Animal Farm - Thug Notes Summary and Analysis 

My personal favorite point to take from Animal Farm is how Boxer is treated. He is loyal, works harder than anyone, an inspiration to others. He works so hard he is crippled, and he is assured he will go to his just reward. That reward? The glue factory. Those in power will use you up and if they can get a couple pennies for your corpse they'll do that too.

Thug notes back at it again saving my English grade

R.I.P. Boxer.. i feel the pain to this day.

"four legs good, two legs bad"

"The flags maybe different, but the methods are the same" - Victor Reznov

Revolution ends where it begins. Wow

"Orwell droppin' some mad allegory"

He really makes it clear that a lack of education and critical thinking is part of why the pigs gained ultimate power over the animals. Only a few animals could read. Boxer tried, but wasn't able to and was more interested in loyalty to the cause. The sheep represented patriotism, to me. Shouting over all the other animals when they made any attempt at dissent. Benjamin could read and understood what was happening, but he wouldn't take a stand and in the end lost one of his best friends. All the animals just accept it when the pigs tell them they're basically too stupid to remember what really happened or what was when the commandments are changed. I saw a lot of similarities between the animals and things here in the U.S.

In less than five minutes, you've explained everything that my English teacher took five weeks to say. I can't believe I haven't heard of you sooner!!

These reviews are so much funnier if you've read the book

"Pig Brother is watching you." Sums up Animal Farm and 1984 in a few words.

This story goes deeper. It isn't just about communism. It's about human nature in general and how a corrupt governing body will always take charge and enslave their fellow man.

Plot twist: Major foresaw everything that would happen, and started the revolt so that his fellow pigs could be in control.

Surprised you didn't mention the Donkey and his cryptic message "Donkeys live a long time". Pretty sure that means something like this had happened before and that revolution is an endless cycle.

Moral of the story: the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I swear, if I pass my English Literature GCSE next year, with help from this; I'll buy a Thug t-shirt.

I'm surprised that the crow Moses and it's representation of religion in the USSR is never mentioned.

I did not expect this to be helpful, but I think it just increased my understanding of Animal Farm fivefold.

i dont even have a paper due or anything i just rather watch this than read books😂

As a teenager, I have to say that this account is such a great idea! A lot of the other kids in my school would never read books like this, but when I showed them this video they were entertained and incredibly excited to read the book! The analysis and summary of the books are well thought out, and introduce concepts that many high school students don't really learn in high school. The mix of pop culture (thug) and academia (notes) is very well done. The comedy is not distracting from the important motifs and themes that are so thoroughly explained. Honestly, I have to be grateful that youtube gives the opportunity for talented people like Wisecrack to do such amazing things and provide amazing educational material that teenagers will actually enjoy watching. I am actually very disappointed by some of these comments made by teachers, who clearly don't understand that this is what teenagers are entertained by. Btw, I'd love to see some Jane Austen up in here, G.

That revolution bit at the end just blew my mind o_O

when you put a revolution as something ending where it began i just sat their for 30 seconds letting that sink in

Do Fight Club. you could go into analysis about it's criticism of consumerism in it's time and masculine insecurity the narrator faces.

I think I vaguely remember an animated movie based on this book. If my memory serves, it much darker than the book. Like when Snowball was chased off the farm, you hear him making panicked squeals not long after he goes off-screen, and you see a crow watching. Which seems to hint that he was brutally killed by the dogs. In fact, I think the crow appears every time someone dies/gets killed. And I think the movie ended with the other animals rebelling against the pigs and their "more equal" status and I think the crow appears in that scene too.

Little known fact: Karl Marx predicted exactly this, 26 years before Lenin was even born. This is what he said would happen if people tried to skip economic development by jumping straight to communal ownership while still under capitalism: ”The category of the worker is not done away with, but extended to all men. The relationship of private property persists as the relationship of the community to the world of things. Finally, this movement of opposing universal private property to private property finds expression in the brutish form of opposing to marriage (certainly a form of exclusive private property) the community of women, in which a woman becomes a piece of communal and common property. It may be said that this idea of the community of women gives away the secret of this as yet completely crude and thoughtless communism. Just as woman passes from marriage to general prostitution, so the entire world of wealth (that is, of man’s objective substance) passes from the relationship of exclusive marriage with the owner of private property to a state of universal prostitution with the community. This type of communism-since it negates the personality of man in every sphere-is but the logical expression of private property, which is this negation. General envy constituting itself as a power is the disguise in which greed re-establishes itself and satisfies itself, only in another way. The thought of every piece of private property as such is at least turned against wealthier private property in the form of envy and the urge to reduce things to a common level, so that this envy and urge even constitute the essence of competition. Crude communism is only the culmination of this envy and of this levelling-down proceeding from the preconceived minimum. It has a definite, limited, standard. How little this annulment of private property is really an appropriation is in fact proved by the abstract negation of the entire world of culture and civilisation, the regression to the unnatural simplicity of the poor and crude man who has few needs and who has not only failed to go beyond private property, but has not yet even reached it. The community is only a community of labour, and equality of wages paid out by communal capital-by the community as the universal capitalist. Both sides of the relationship are raised to an imagined universality-labour as the category in which every person is placed, and capital as the acknowledged universality and power of the community.” -- Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 In other words, you cannot end the capitalist mode of production by banning private property. Ideology is not what determines the dominant mode of production. Technology is. Trying to ban private property only changes the owners from private capitalists to the state, which exploits labor on the national level. In other words, state capitalism.

People in the comments acting as if Orwell wasn’t the original Trotsky fanboy

Just want to let it out after reading it. I know many stories about bosses nowadays who just like those pigs in Animal Farm. They promise the life will be better and "both of us aim to a noble goals", and the employees work for themselves. But the bosses keep getting richer but the working conditions of the employees stay the same. Every "improvement" is not for the sake of being more productive in order to make the working life easier, but just to have time to milk for more work. I have heard so much in the media lately about a quote of some rich presidence, that "if you want to be poor, don't bother and rest at home at the weekend" and it makes me so mad. That the minimum salary is not enough for pay the bills, only enough when you work overtime. It's scary. Not only about politic, but everytime when you have power and greed at hand.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman, please.

The irony is PRAVDA mean TRUTH.

These are spectacular. To concisely summarize legendary works of literature using language that everyone can easily understand is a rare skill. Outstanding.

When I had to read this in highschool it just made me really depressed

"A revolution ending where it began" holy shit that's deep... And... True! For the US at least. Maybe. I don't know about other countries like Panama, South Africa, India, etc.

many interpret this book as communism=bad capitalism=good but in reality the situations and flaws can also be applied to capitalist societies as well. while reading i was able to draw parallels with the american government.

Man I haven't thought about Thug Notes in years. Bring these back! They were amazing!

I was thinking about Boxer the horse who worked so hard that he ended up hurting himself and was taken to the 'vet.' You learn that he was actually sent to the glue factory. That made me think that Boxer representing the working man had to work past their breaking point to keep things together. Like how glue does. It might just be coincidence but it makes sense.

“Wut it dew, comrades?!” 🤣 my new greeting to everybody I see!

As an English teacher, I love this. I just wish it didn't have cussing in it so I could show this to my middle school students.

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I HAD A PAPER ON THIS 8 YEARS AGO!?

I know it sounds stupid, but am I the only person who sees a similarity between Animal Farm and 1984

I grew up in the hood and hate how in college I'm suppose to act like a white dude from the suburbs, i will not conform you can still be a thug and be smart! Thanks thug notes!

One point I love is how Major said that Boxer what not work to his death under Animalism like he would under Jones ,but thats exactly what would happen under Napoleon

0:13 "We going HAM with Animal Farm" I see what you did there

This book is now more relevant than ever.

We are currently reading this in school.

Perfect, like an essay

The revolution thing blew my mind o.o

i literally own or read EVERY book this guy has reviewed

The analysis is legit and the whole video is entertaining, please keep them coming.

I'm so torn. On one hand this would be great to introduce my 10th grade class to animal farm. On the other, if my department head hears the language you use, and that I allowed it, the animals in animal farm, won't be the only things getting f&%$#@d.

This video got me an A in my English Literature exam

Anyone else doing this for their GCSE's? (English highschool exams)

I would hate to be bitten by you, but you are awesome at analyzing books.

How did I survive this long thinking Animal Farm is a nonfiction book detailing how meat is made?

I had to read this book in the 9th grade for English. I was a hot blooded kid, given to exercise my anger into some very complex, deep, and thorough essays. I always scored high but when I got to this book and I started reading it, it kick started a kind of self revolution between my temper and my reason. While I appreciate the book and its ability to maintain its relevance since its publishing, I have one issue with it, the one character which to this day may be the character I hate most in literature. Benjamin the fucking Donkey. When I first read the book I hated it, but failed to adequately articulate why I was so angry and depressed by it. So I read it again, crushing through the book, crying when Boxer... well... you know, and generally despising Napoleon and every single character that allowed him to run the farm. Still I couldn't quite figure it out. It took me that third read through for me to finally realize that it was Benjamin. Fucking. God. Damn. Benjamin. That. Fucking. Piece. Of. Shit. Donkey. This cynic did nothing, contributed nothing, but reminded us that as the smartest animal on the farm, inaction and apathy foster the greatest breed of contempt. A man who is happy to let the world pass him by without fighting injustice, without opposing the harshness, contributes to the death ever still. A tyrant is a man who is evil because through conditioning or birth he knows only evil. A Good Man may be tempted and falter, but through conviction alone he can remain Good. But a neutral man... one not who knows no better, but who understands Virtue and Vice and does NOTHING, is as much a detriment to society as is the wicked. He was the one who could read. He was the one who knew that they where changing their constitution, he was the one who knew what had happened to Snowball. HE WAS THE ONE WHO KNEW WHAT IT MEANT WHEN BAXTER WAS GOING TO THE "VET". He did NOTHING. A Greedy pig with cruelty and malice in his heart offends me less then a GODLESS PIECE OF SHIT DONKEY who failed to resemble, even for a moment, a decent individual. Fuck that Donkey. Burn in Hell Benjamin. Burn in fucking Hell. BTW I never really did get over my temper.

Hey, Can you do one for Dracula (The original novel)

I stumbled upon this segment (I think the first one I watched was the Gatsby video) after waking up at 2am. It is now 4:16 and I can't stop watching them 😂 I love the accurate ass, succinct summarization of all of these books. Especially while my boyfriend I've read them to is laughing in the background saying "would have taken way less time and effort if you'd have just been played me these"

I wish they had this 25 years ago when I read the book LOL but I got an A! :P

“Man serves the interest of no creature except himself” (21).

At one point the hens were forced to hand over their eggs to market by order of napoleon but sat on the highest roost and sacrificed alp the eggs they could lay instead and got sentenced to death afterwards when the 6th commandment was altered

Thank you so much for doing these videos! You have really sparked my interest in the classics. I'm learning to really appreciate the lessons that are hidden in these stories that I took for granted in high school. Please don't stop anytime soon!

Do Twilight......lol (sorry people :P)

Funny Karl Marx talking about how the poor working class feels like animals when he never worked a day in his life.

Adding some clarifications to the content discussed, it is urgent to point out that the “success” of Stalin - the man who used to boast of having taken the U.R.S.S. "from the plow to the atomic bomb in just one generation" - compared to Gorbachev's failure shows that a socialist economy is unable to function with a minimum of efficiency without requiring a massive dose of political violence. In an attempt to reform a decadent regime, Gorbachev proceeded more quickly with the process of political openness in the hope of removing the predictable resistance that the Soviet bureaucracy would create to economic reform measures, as was fully proven by the failed coup attempt. in the USSR in August 1991 - which ended up precipitating the final crisis of socialism and the dissolution of the USSR itself. Having restored several freedoms (creed, expression, organization, party, etc.) that had been abolished in his country since the time of Vladimir Lenin, Gorbachev's opening process can be defined as a kind of attempt to "deleninize" the U.R.S.S. While Gorbachev went ahead with his policy of "one step forward" (towards capitalism) and two steps back (back to socialism), his Chinese parallel - Deng Xiaoping - adopted a logic diametrically opposed to that of Gorbachev: he prioritized the achievement of economic prosperity (adopting capitalism in practice) precisely to delay any attempt at political opening, as was evident with the acceleration of the economy. reforms after the Tiananmen Square massacre. It is important to note that it was Karl Marx himself who, in his Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, discerned the scenario in which the conditions for a social revolution process are formed, describing it as follows: “At a certain stage in its development, the material productive forces of society contradict existing production relations or - which is just their legal expression - with the property relations in which they have operated until then. From the forms of development of the productive forces, these relations are transformed into fetters of them. So, it is a time of social revolution. '* By rejecting the pursuit of profit maximization as an instrument to stimulate innovation, socialist countries ended up condemning themselves to obsolescence. Thus, they lost the chance to incorporate the productivity gains made possible by technological progress. That is why the capitalist countries managed to provide a greater rise in the standard of living of their population, even without pursuing the egalitarian ideal. Therefore, until the “final crisis of socialism” (to paraphrase K. Marx's own definitions once again), it was only a matter of time. But religious fanatics do not give up on their faith, even against the indisputable proof of the facts, which completely refute it! What has always happened to human society since the time of chipped stone is that technological development does not require human beings to dedicate themselves to certain activities, which start to be carried out in a more intensive way, with increased productivity of decline in the contingent of hand. -employed labor, eliminating certain jobs with the aid of the developed technology. But the jobs eliminated are offset by the increased employment of labor in more technologically developed sectors. This is basically what happened when the advent of the Industrial Revolution helped to increase the productivity of the extractive and agricultural sector - notably from the advent of agro-industry - while reducing the need for the employment of human labor in these sectors. , which makes up the primary sector of the economy. At the same time, the Industrial Revolution moved the economically active population to the secondary sector of the economy (handicrafts, industry and manufacturing). This process was first noticed by the Austrian economist Joseph Alois Schumepeter, who defined it as a kind of "creative destruction" - that is: technological progress destroys job opportunities in some sectors, but also creates new opportunities in other sectors! The problem is that Schumpeter was a pessimist, who detested the Soviet regime, but strongly believed that he embodied the "future of humanity". Schumpeter did not realize that he had found the key to explain why capitalism does not self-destruct in an immense crisis of overproduction, as K. Marx predicted it would happen: instead, it evolves, creating the conditions for the overcoming of technological civilization. industrial and the subsequent advent of a technological civilization of a post-industrial character, in the same way as the Industrial Revolution had already done with the agricultural or pre-industrial civilization. Therefore, we can conclude that from the invention of the first chipped stone tools to artificial intelligence and space travel, human history is not driven by a notorious and highly questionable "class struggle", but by technological progress: since it discovered how handling fire and producing tools, including the wheel, human evolution has become more technological and less biological, unlike other animals. The main reason for this phenomenon is that, with the help of the technology we have created, the human race has gradually become less subject to the limitations imposed by nature. It was by obstructing this mechanism of human evolution - disregarding the importance of maximizing profit in an industrial technological society - that the so-called "socialist mode of production" proved unable not only to compete with capitalism, but even to survive. Therefore, it is easy to deduce that this is a mere question of TIME until the so-called "21st century socialism" in Venezuela ends up following the same path as its counterpart of the last century. However, if there are still economic reforms, it is possible that it will survive for some time. To paraphrase Marx once again, it can be said with certainty that socialism is a system full of contradictions, which bears the germ of its own destruction: it is the system that digs its own grave! * Reproduced according to MARX, K. Preface to the Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, organized by Florestan Fernandes and published under the title K. Marx: Teoria e processo histórico da revolução social, In Marx & Engels, Great Social Scientists Collection , História, vol. 36. São Paulo: Ática, 1983. p. 232. Edição comemorativa do centenário da morte de Karl Marx. Obs .: Adaptation made from a text of my authorship published in issue nº 72 of the Magazine of the Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property - RABPI in September 2014.

That was very clever about the word revolution. Thanks m8!

Yet another great video. Sharp, funny, and full of insight. This is a great work you're undertaking here, man. Looking forward to whatever you decide to tackle next.

im getting my teacher to show this to my class tomorrow:)

Holy fuck I love this guy how come I never been to this channel before.

I read this book my sophomore year so I never thought about it being a representation of the Soviet Union. With the analyzes it does make sense that the "Animal Farm" can relate to the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. "Power can corrupt your mind."

"see yo ass next week" lmao

"I will work harder!" "Napoleon is always right!"

So the pigs start "moving the goalpost" with the commandments. Then they started walking on two legs. It's like they became what they hated. Kinda like uh...FEMINISM in today's world! Duh duh duh!

Animal Farm is one of the most bat shit insane books I've ever read

Clockwork Orange please!

Boxer was the realist homie 😩🙌🏼

Just found Thug Notes. Now love Thug Notes.

PLEASE!!! do "a clockwork orange"....hence the halloween costume. much

have you seen the little piggies living piggy lives you can see them out for dinner with their piggy wives clutching forks and knives TO EAT THEIR BACON !

this is so helpful, we're reading it right now in 9th grade.

i remember reading this in the 8th grade and this made me want to read it again

Please do Dr Jekyll and Hyde

I find that Animal Farm is kind of similar to the last book of the Hunger Games trilogy Mockingjay where the protagonist was in a Revolution and the leader of the revolution was bad really bad I mean she wanted to create a new Hunger Games with the Capitol’s kids but the main character shot her with a bow and arrow before that can happen

This was such a bad concept in retrospect

We almost watched this in English class...

This video helped me pass my sophomore year.

Do Cat in the Hat

He’s rly smart and articulate but he’s being forced to act stereotypical and talk in that fake exaggerated accent... “thug notes” smh

This like what those protesters in Minneapolis and Seattle are doing

Bernie Sanders need to read this book

What he doesn't mention is that this isn't just an allegory, it's a white-wash of Soviet Communism. Animal Farm's synopsis tells us that Marx was universally accepted and respected, and that when the people in Russia--a country poor but otherwise no different from the "rest" of the industrialized word--revolted they unanimously chose a communist economy and Bolshevik leaders. Everything was a paradise--indeed, things ran more efficiently--for a while, and the only ones who didn't like it were lazy white folks who had lived a life of privilege in the earlier days, until the wrong people ended up in charge, and eventually it was no different from capitalist nations. While every clause of this is part of Orwell's allegory, every clause is also complete bullshit. Orwell was still a socialist, and his major goal in Animal Farm was to explain why this devastating failure of socialism wasn't actually a failure of socialism.

Don't like this format. Would've preferred if he wasn't thug speaking so to say

I will never forget that moment when reading where I realised what was happening to Boxer. 😭

Every day it gets harder to believe people still believe in socialism

could you do a review for Pilgrims progress by John Bunyan?

Boxer's death is one of only two times a story has actually shocked me. Perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention, but I missed all the signs the pigs were perverting their government. When the pigs betrayed Boxer I went back through the book for the warning signs.

Revolution ends where it begins,truly felt that mann

ThugNotes, do 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' please!!

Who else thinks that he should do The War of the Worlds and Futility or The Wreck of the Titan?

I’ve never read Animal Farm but I have heard that some of the people in my 6th grade class read it

II have been watching some of these videos for the first time ever and I enjoy them a lot. Instantly subscribed! I hope to see more exquisite content from Thug Notes. Thank you.