Last modified: 2011-12-09 by antónio martins
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Snowball, one of the porcine leaders of the revolution,
had found in the harness-room an old green tablecloth of Mrs Jones’s and had painted on it a hoof and a horn in white. This was run up the flagstaff in the farmhouse garden every Sunday morning. The flag was green, Snowball explained, to represent the green fields of England, while the horn and the hoof signified the future Republic of the Animals which would arise when the human race had finally been overthrown.Stuart A. Notholt, 23 Dec 1998
The first flag was the flag of Animal Farm, and was apparently used by the
republic as well.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 05 Jun 2002
Considering that the story is largely a criticism of soviet-style communism,
it occured to me that a soviet-style design might be what
George Orwell had in mind for the flag.
Marc Pasquin, 14 Jun 2005
I prefer this rendition, it’s probably closest to what
the author intended, even if the “horn and hoof” is a bit too
“fancy” for something a pig is supposed to have painted (as per the
novel)…
David Kendall, 14-16 Jun 2005
Yet another version of the flag of the Animal Republic is in use in the
English Wikipedia and
shows the
same design as above enlarged and centered on a squarish
green flag.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 05 Oct 2009
I have a copy of Animal Farm in my library (it’s one of my
favourite books), the copy I have (a Penguin Books paperback, if that helps
with the particular edition) that has a copy of the flag on the
cover.
Keep in mind however, that just because this flag appeared on the cover of
this particular edition of the book, doesn’t mean that this is the
“official” interpretation of how the flag should look.
David Kendall, 14-16 Jun 2005
Since it has been published and sold to the thousands, the design on the
cover of the Penguin’s book has a fictional “existence” of
its own, though it would be interesting to know the author’s ideas.
António Martins 16 Jun 2005
While Marc’s drawing was probably more accurate
(as Orwell was indeed parodying the old Soviet
political system), since a drawing was not provided in the original text, one
can only guess.
David Kendall, 14-16 Jun 2005
The hoof and horn eventually disappeared from
the flag, as did much of the ceremonial surrounding its use.
Stuart A. Notholt, 23 Dec 1998
The flag change is described as, paraphrazing the words of the leader of the republic:
His visitors might have observed, too, the green flag which flew from the masthead. If so, they would perhaps have noted that the white hoof and horn with which it had previously been marked had now been removed. It would be a plain green flag from now onwards.Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 05 Jun 2002
Apart from the green flag described before, there’s also mention of another green banner, used in the weekly “Spontaneous Demonstrations”:
Boxer and Clover always carried between them a green banner marked with the hoof and the horn an the caption, ’Long Live Comrade Napoleon!’It’s not mentioned whether in later years the green banner may have been used by other animals than the ones mentioned, but after the early summer of the eight year of the narrative it might no longer have been deemed politically correct, as it is based on the old flag, and uses the address "comrade".
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