The speaker of this passage, which is the narrator conveys the meaning that the animals have been working arduously throughout the winter trying to build a windmill that will benefit the farm. The humans are hoping that the animals will be unable to construct the windmill so they can prove their superiority over the animals. This passage describes the weather using imagery and addresses the building of the windmill and how rejoiced the humans will be if the windmill was not to be finished. The weather irony that is evident in this passage helps to convey the meaning that the farm is going through some hardships and the snow, sleet, and hard frost all mean that they had continued to be knocked down over and over again from their goal of building
