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60 free Animal Farm trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Animal Farm trivia quiz covers George Orwell's 1945 fable of a farmyard revolution betrayed by its pigs. The easy questions cover the author, the animals who take charge, the horse who works himself to death and the famous line about some animals being more equal than others. From there the quiz moves through the plot: Old Major's dream, the Battle of the Cowshed, the windmill, the purges, Boxer's van, the sheep's slogan and the card game that ends the book with pigs and men indistinguishable. The hard end covers the allegory (who stands for Stalin, Trotsky, the Tsar, Pravda and the Orthodox Church), the Seven Commandments and how they were rewritten, Mr Whymper and Pinkeye, Sugarcandy Mountain, the publishers who turned the book down and the Soviet spy at the Ministry of Information, the suppressed preface, the V-1 that flattened Orwell's flat, the CIA-funded cartoon and the balloons that carried copies over the Iron Curtain. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entry on Animal Farm before publishing and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. Our George Orwell, 1984 and classic literature quizzes are natural next stops.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who wrote Animal Farm?
George Orwell
He called it the first book in which he consciously fused political and artistic purpose into one whole.
Q 02What was the original subtitle of Animal Farm, dropped by American publishers in 1946?
A Fairy Story
Orwell suggested a French title abbreviating to URSA, Latin for bear, a symbol of Russia.
Q 03What was the farm called before the animals renamed it Animal Farm?
Manor
Napoleon restores the old name at the dinner party that closes the book.
Q 04What is the name of the drunken farmer the animals drive out?
Mr. Jones
He stands for Tsar Nicholas II and is later said to have died in an inebriates' home.
Q 05Which aged prize boar inspires the rebellion with his speech and song before dying?
Old Major
He is a blend of Marx and Lenin, and his skull is later dug up and displayed like Lenin's body.
Q 06What is the revolutionary song the old boar teaches the animals before he dies?
Beasts of England
Napoleon later bans it and has an anthem in his own honour sung instead.
Q 07Which Soviet leader does the pig Napoleon represent?
Joseph Stalin
He is a Berkshire boar who drives out his rival and gradually starts living like a human.
Q 08Which Soviet figure does the exiled pig Snowball represent?
Leon Trotsky
Like his model he is exiled and turned into an image of evil, though the book never has him murdered.
Q 09What is the name of the small pig who serves as Napoleon's propaganda minister?
Squealer
He is a collective portrait of Soviet officials and journalists such as those of Pravda.
Q 10What is the name of the loyal, hard-working cart-horse whose motto is 'Napoleon is always right'?
Boxer
He has been compared to Alexey Stakhanov, the Soviet model worker.
Q 11What happens to the loyal cart-horse after he collapses from overwork?
Napoleon sells him to a knacker
The pigs use the money to buy whisky, while their propagandist claims the van belonged to an animal hospital.
Q 12Which cynical old donkey is one of the few animals who can read properly?
Benjamin
Friends nicknamed Orwell 'Donkey George' after the character; his catchphrase is that life will go on badly, as it always has.
Q 13What is the vain white mare Mollie fond of?
Hair ribbons and sugar cubes
Q 21How does Napoleon finally drive Snowball off the farm?
He sets his dogs on him
The dogs were puppies he had taken from Jessie and Bluebell and raised in secret as his security force.
Q 22Which neighbouring farmer pays Napoleon in counterfeit money and then attacks the farm with explosives?
Mr. Frederick
The alliance and betrayal echo the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and Operation Barbarossa.
Q 23Which small, well-kept neighbouring farm has a tough owner rumoured to enjoy cockfighting?
Pinchfield
Mr. Pilkington's large, weedy Foxwood lies on the other side, making Animal Farm a buffer between the two.
She soon leaves for another farm, like the Russians who fled after the fall of the Tsar.
Q 14What kind of animal is Moses, who tells tales of Sugarcandy Mountain?
A raven
He represents institutionalised religion, and Napoleon lets him stay with a daily gill of beer.
Q 15What is the name of the goat, one of the few non-pigs on the farm who can read?
Muriel
Like the old donkey she survives the purges by staying out of politics.
Q 16How many commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall?
Seven
They are eventually reduced to a single sentence about equality.
Q 17How does the final, altered commandment read?
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others
The pigs by then walk on two legs, carry whips, drink and wear clothes.
Q 18What slogan do the sheep bleat to drown out any dissent?
Four legs good, two legs bad
Their bleating recalls the crowds Stalin used to shout down Trotsky.
Q 19What is the name given to the fight in which the ousted farmer and his men fail to retake the farm?
The Battle of the Cowshed
Napoleon, absent from the fight, later paints himself as its hero and Snowball as a traitor.
Q 20What structure does Snowball propose building to modernise the farm?
A windmill
After expelling him, Napoleon claims the idea as his own; the animals' struggles to build it evoke the five-year plans.
Q 24What is Mr. Whymper's role in the story?
Napoleon's human go-between for trade
He starts by buying dog biscuits and paraffin and ends up procuring alcohol for the pigs.
Q 25What is the job of the pig Pinkeye?
Tasting Napoleon's food for poison
He is mentioned only once, in that role.
Q 26Which poetic pig composes the anthem 'Comrade Napoleon' after the old song is banned?
Minimus
He has been compared, loosely, to the Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky.
Q 27Which real-life tragedy do the hens, starved for refusing to give up their eggs, represent?
The Ukrainian Holodomor
They are among the first to rebel against Napoleon and are brutally suppressed.
Q 28What is unusual about the cat's only recorded vote?
She voted both ways
She is never seen to work and is always forgiven because her excuses are so convincing.
Q 29What is the flag of Animal Farm made from?
Mrs. Jones's green tablecloth
Snowball paints a white hoof and horn on it; the symbol is removed by the end.
Q 30What are the pigs and men doing when the animals outside realise they can no longer tell them apart?
Playing cards and cheating
Napoleon has just told his guests the lesser animals work more and eat less than they are told.