[1] A New York Times article about a hostile letter sent to the publisher from the Orwell estate, which cited issues of copyright infringement, precipitated a journalistic and online debate about the book at a time when Orwell's legacy was under question, due to a list of "crypto-Communists" he handed over to the British Foreign Office.

"[4] As was reported in Australian paper The Age:[5] "[William] Hamilton [Orwell's literary executor], of London, said: 'If it were a straight parody, I would say 'Good on you.'

A second windmill is soon built alongside the first, and the two are thenceforth known as the Twin Mills (allegorical of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center), and the animals all learn to walk on their hind legs, something hitherto forbidden by Old Major shortly before the expulsion of Mr. Jones from the farm.

In an effort to increase their wealth, Snowball proposes to transform the farm into a large fairground named Animal Fair (similar to the development of Coney Island in the 19th century), and in order to provide power for the fair, the animals drive off a group of beavers and other woodland creatures living by a nearby river, and the beaver-dams are destroyed in order for the farm to exploit the water-supply of the river (similar treatment to that endured by the Native Americans).

Despite the success of Animal Fair, the excessive littering and pollution leaves the farm in a deplorable state, and matters worsen when the Twin Mills are destroyed by the woodland creatures in retaliation for their expulsion from the riverbank (in a manner similar to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center).