What is significant about how the animals arrange themselves as they gather to hear Major?

In the first chapter of
, the animals who have come to hearspeak sit in an order which is minutely
described by . The dogs come in first and sit at the front, along with the pigs. The chickens
are on the window sills and the pigeons in the rafters. The sheep and cows lie down behind the
pigs. Clover, the mare, uses her foreleg to protect the orphaned ducklings. Both she andare very
careful not to tread on any small animals.

All this is significant because it
shows the animals already have the capacity for organization. They do not require a leader,
human or otherwise. Most people would predict that if you let all the animals on a farm out of
their enclosures, you would be faced with chaos, but these animals are perfectly capable of
arranging themselves.