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Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway'sThe Old Man and the Seaas the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism,Animal Farmis a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm. SatireAnimal Farmmay be, but it's a stony reader who remains unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs. Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy.--Joyce Thompson
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Orwell's _Animal Farm_ is brilliant. Its genius works on several levels: it is easy (and dare I say it? fun) to read. It is an accurate commentary on power and is a biting criticism of post-revolutionary Russia.
After the animals take over a farm, rules are established to create an egalitarian society. Gradually, the rules are amended, dissent is estinguished, and ultimately, the pigs rule as brutally and ruthlessly as the farmer.
Highly recommended.
A true classic. This book is one of the most unique books you'll ever read whether you are an "Orwellian" or not. This book represents any government system, and not just a fascist or communist regime as some suggest. George Orwell tells the story of a group of animals that hear a message to rise up against the humans. As they rise up, the pigs become the power hungry on the quest to rise up from their oppression. The pigs take advantage of their power, and they also betray their own rules.
This book could say that one has to be a true saint for communism to work effectively, but in my opinion it states that if you give anyone power over another group of people, you will discover that we do not differ from the pigs in this novel.
This is a true classic that everyone should read and feel inspired by. If you haven't read this, you don't know what you're missing.Today or 1945. Animal Farm relates. Pigs are Pigs The introduction, not to be overlooked, contrasted the release of the book with the, then soon to be dropped, atomic bomb.
Today the book could be contrasted with the election of 2006 and the change it caused for those in power. George Orwell used the farm animals as a "fairy-story with political purpose". As he said in the book he intended to show the effects of totalitarianism. I prefer to take him at his word rather than to say it is really about something else, even if it points to a lot of other things. Rereading it always opens up new things it seems to be about.
The pigs seemed to be, in the beginning, the organizers and the ones that understood the problem. The problem in the beginning is that they were not equal. Animals were not equal to people. Then they solved the problem and in doing so they eventually became the problem.
A more current example of the "farm yard" might be our congress. One party controls it for years and the other sees all that is wrong and rises up and finally takes over. Then they lose their vision and just add "pork". Guess is is about pigs after all.
The book is one of the best every written on power. It shows clearly why it is abused and how easy it is for those that gain a little, with the best of motives, wind up misusing it.
The conclusion in the book was that "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others".
This book is one to re and reread. Easy to do in one sitting.
