrine they can hold, and they use it on every occasion the farm offers.
The book
At a glance
- The farm's flock, treated throughout as a single voice
- None; they could not learn the Seven Commandments
- "Four legs good, two legs bad"
- Seven, under the laws agreed at the start
- Chapter I to the last chapter
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeThe sheep are catalogued here as a group because the book treats them as one. They lie down behind the pigs at Old Major's meeting and chew the cud through it; they are named among the stupider animals, along with the hens and the ducks, who cannot learn the Seven Commandments by heart.
That failure produces the most quoted line in the book. Snowball, after much thought, declares that the commandments can be reduced to a single maxim containing the essential principle of Animalism — "Four legs good, two legs bad" — and has it painted above them on the barn wall in bigger letters. The sheep develop a great liking for it. They lie in the field bleating it for hours on end and never grow tired of it.
What George Orwell does with them after that is arithmetic. Napoleon is described as especially successful at canvassing the sheep between meetings, and the sheep turn out to be especially liable to break into the maxim at crucial moments in Snowball's speeches. After the Sunday debates are abolished, after the announcement about trading with humans, and again after "Beasts of England" is banned, several minutes of bleating put an end to any chance of discussion. They are also the greatest devotees of the weekly Spontaneous Demonstration, and can be relied on to silence anyone who complains that it wastes time.
How the book draws them
- Why the maxim existsThe sheep, hens and ducks could not learn the Seven Commandments by heart. Snowball reduced them to "Four legs good, two legs bad" and had it inscribed on the end wall of the barn above the commandments, in bigger letters.
- What they do with itOnce they had it by heart they developed a great liking for it, and would lie in the field bleating it for hours on end, never growing tired of it.
- The timingThey took to bleating it in and out of season, and were especially liable to break into it at crucial moments in Snowball's speeches. Napoleon, who canvassed support between meetings rather than winning debates, was especially successful with them.
- What it endsDiscussion, every time. After the abolition of the Sunday Meetings, after the announcement about trade, and after the banning of "Beasts of England", a tremendous bleating goes on for several minutes and the moment for objecting passes. Once it lasted nearly a quarter of an hour.
- Other usesWhen the farm was down to chaff and mangels, a few selected animals — mostly sheep — were instructed to remark casually within the visiting solicitor's hearing that rations had been increased.
- In the confessionsOne sheep confessed to urinating in the drinking pool at Snowball's urging, and two others to murdering an old ram, a devoted follower of Napoleon, by chasing him round and round a bonfire while he was suffering from a cough. All three were killed on the spot.