Animal Farm

Title: Animal Farm
Author: Gorge Orwell
Date Published: 1945, Secker & Warburg
Genre: Political, fiction.

Overview:

Animal farm is a book about a farm, but not just any farm, but a farm run and owned by animals. How does a farm come to be under the control of animals, you ask? A revolution! A revolution brought on by the boar know as Old Major, who calls a meeting one night, after having a revelational dream, he tells about a time when animals rule and no human foot walks the earth. A time where animals work for them selves and reap all the rewards, instead of the “piggish” and glutinous humans taking all of the food and leaving little for the animals. Old Major then proceeds to teach the song “Beasts of England”, an anthem of the revolution, to the animals of the farm. The animals, although very eager to become free, admit that this revolution would probably never be achieved in their life time. Still, they still keep their spirits up, in the belief that their revolution will one day come. Now, the revolution dose comes, and sooner then they think, they evict the farmer and claim freedom. When Animal Farm first becomes free, it is decided that all animals are equal and seven commandments are written, a new ideal is created; Animalism. However, not long after, the pigs, one of the smartest animals on the farm, claim that they will do all the organising and managing of the farm, because they are much smarter that the rest of the animals, and in total trust, the rest of the animals obey. The Pigs allocate that they must receive more food then the rest of the farm, as well as get better sleeping arrangements. The Pigs work the farm and though lies and manipulation slowly turn it into a dictatorship, however the animals still believe the pigs are helping them, and only taking their fair share. Eventually the pigs are in total control of the farm and in the end it is revealed that the farm animals are the hardest worked and least fed animals in all of England.

Opinion:

Animal farm is a book about communism, with obvious references such as the animals calling each other “comrade”. However it is hard not to see that some of the things that Gorge Orwell says are prone to communism, such as the poisonous lies and the way the leaders are separated from there followers, are Turning up in our “democracy” with alarming regularity. Animal farm can be rather disturbing book to read, because it shows the steps taken to turn a supposedly utopian world, into a corrupted dictatorship, where there is no free speech and we are all used as puppets by an elite few. It isn’t hard to see how this could be applied in a real world situation. It is a must read if you are in any way political, and even if your not it will still get your blood boiling at the way the animals are used and tricked. All up I think Animal Farm is a good book with a strong story line and interesting characters, as well as an underlying message about the dangers of total belief in our “superiors”.

“Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but it was already impossible to tell which was which.”

LSS