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War horse

In case Bambi wasn't traumatic enough, War Horse opens as our little pony Joey is taken away
from his mother and sold to a farm. On the farm, Joey is broken in (gently) by a kind-hearted
young boy named Albert Narracott. Kind hearts don't run in this family, however, and Albert's
drunken father sells Joey to the British army to earn money to keep his farm and family alive
and probably to buy a few bottles of booze, too.
In the army now, Joey is paired up with Captain Nicholls, a cavalry man, and sent to the front
lines. Nicholls perishes in battle, and Joey is transferred to a younger, more inexperienced rider
named Trooper Warren. Warren is a kind, gentle man, but boy does he stink at riding horses. Joey
longs for Albert as he carries Warren into battle. The British lose the battle, and Warren and Joey
are captured by the Germans. Not looking good.
The Germans put Joey to work as a cart-puller, hauling injured soldiers to medic tents for
treatment. Doing his duty, Joey meets Topthorn, a strong black stallion who becomes his best
brony. As the front line moves, and casualties decrease, Joey and Topthorn are left with a kind
French farmer and his granddaughter, Emilie, who cares deeply for the two horses. Emilie is a
sickly child, but the horses give her strength and a reason to live. Unfortunately, before you can
say vive la France!, the war returns, and Joey and Topthorn are commissioned once again by the
Germans.
Tasked with pulling a gun, Joey and Topthorn are put into great danger. Two other horses in their
unit, Heinie and Coco, perish, along with Joey's new caretaker, Friedrich. Worst of all for Joey,
Topthorn also succumbs after many months in cold, harsh conditions with little food.
Finding himself injured and alone, Joey is discovered by the British and taken to their vet tent.
There he is reunited with Albert, who has enlisted in the military as a veterinarian. Albert nurses
Joey back to health in a touching scene deserving of a sepia-colored montage with heart-tugging
violin music. Hope you brought your tissues.
The war ends (yay) and Joey is put up for auction (boo). But Emilie's Grandpapa shows up and
wins the auction for Joey (yay again!). Sadly, Emilie has died, so Grandpapa gives Joey to
Albert. Albert takes Joey back to England, marries his sweetheart Maisie Brown, and they live
happily ever after. Well, except for the fact that Maisie never gives Joey any of her delicious
pastries. What's up with that?

War Horse Chapter 1 Summary


How It All Goes Down

Our narrator begins the story by telling us of his early childhood: being raised in a barn,
sleeping with rats, and being sold at six months old. Man, rough life. What is this, a
Charles Dickens novel?

Plus, he describes his mother as "a fine, working farm horse." (2.1) She might not be very
attractive, but that's a little harsh, dude.

Wait, what's that? Oh, the narrator of this book is a horse. He's not a person. Got it. Now
it all makes sense. Moving on...

Some nasty drunk men purchase our little pony and take him away from his mother. He
tries to fight them, but he's outnumbered.

They take him to their farm and toss him into a stable with a nice old mare named Zoey.

After the drunks leave, two people, a boy named Albert and his mother, come to the barn
to check out the new horse.

When Albert sees the horse, it's love at first sight. He names him Joey and swears that
he'll look after him. This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

War Horse Chapter 2 Summary


How It All Goes Down

Joey and Albert grow closer, despite Albert's drunk father's occasional interference.

One day, drunk dad comes into the stable with a whip. He tells Joey that he's made a bet
that he can train Joey to pull a plow by the end of the week.

Joey don't want nothin' to do with no plow pullin', so he kicks Albert's soused papa in the
leg.

The next day, Albert tells Joey not to do that again or his father will shoot him. Yowza.

Even though he was drunk, Albert's dad was serious about that bet. He makes Albert train
Joey. If he fails, he'll either sell or shoot him. The horse, not his son.

Being that it's only chapter 2, Albert and Joey succeed. Joey's not turned into glue, and he
gets to stay on the farm.

The chapter ends as Joey overhears Albert and his family talk of war. The war is creeping
closer and closer each day.

War Horse Chapter 3 Summary


How It All Goes Down

Albert and Joey continue to bond, riding around the countryside together.

Meanwhile, Albert's mother tries to convince Albert that his father isn't a bad person.
Wow, this is a Very Special Heartwarming Chapter of War Horse.

Thankfully, Albert's dad is here to screw things up before they get too sappy. He sweettalks Joey, and lures him away with food, saying "I need the money, Joey; I need the
money bad" (3.11).

War Horse Chapter 4 Summary


How It All Goes Down

Sure enough, Albert's tipsy pops sells Joey to Captain Nicholls, a soldier in town. He gets
quite a few nickels for him, too: forty pounds.

Before everything is complete, Albert shows up. He's determined to stop the sale.

Unfortunately, the sale goes through, but Captain Nicholls tells Albert that he likes his
spirit. Maybe someday he can join the cavalry and find him. Sounds like trying to find a
horse-shaped needle in a haystack the size of France...

War Horse Chapter 5 Summary


How It All Goes Down

Joey's in the army now, and he has a new rider, Corporal Samuel Perkins. Joey misses
sweet little Albert a lot.

When he's not being worked hard and put away wet by Perkins, Joey gets to relax by
being a nude model for Captain Nicholls.

Captain Nicholls gives Perkins a little pep talk, telling him how important horses are to
the military and how he better take care of them. After that, Perkins is a little more gentle
when training.

Nicholls, all dolled up, takes Joey on his last maneuvers before departing for the front
lines.

During these final maneuvers, Joey meets a new friend, this time of the four legged
variety: a black stallion named Topthorn.

War Horse Chapter 6 Summary


How It All Goes Down

Joey and the rest of the horses get a little seasick on the boat ride across the Channel.

When they dock, we no longer see London, but we do see France.

The men try to put on brave faces, but it takes a while for Joey to get accustomed to the
noise of bombs and gunfire.

During his first battle, Joey ends up as a horse without a rider. He loses Captain Nicholls
in the charge.

Nicholls's friend Captain Stewart tells Joey that Nicholls died leading the charge. He also
says that Nicholls would have been proud of Joey.

We're not sure if horses can cry, but we sure need a tissue right about now.

War Horse Chapter 7 Summary


How It All Goes Down

After the death of Captain Nicholls, Joey gets a new rider: Trooper Warren.

Warren isn't the graceful swan that Nicholls was; he is "heavy in the saddle like a sack of
potatoes" (7.4). Having given numerous piggyback rides to sacks of potatoes in our time,
we sympathize.

As they get into a minor skirmish here and there, Warren and Joey start to bond. Warren
reads letters from home; Joey starts thinking Warren is really nice, even if he is a terrible
rider.

Time passes relatively peacefully, as far as wars go, until it's time for Warren and Joey to
ride through the barbed wire into no-man's land.

War Horse Chapter 8 Summary


How It All Goes Down

"The bedlam of battle had begun" (8.3). Horses and men fall on both sides of the battle.

The English forces are decimated, and Captain Stewart and Trooper Warren are taken by
the Germans as prisoners of war.

Topthorn and Joey are taken as P.O.W.s, too. Warren gives Joey one last stroke before he
says goodbye, and we reach for tissue number two.

War Horse Chapter 9 Summary


How It All Goes Down

Herr Hauptmann, a limping German officer covered in bandages, orders his men to take
good care of the horses. We wonder if, under all those bandages, Hauptmann looks like
Charlie Chaplin.

Although Hauptmann wants to keep Joey and Topthorn for his Regiment of Lancers, a
doctor insists that the horses be used to haul stretcher carts to retrieve the hundreds of
wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

One night, while Topthorn and Joey sleep in their barn, they're visited by a man and his
granddaughter. Seeing the horses, she says, "Can they be mine, Grandpapa? Please, can
they be mine?" (9.15) If it weren't for the please, we'd think Veruca Salt had just shown
up in WWI-era France.

War Horse Chapter 10 Summary


How It All Goes Down

Joey and Topthorn are treated like heroes by the Germans. They even receive a war
medal, the Iron Cross.

In the evenings, the young girl, Emilie, takes care of the two horses, brushing them,
tossing them hay, and offering companionship.

One night, Emilie doesn't come to the barn. Her Grandpapa comes instead, and tells the
horses that Emilie is sick. He asks them to "pray for her to whatever horse god [they]
pray to" (10.8).

The next day, there is lots of snow on the ground, and retrieving the wounded is difficult.

But that night is Christmas. "Peace had come for one night" (10.12), a hiatus to the
shelling and the violence.

Not only that, but Emilie gets better. It's a Christmas miracle! Maybe this is a Dickens
novel after all...

War Horse Chapter 11 Summary

How It All Goes Down

Emilie is still weak from her illness, but she does her best to take care of the horses.

As the battles move farther away, Joey is thrilled to return to the work of a farm horse.
Emilie doesn't want to work them, but her Grandpapa insists that they must in order for
them to eat. Farms don't plow themselves, after all.

One quiet day, a group of soldiers riding new horses shows up. A pale, thin man
announces, "I shall be taking your horses with us" (11.12).

Little Emilie says she'll die if the horses don't come back, but she has no choice but to let
them go.

Off goes Joey away from his human yet again, but at least this time he has his horse
friend Topthorn with him.

Animal farm
Animal Farm begins with a very drunk Mr. Jones (owner of Manor Farm) doing a really crummy
job of, you know, his job. Luckily, there's a wise pig on the farm: Old Major. Old Major
encourages the neglected animals to rebel and run the farm themselves with one important
qualification: everyone should be equal.
Then he dies.
This seems like a grand idea to everyone except Benjamin, a cynical donkey whose main job in
life is to be, well, cynical. So, they rebel. The pigs, being the smartest animals, naturally take the
leadership role. So much for that equality business. So much for Old Major's vision of a peaceful
coup, too, because there's immediate conflict between two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball.
Napoleon wants to sit around and be in charge of everything, while Snowball wants to teach the
other animals and build a windmill. Obviously, Snowball's plan is way better, so he wins.
Not. Instead, Napoleon uses his private army of nine ferocious and enormous dogs to become the
All Powerful Dominant Boss Leader Chief Pig. Okay, he doesn't call it that, but you know it's in
the back of his mind somewhere.
With Snowball is out of the picture, the other pigs blame everything on him. They exploit the
other animals shamelessly, breaking all the rules about equality that they had established after the
Rebellion. Life on the farm gets worse and worse, the animals forget old Major's original dream,
and the pigs make some poor management decisions when dealing with the neighboring farms.
The culminating miserable moment comes when the pigs send Boxer, a hardworking and loyal
horse who is ready for retirement, to his death. Ouch.
In short, the pigs are starting to look a lot like the horrible human owners that we started with at
the beginning of this whole mess, walking on two legs and everything. In fact, they may even be
worse.
Hm. It looks like grumpy old Eeyorewe mean, Benjaminwas right after all.

Animal Farm Chapter 1 Summary

Mr. Jones is drunk. Again. He owns Manor Farm, by the way. Also, the animals talk.
Work with it.

"Old Major" is a sort of revered, older, wiser boar-pig-dude on the farm. He has a dream,
and the others, acknowledging his age, wisdom, and all-around general superiority, gather
around (campfire-style) to listen.

The cast of characters is introduced. You've got Jessie, Bluebell, and Pincher (three dogs),
Boxer and Clover (horses, male and female, respectively), Muriel (a goat), Benjamin (an
old and cynical donkey, good friends with Boxer), Mollie (a silly mare), Moses (a raven),
chickens, hens, ducks, two turtledoves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Old Major suggests that they have an uprising against the lazy, resource-sucking
capitalistsahem, we mean humansand run the farm themselves.

He introduces some rules for the animals about loyalty (have it), alcohol (don't drink it),
money (don't use it), and killing other animals (um, don't do it).

Get out your highlighters, Shmoopers. We have a feeling these rules are going to be
important.

After this rousing vision of equality, all the animals sing "Beasts of England," a lovely
tune eliciting warm and fuzzy feelings of togetherness.

Animal Farm Chapter 2 Summary

Old Major dies, which would have been all jarring and climax-esque if he hadn't
predicted it before he gave his speech.

We are told that the pigs, particularly Snowball and Napoleon, are more intelligent than
everyone else. (Truth: pigs are wicked smart. Too bad bacon is so delicious.) Well, and
then there's Squealer, who's sort of like a used car salesman, only tastier.

Anyway, since they're the geniuses of the farm, the pigs start running the show.

First order of business is to found "Animalism," a system of thought summarizing old


Major's teachings.

Moses the crow adds his own twist by coming up with a paradise-like place called
Sugarcandy Mountain, which sounds pretty sweet if you ask us. Both literally and slangily.

Turns out the horses Boxer and Clover are stupid, but trusting and hard working.

Hm, we're starting to get the feeling that Orwell might be a little speciest.

Mr. Jones gets drunk. Again. So, the animals choose an opportune moment of being (1)
underfed and (2) really ticked off as the time to rise up.

So, they rise upsuccessfully, kicking Mr. Jones out and setting up shop for themselves.

They make more rules: no clothes (including ribbons...brutal) and no sleeping in the
house.

They also rename Manor Farm, calling it Animal Farm instead.

The pigs, who apparently can read and write, come up with Seven Commandments. We
like you, so we're going to write them out:

(1) Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. (2) Whatever goes upon four legs, or has
wings, is a friend. (3) No animal shall wear clothes. (4) No animal shall sleep in a bed.
(5) No animal shall drink alcohol. (6) No animal shall kill any other animal. (7) All
animals are equal.

Pretty straightforward, right? So it's weird when the pigs steal all the fresh milk from the
cows.

We get the feeling that this isn't going to be a communist utopia after all.

Animal Farm Chapter 3 Summary

The animals start the great task of running the farm. The pigs supervise. Things seem to
be going well. This, of course, is just the set up for disaster.

Boxer, it turns out, is a huge asset. He's big, and not particularly smart, but he works
harder than everyone else. In fact, to emphasize this point, he walks around all day
repeating, "I will work harder" over and over. Like we said... not too smart.

Mollie the mare, however, is extraordinarily lazy. She also has this odd predilection for
ribbons.

Benjamin, we see, is this really cool, cryptic, apathetic guy. (And by guy, we mean
donkey.) For example, when asked his opinion on the Rebellion, Benjamin says,
"Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey."

The pigs try to educate the farm animals, only to find that their pupils are better at manual
labor than, you know, being educated.

To make things easier, the Seven Commandments get condensed to a single maxim:
"Four legs good, two legs bad."

Meanwhile, Napoleon the pig sequesters nine newborn puppies. Keep an eye out for
those suckers.

The pigs are taking the milk and apples every day, but it's cool, really. See, as the leaders,
they have to maintain their health. They don't even like milk and apples.

At this point, please imagine Orwell ROFLing and wiping tears of hilarity off of his
typewriter.

Animal Farm Chapter 4 Summary

We are introduced to Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick. Each owns one of the
neighboring farms. In short, the animals are working on their public image.

But it's not really working. See, the neighboring humans are worried that their animals
will rise up if they don't squash Animal Farm.

Snowball, a tactician extraordinaire, prepares the animals for the impending invasion of
the humans.

Blood! Battle! Exclamation Points! There are some minor casualties (animals that don't
really matter, like sheep) and Snowball is wounded. Boxer kills a man and then feels
guilty about it.

Snowball gets a prize. Rather, he gives himself a prize: "Animal Hero, First Class."

Animal Farm Chapter 5 Summary

Something is rotten in the state of the Animal Farm, and it's not the dead sheep from the
battle.

Mollie has been cavorting with one of the men on the neighboring farms in return for
frivolities like sugar and ribbons. (Hey, we get it.)

Then she abandons the farm altogether. Oops.

Snowball and Napoleon start fighting with each other like two bullies on a playground
arguing about who's bigger and who should be captain of the dodge ball team.

Snowball's speeches are better, but Napoleon does this clever campaigning business in
the downtime between animal votes: when Snowball makes plans for a windmill for the
farm, Napoleon pees on them.

Literally, he actually pees on the plans. Or "urinates," as Orwell so delicately puts it.
We're not kidding.

Benjamin pops back up again to say that life is terrible either way, windmill or no
windmill. Snowball and Napoleon give speeches about the windmill; Snowball's is
superior. But before the vote, Napoleon brings in his private army of puppies, now all
grown-up and tooth-baring and vicious, and they chase Snowball out of the farm.
Napoleon wins by default.

Or by brute force, depending on your point of view.

Once he's in charge, Napoleon abolishes the meetings. Squealer makes him seem like a
god by "explaining" things to the dumber animals.

Oh, and then Napoleon decides to build the windmill after all. How convenient.

Animal Farm Chapter 6 Summary

The animals work "like slaves." Heavy irony ensues.

Napoleon's trading with the neighboring farms. But what about the rule against trade?

Yeah. The animals are wondering about that, too. It's cool, though: Squealer has an
explanation.

And then the pigs move into the farmhouse. Again, Squealer has an explanation.

Snowball becomes the scapegoat, which is particularly convenient when the windmill
blows down in a gale.

Animal Farm Chapter 7 Summary

Since the collapse of the windmill, the animals are starving. Still, they put on a good face
for the outside world.

The hens find out that their eggs will be taken. When they try to rebel, they're starved (via
control of the teeth-baring dogs) and nine die.

What was that we said about irony?

More scapegoating at Snowball's expense. Boxer seems, amazingly, to remember history


the way that it occurred, but Squealer quickly convinces him that his memory is faulty.

At a meeting, several animals confess to having been in league with Snowball, or with
Jones, or both. (We think the teeth-baring dogs might have had something to do with the
confession.)

After they confess, Napoleon has them killed.

Uh-oh. This Revolution is going downhill fast.

And then, due to Boxer's doubt regarding the new and rewritten history, Napoleon tries
(and fails) to have him killed by the dogs.

There's a lot of subtlety herenone of the animals, and especially not Boxer, think for a
moment that Napoleon actually ordered the attack. On the surface, it just looks like the
dogs went rogue and attacked him.

But some of the animals have picked up on the fact that things aren't quite working out.

Clover looks over the farm and thinks to herself that these scenes of bloody terror are
certainly not what the animals have worked so hard for.

The final straw? "Beasts of England" is abolished.

Animal Farm Chapter 8 Summary

Okay, wait, but wasn't there some rule about not killing other animals?

Yeah, the animals thought so, too.

It's weird, though: when they read the rules now, they're different: now rule 6 just says
something along the lines of not killing without cause.

Napoleon gets a new name, as "Napoleon" is not majestic enough. Now it is "Our Leader,
Comrade Napoleon."

He's also becoming a total snob about the amount and consistency of the foam on his
cappuccinos. Okay, we made that last part up. But he totally would, if he drank
cappuccinos.

Napoleon sells timber to neighboring farmer Frederick, refusing to take payment by


check (or rather, "cheque," since this is England), demanding cash instead.

Oops. Turns out the money was fake. That Fredericksuch a prankster.

And then the humans attack again, this time dynamiting the windmill the animals were
building.

Did we mention they were rebuilding the windmill?

Also, some bloodiness is involved in the battle, and Boxer is injured.

The pigs celebrate their "victory" by dressing up in clothes (not allowed) and drinking
alcohol (also not allowed) inside the farmhouse (you got itnot allowed).

Animal Farm Chapter 9 Summary

Things continue to go downhill. The animals have to rebuild the windmill again, and they
have no food and it's winter and Boxer is hurt and it's cold and they have to walk to
school every day in the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways.

The pigs, however, seem to be doing just fine in their fat and alcoholic state.

Boxer overexerts himself and collapses; apparently, he is ready for retirement.

The pigs send him to the "hospital," and by hospital they really mean glue factory. No,
really, glue factory, as Benjamin reads off the side of the departing van.

Old Benjie finally shows some emotionnamely, rageas he sees his dear friend being
taken to the slaughter.

The pigs use the money they earned off Boxer to buy themselves whiskey.

Animal Farm Chapter 10 Summary

Time passes, as Orwell subtly and artistically informs us with the line, "Years passed."

The animals are still happy about the fact that they no longer work for tyrannical masters,
even though they're, um, working for tyrannical masters.

Orwell is winking at you, and occasionally nudging you with his (pointy) elbow.

The pigs start walking on two legs and then get the sheep to say, "Four legs good, two
legs better," which we all can agree has a nicer ring to it than version 1.0.

Then comes the big, famous line from the bookthe line that, for the rest of your life at
cocktail parties, people will say in hopes of sounding smart, and you, thanks to us, will
now be able to identify and laugh along into your shrimp with everyone else: "All
animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

The pigs meet inside the farmhouse with the neighboring farmer Pilkington, who
congratulates them on running a farm with the hardest working and most underfed
animals in England.

More nudging of ribs. Ouch, that one hurt.

The name Animal Farm is done away with and the pigs go back to calling it Manor Farm.

What with the clothes and alcohol and the standing on two legs, the animals peeking
through the window realize that there's now literally no way to tell apart the humans and
pigs.

Dun dun dun.

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