Animal Farm by George Orwell
Animal Farm is a unique book. The book starts off with a normal farm, run by a drunk named Mr. Jones. There are things that Mr. Jones doesn’t know about stirring within the barn. An ancient boar with the nickname of “Major” calls for all the animals to gather around him. He brings the bad treatment of the farm animals to the top of everyone’s minds. He then proclaims and fantasizes about how everyone should strive, or atleast hope for freedom from the system which starves the animals, and kills them when they’re old enough to be eaten for mere food by dirty humans. The animals gobble this wonderful possibility up, and it soon becomes the talk of the farm, because who doesn’t want to be free? The animals soon overthrow Mr. Jones in a bloody battle. They then start to lead, and the beginning of their own government starts to form.
One of the first things that the animals accomplish is write their seven commandments that the animals shall follow at all times! They read: 1- Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, 2 - Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend, 3- No animal shall wear clothes, 4 - No animal shall sleep in a bed , 5 -No animal shall drink alcohol, 6 - No animal shall kill another animal , 7- All animals are created equal. The rules seem good in a way, but soon enough, the pigs start to break these commandments.
This new government, which starts with everyone’s participation and enthusiasm soon becomes a cruel and selfish dictatorship ruled by the pigs, who excuse their unfair actions and inequality with their large amount of intelligence. This shows how easily the mind of any conscious being can be corrupted, and filled with greed. The disturbing scenes start to come once the pigs have realized how easily it is to deceive the poor farm animals! One of the most disturbing scenes in the book is when Napolean the pig (leader of the farm) calls everyone to come in front of him. He accuses four animals of helping Napolean’s rival, Snowball to cause destruction of Animal Farm. Their throats are quickly ripped out. Napolean then asks any animal that has committed harm to Animal Farm to come up and confess. The dim-witted animals come up by the dozens to be mindlessly slaughtered by Napolean and his ferocious dogs. Some of the “crimes” committed are as tiny as peeing in the watering hole! This scene ends with a pile of corpses in front of Napolean, he doesn’t seem stirred by this though. The commandment that the pigs broke here is then modified from “No animal shall kill another animal” to “No animal shall kill another animal without cause”.
As you may know in this book, Orwell criticizes the incredible oppression the Soviet system imposed. Figures like Napolean and Snowball are representatives for actual politicians. Writing a book is an incredible way to criticize something, and in this case, a government. It’s amazing how well Orwell pulled this off, because it makes you think. Anyone can write a paper exposing the lies and dirty doings a government has performed. The dirty doers will just brush it off as mindless criticism, and the supporters of the dirty doers won’t be swayed to much. Writing a allegorical book like this actually has a chance of being read by the opposition. It isn’t just plain criticism; it’s criticism with smarts injected into it.
As I mentioned, this book shows how easily the conscious mind become corrupted, and the goal that was originally set is forgotten. The hopes and dreams of the common person is forgotten by the leaders who have the potential to change things, and the focus is put on unimportant stuff. Are there any examples today? Of course! Things haven’t changed much. The often stingy world of politicians is filled with people who have lost what they set out to do and then worry about in money, and treat it like a separate being. Actually, the way people handle money is a good example of this. Some people treat money as this large problem, and spend their life fondling it and accumulating it to build their inner security. They forget what goals they had in life, and become unhappy.
I thoroughly enjoyed Animal Farm. It was uneventful at times, since it does run on a bit much, but it never stayed that way for long. I would highly recommend reading this book to you, even if you’ve read it before.
One of the first things that the animals accomplish is write their seven commandments that the animals shall follow at all times! They read: 1- Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, 2 - Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend, 3- No animal shall wear clothes, 4 - No animal shall sleep in a bed , 5 -No animal shall drink alcohol, 6 - No animal shall kill another animal , 7- All animals are created equal. The rules seem good in a way, but soon enough, the pigs start to break these commandments.
This new government, which starts with everyone’s participation and enthusiasm soon becomes a cruel and selfish dictatorship ruled by the pigs, who excuse their unfair actions and inequality with their large amount of intelligence. This shows how easily the mind of any conscious being can be corrupted, and filled with greed. The disturbing scenes start to come once the pigs have realized how easily it is to deceive the poor farm animals! One of the most disturbing scenes in the book is when Napolean the pig (leader of the farm) calls everyone to come in front of him. He accuses four animals of helping Napolean’s rival, Snowball to cause destruction of Animal Farm. Their throats are quickly ripped out. Napolean then asks any animal that has committed harm to Animal Farm to come up and confess. The dim-witted animals come up by the dozens to be mindlessly slaughtered by Napolean and his ferocious dogs. Some of the “crimes” committed are as tiny as peeing in the watering hole! This scene ends with a pile of corpses in front of Napolean, he doesn’t seem stirred by this though. The commandment that the pigs broke here is then modified from “No animal shall kill another animal” to “No animal shall kill another animal without cause”.
As you may know in this book, Orwell criticizes the incredible oppression the Soviet system imposed. Figures like Napolean and Snowball are representatives for actual politicians. Writing a book is an incredible way to criticize something, and in this case, a government. It’s amazing how well Orwell pulled this off, because it makes you think. Anyone can write a paper exposing the lies and dirty doings a government has performed. The dirty doers will just brush it off as mindless criticism, and the supporters of the dirty doers won’t be swayed to much. Writing a allegorical book like this actually has a chance of being read by the opposition. It isn’t just plain criticism; it’s criticism with smarts injected into it.
As I mentioned, this book shows how easily the conscious mind become corrupted, and the goal that was originally set is forgotten. The hopes and dreams of the common person is forgotten by the leaders who have the potential to change things, and the focus is put on unimportant stuff. Are there any examples today? Of course! Things haven’t changed much. The often stingy world of politicians is filled with people who have lost what they set out to do and then worry about in money, and treat it like a separate being. Actually, the way people handle money is a good example of this. Some people treat money as this large problem, and spend their life fondling it and accumulating it to build their inner security. They forget what goals they had in life, and become unhappy.
I thoroughly enjoyed Animal Farm. It was uneventful at times, since it does run on a bit much, but it never stayed that way for long. I would highly recommend reading this book to you, even if you’ve read it before.
posted by featheredtar at Monday, April 04, 2005
2 Comments:
That's really funny. It's very true, disturbing, but still good. You can kind of sense the impending doom at the beginning though, in a way, even the cover picture (for mine) is odd. A pig peering over a fence...
It'll be interesting to see how 1984 is, since I've heard it is darker than Animal Farm.
thx for the comment danni-doo!
i read this book for english this year. it seemed to make no sense to me after i related it to the russian politics. i like to read books without the understanding behind them. i don't know why.
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