ANALYSIS OF BOXER

Introduction
(i) Boxer is the male of the two horses on the farm. He is an enormous beast, nearly
eighteen hands high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together. A white
stripe down his nose gave him a somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact he was not
of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of
character and tremendous powers of work (26). Boxer has a special affinity for
Benjamin. With his determination to be a good public servant and his penchant for
hard work, Boxer becomes Napoleons greatest supporter. He works tirelessly for the
cause of Animal Farm, operating under his personal maxims, I will work harder and
Napoleon is always right. The only time Boxer doubts propaganda is when Squealer
tries to rewrite the story of Snowballs valor at the Battle of the Cowshed, a
treachery for which he is nearly executed. But Boxer recants his doubts when he
learns that the altered story of the battle is directly from Napoleon. After Boxer is
injured while defending the farm in the Battle of the Windmill, Napoleon sends him to
be slaughtered for profit. The pigs use the money from the slaughter to buy
themselves a case of whisky. Boxer is not pugnacious despite his name, but he is as
strong as his name implies. In this way, Boxer is a painfully ironic character. He is
strong enough to kill another animal, even a human, with a single blow from his hoof,
and the dogs cannot manage to overpower him in Chapter VII. Still, Boxer lacks the
intelligence and the nerve to sense that he is being used. Boxer represents the peasant
or working class, a faction of humanity with a great combined strength--enough to
overthrow a manipulative government--but which is uneducated enough to take
propaganda to heart and believe unconditionally in the governments cause.

(ii) Boxer is a fictional horse from George Orwell's Animal Farm. He is the farm's
most hard-working and loyal worker. Boxer serves as an allegory for the Russian
working class who helped oust the Tsar, and established the Soviet Union. But
eventually, were betrayed by the Stalinists.

Boxer fights very bravely in the Battle of the Cowshed, and the Battle of the
Windmill, but is upset when he thinks he has killed a stable lad when, in fact, he had
only stunned the poor boy. When Boxer defends Snowball's reputation from
Squealer's revisionism, the pigs designate the workhorse as a target for the Great
Purge, but he easily outmuscles his canine executioners, sparing them at Napoleon's
request. His eventual death serves to show just how far the pigs are willing to go
when he collapses due to working too hard, the pigs supposedly send him to a
veterinarian, when in fact he was sent to the knacker's yard to be slaughtered and
made into dog food and glue, in exchange for money to buy a case of whiskey for the
pigs. A strong and loyal draft horse, Boxer played a huge part in keeping the Farm
together prior to his death, and was the only close friend of Benjamin, the cynical
donkey.
During Old Major's speech which inspired the principles of animalism, a specific
reference is made to how he would be turned into glue under Jones rule, thus implying
that it would not happen to him under Animalism. This is possibly a further decline
from animalism to Napoleon's government.

Boxer is quite dim because he can only remember the first 4 letters of the alphabet
which links to the fact that Boxer represents the working-class citizens who were
fooled and tricked into thinking that their life would be a utopia.

Boxer is a loyal supporter of Napoleon because he listens to everything he says, and

assumes that everything Napoleon tells the farm animals is true.

(iii) Boxer is the most sympathetically drawn character in the novel. He epitomizes all
of the best qualities of the exploited working classes: dedication, loyalty, and a huge
capacity for labor. He also, however, suffers from what Orwell saw as the working
class's major weaknesses: a naive trust in the good intentions of the intelligentsia and
an inability to recognize even the most blatant forms of political corruption. Exploited
by the pigs as much or more than he had been by Mr. Jones, Boxer represents all of
the invisible labor that undergirds the political drama being carried out by the elites.
Boxer's pitiful death at a glue factory dramatically illustrates the extent of the pigs'
betrayal. It may also, however, speak to the specific significance of Boxer himself:
before being carted off, he serves as the force that holds Animal Farm together.

(iv) Horses are universally prized for their strength, and Boxer is no exception:
Standing almost six-feet tall, Boxer is a devoted citizen of the farm whose incredible
strength is a great asset to the rebellion and the farm. As soon as he learns about
Animalism, Boxer throws himself into the rebellion's cause. At the Battle of the
Cowshed, Boxer proves to be a valuable soldier, knocking a stable-boy unconscious
with his mighty hoof. (Note that Boxer, however, is not bloodthirsty and feels great
remorse when he thinks he has killed the boy.) His rising early to work on the farm
and his personal maxim "I will work harder" reveal his devotion to the animals'
cause. He also proves himself to be the most valuable member of the windmill-
building team.

Boxer's great strength, however, is matched by his equally stunning innocence and
naivet. He is not an intelligent animal (recall his inability to learn any of the alphabet
past the letter D) and therefore can only think in simple slogans, the second of which
("Napoleon is always right") reveals his childlike dependence on an all-knowing
leader. Even when he collapses while rebuilding the windmill, his first thoughts are
not of himself but of the work: "It is my lung It does not matter. I think you will be
able to finish the windmill without me." His hopes of retiring with Benjamin after his
collapse display the extent of his innocence, since the reader knows that Napoleon has
no intention of providing for an old, infirm horse. Even when he is being led to his
death at the knacker's, Boxer needs to be told of his terrible fate by Benjamin and
Clover. He becomes wise to Napoleon's ways too late, and his death is another
example of Napoleon's tyranny.

Boxer's mottos
"I will work harder!" is Boxer's response to nearly all problems. He ends up
overstraining himself and collapses. This motto may be a reference to the novel The
Jungle, which illustrates the abuse and swindling of the working class, as it was the
motto of the main character in that novel also.

"Napoleon is always right" similar to "Mussolini is always right" is Boxer's

statement where he always shows a belief in Napoleon no matter what.

Boxers Execution
(i) Boxer had doubted propaganda which Squealer tried to rewrite the story of
Snowballs valor at the Battle of the Cowshed; he was nearly executed where bloody
executions occur because of that. At first, four pigs were seized by the ear and being
dragged by Napoleons three dogs; they tasted blood and for a few moments, the dogs
appeared to go quite mad. They flung themselves upon Boxer. Since Boxer had great
strength, the dogs failed to drag him out and one of them got pinned to the ground; the
other two fled. Napoleon ordered him to let the dog go. He was nearly killed; and
other executions of the rest of the animals occur. [ Chapter 7 ]

Sale of Boxer
One afternoon, a van comes to take Boxer away; Napoleon decided to sell him to a
horse-slaughterer in Willingdon. The van has lettering on its side and a sly-looking
man in a low-crowned bowler hat sitting on the drivers seat. The hopeful animals
wish Boxer goodbye, but Benjamin breaks their revelry by reading the lettering on the
side of the van: Alfred Simmons, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon.
Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied (123). The animals know what
was happening then; they panic and try to get Boxer to escape. Boxer tries to get out
of the van, but he has grown too weak to break the door. The animals try to appeal to
the horses drawing the van, but they do not understand the situation.

Boxer never returns, but three days later the pigs announce that he died in the hospital
despite receiving the best care. Squealer claims to have been present at Boxers death,
a tale he relates emotionally to the other animals. He claims that Boxers last words
were, Forward, Comrades! Forward in the name of the Rebellion and Long live
Animal Farm! Long live Comrade Napoleon! Napoleon is always right (125).
Squealer also claims that the van belongs to the veterinarian, who had recently bought
it from the horse slaughterer and had not yet managed to paint over the lettering.
These stories satisfy the animals.
Summary of Chapter 7
1) Despite the hard, bitter winter, the animals work to rebuild the windmill, which the
humans claim fell because of its thin walls. Though the pigs say the humans claim is
a lie, they make the new windmills walls three feet thick.

(The animals trust the pigs lies rather than the obvious truth because they still believe
blindly that Four legs good, two legs bad!)

2) In January, the farms food supply runs out. Even though it seems possible the
animals could starve, the pigs hide the food trouble from the humans, escorting Mr.
Whymper through a storehouse made to appear full of food.

(Under Stalins catastrophic Five Year Plan, the USSR suffered famines that killed
millions. Stalin covered up the tragedy.)

3) Napoleon now issues almost all orders through Squealer, who one day announces
that the hens must give up four hundred eggs a week to pay for grain and feed. The
hens angrily refuse. Napoleon responds by cutting the hens rations. He also declares
that any animal that feeds the hens will be killed. After five days, during which nine
hens starve to death, the hens give in.

(By tricking the animals into thinking Animalism and Animal Farm are the same, the
pigs can kill or punish anyone who disagrees with their orders and claim theyre
defending Animalism. Its slavery disguised as freedom.)

3) At about the same time, Napoleon enters negotiations to sell some wood to either
Pilkington or Frederick. Whenever hes close to a deal with Pilkington, rumors
circulate that Snowball is hiding at Fredericks farm, and vice versa.

(Before WW II, the USSR negotiated possible treaties with both the Allies and the
Germans, playing the two sides against each other.)

4) In addition, Squealer soon announces that Snowball has been sneaking onto Animal
Farm at night: Napoleon can smell him. Squealer tells the animals that Snowball was
Joness secret agent from the beginning. He reminds them how Snowball tried to
betray them at the Battle of the Cowshed and Napoleon saved the day.

(The pigs aim to rewrite Animalism and all of Animal Farm history. If they can get the
animals to fear Snowball, they can use Snowball to justify their own rule, as they once
used Jones.)

5) Boxer disagrees. He says he thinks Snowball was loyal at the beginning, even if he
later turned traitor. When Squealer responds that Napoleon himself has stated that
Snowball was a traitor from the beginning, Boxer changes his mind and says then it
must be true. Still, Squealer gives Boxer a dark look and warns the animals to be on
the lookout for Snowballs secret agents.

(Boxer believes so much in Animalism that he believes Napoleons statement about

what happened even over his own memories. But just the fact that he voices his
memories at all makes Squealer see him as a threat.)

6) Four days later, Napoleon calls for an assembly in the yard. When the animals
gather, Napoleon whimpers and his dogs attack Boxer and the four pigs that had
questioned Snowballs removal. The pigs are bloodied, but Boxer repels the attack
and pins one of the dogs to the ground. Boxer glances at the stunned Napoleon to ask
what he should do. Napoleon orders him to let the dog go and then commands the
pigs to confess. They confess, and the dogs kill them as traitors to Animal Farm. A
series of other animals also confess: all are killed.

(Stalin purged the Soviet government by torturing those he considered enemies

until they admitted to crimes they hadnt committed. Then he had them killed.
Napoleon considers Boxer an enemy because he remembers the past correctly. And
Boxer cant comprehend that Napoleon just attacked him.)

7) In the aftermath of the assembly, the animals are miserable, having witnessed the
first killings on the farm since Mr. Jones was defeated. Boxer thinks he must work
harder to make things better. Clover leads the animals in a sad rendition of Beasts of
England. Squealer soon announces that Beasts of England has been forbidden: it
was a song of revolution, and the revolution has ended. A pig named Minimus has
composed a new song: Animal Farm, Animal Farm, Never through me shalt thou
come to harm.

(After the purge, Napoleon and his pigs officially kill the revolution by banning the
song Beasts of England. As the new masters of the farm, the pigs fear the ideas in
that utopian and idealistic song, and replace it with a propaganda song that defines the
state as more important than the individual.)

For more information about Animal Farm, you can visit

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