This illustration represents the moment in the story where Napoleon finds the nine puppies and takes them away under the pre-tense that he will educate them, when actually he intends to train them to be his personal guard dogs as the next time we see the puppies, they are full grown, vicious and loyal only to Napoleon.
The puppies in this scene are the very embodiment of their nature. Small, clumsy, cute and trusting of the pig who has taken under his care. They wag their tails in his presence, (something that continues into their adult lives, but this gesture is reserved for the Bershire himself), and obediently follow his lead. The scene is designed to communicate both of these facts.
I chose to keep Napoleon's face obscured by the angle, as what is important here is the absolute trust and peaceful nature of the dogs at this point. It makes their next scenes (the Massacre and Bad Dog) more of a shock to the observer and they are left wondering what has happened to the innocent puppies.
The closing scenes of the book are perhaps what stays with the reader. It is shocking and controversial and possibly the reason Orwell had such a hard time getting the book published.
The story up until this point has demonised Starlin/Napoleon, and depicted the plight of the Russian people/Animals under his rule. What the closing chapters of the book do next, is to point out that Napoleon is now completely corrupted by his greed and thirst for power, but it also compares him to the Human neighbours of Animal Farm, humans who represent the US and UK leader at the time of WW2. This is what Orwell has been leading up to, revealing to the reader that each member of the alliance in WW2 have ulterior motives, that everything they do is self serving and that the people the world over, even those who believe they exist in a fair and safe country and that their rights are protected, are in the greatest danger. Those who govern, do so for of their own selfish agenda and privilege. They are always well fed, have the best homes and the finest clothes.
The image is a double page spread, with space in the top left for some text. For this scene I have focused on both the pigs and human faces, keeping them as similar as possible without loosing (the pigs especially) distinguishing features, because as the animals look from man to pig and pig to man, they are unable to tell the difference anymore. Their faces are cast in deeper and darker shadows the closer we get to Napoleon on the far upper right of the page, symbolic of the characters black heart and dark intent. Squealer is directly below him, with his large round face and goofy front teeth, his flesh spilling into folds of skin and fat, from gorging on food and a life spent doing very little while others around him are worked to death. Everyone is wearing suits and ties of some sort, the uniform of the politician and those in power, each one tailor made and pristine. They are unable to empathise with the plight of the animals, in fact they relish in the misery they have witnessed during their tour of the farm. They are happy that the people are under control. Happy that the people are put to work, starving, have very little and are no longer a threat to their own seat of power. Any indication of another rebellion on this farm, or those that surround it, is nil and that is how they like it.
The image shows the grotesque nature of the pigs and men, matched only by the ugly features they wear. They are laughing and smiling, having won and this is the end of the story. There is no happy ending for the animals and there is no squeal. That is the end and it is intended to anger the reader as they too draw comparisons between the characters in the book to politicians of the world as Orwell intended.
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