The destruction of the windmill marks Animal Farm’s final, irrevocable turn for the worse. As the windmill earlier symbolized the hopes of Snowball and a future of leisure, its explosion at the hands of Frederick symbolizes the absolute impossibility of Snowball’s dreams. The Battle of the Windmill recalls, of course, the Battle of the Cowshed, but this battle is more chaotic, more bloody, and less effective than the former: “A cow, three sheep, and two geese were killed, and nearly everyone was wounded.”
Like the statistics that “proved” that the animals could not be hungry, Squealer’s logic in proving that the battle was a victory is an incredible display of political doubletalk at its most obvious and ludicrous: Boxer, bleeding and wounded, cannot conceive how Squealer can call the battle a victory, until the pig explains, “The enemy was in occupation of this very ground that we stand upon. And now — thanks to the leadership of comrade Napoleon — we have won every inch of it back again!” Boxer’s deadpan reply to this — “Then we have won back what we had before” — contains a wisdom that even he cannot appreciate, for he is attempting to follow Squealer’s logic while simultaneously (and unknowingly) pointing out the laughable nature of Squealer’s claim. Here, as elsewhere, the satire of Animal Farm grows exponentially sharper and more bitter with each chapter.
The episode involving the alcohol is notable for the way in which it further characterizes the pigs as the gluttonous animals they are thought to be in the popular imagination, as well as how it offers another example of Napoleon’s cold efficiency: His decision to use that paddock as a place to harvest barley instead of the old-age home it was originally earmarked to be clearly indicates that Napoleon values profits (and homemade spirits) over revering the aged.
