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A review by lectrixnoctis
Animal Farm by George Orwell
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so inactive and intoxicated that he forgets to feed his livestock one day. Under the pigs' leadership, Napoleon and Snowball, the ensuing rebellion manages to the animals taking over the farm. Vowing to defeat the terrible inequities of the farm, the renamed Animal Farm is organised to serve all who walk on four limbs. But as time passes, the goals of the rebellion are damaged, then neglected. And something new and unforeseen arises.
First printed in 1945, "Animal Farm" - the tale of a revolution that went wrong - is George Orwell's excellent satire on the corrupting power of power.
One of the novella's accomplishments is the portrayal of the figures in power and the mistreated people. "Animal Farm" is not told from one particular character's viewpoint, though seldom does it slip into Clover's consciousness. Instead, the story is narrated from the view of the common animals as a whole.
"Animal Farm" is most popular in the West as a stinging commentary of the history of the Russian Revolution. Retelling the tale of the emergence and spread of Soviet communism in the form of an animal fable, Animal Farm allegorises the rise to leadership of the dictator Joseph Stalin. In the novella, the overthrow of Mr Jones by a democratic alliance of animals quickly consolidates leadership among the pigs. The pigs establish as the ruling class in the new civilisation.
The conflict for preeminence between Leon Trotsky and Stalin begins in the competition between the pigs, Snowball and Napoleon. In the historical and fictional cases, the visionary but politically less influential figure (Trotsky and Snowball) is suspended from the revolutionary state by the malicious and violent usurper of leadership (Stalin and Napoleon). in Animal Farm as the false confessions and killings of animals whom Napoleon suspects following the collapse of the windmill. Stalin's brutal rule and final abandonment of the establishing principles of the Russian Revolution are represented by the pigs' turn to a violent state and the selection of human traits and behaviours, the trappings of their first oppressors.
His novella creates its most potent ironies when Orwell depicts the corruption of Animalist ideals by those in power. For Animal Farm serves not to condemn tyranny or despotism but to indict the horrifying hypocrisy of tyrannies that base themselves on ideologies of liberation and equality and owe their initial power. The gradual integration and perversion of the Seven Commandments illustrate this hypocrisy with striking force, as do Squealer's complex philosophical justifications for the pigs' blatantly unprincipled acts. Thus, the novella critiques the destruction of the Stalinist regime against the human beings it ruled and points to Soviet communism's violence against human logic, language, and ideals.
"Animal Farm" gives commentary on the progress of class tyranny and the human tendency to maintain and reestablish class constructions in societies that allegedly stand for complete equality. The book illustrates how classes initially united in the face of a shared enemy, as the animals are toward the humans, may become mentally divided when that enemy is defeated. The removal of Mr Jones creates a power space, and it is only so long before the next oppressor allows dictatorial control.
The actual division between intellectual and physical work quickly expresses itself as a new set of class divisions. The "brain workers" (as the pigs in this case) use their superior intelligence to manipulate society to their benefit. The novella points to the strength of this tendency toward class in many communities and its threat to democracy and freedom.
Animal Farm demonstrates how the failure or unwillingness to question authority punishes the working class for suffering the total size of the ruling class's oppression.
One of Orwell's central concerns in "Animal Farm" is how language can be manipulated as an instrument of control. The pigs deliberately twist and distort a rhetoric of socialist revolution to justify their behaviour and keep the others in the dark. The animals completely embrace Major's visionary ideal of socialism, but after Major dies, the pigs gradually change the meaning of his words. Consequently, the other animals seem unable to oppose the pigs without opposing the rebellion's ideals.
"Animal Farm" describes the idea that leadership ever corrupts. The novella's massive use of foreshadowing, especially in the opening chapter, creates the feeling that the story's events are unavoidable.
"Animal Farm" is deeply sceptical about the use of intellectual activity. The pigs are known as the most intelligent animals, but their intelligence rarely produces anything of value. Instead, the pigs use their knowledge to manipulate and abuse the other animals.
As an allegory of the methods humans abuse and wrong one another, "Animal Farm" also makes a more critical argument: humans use and oppress animals.
"Animal Farm" is packed with songs, poems, and slogans, including Major's stirring "Beasts of England," Minimus's ode to Napoleon, the sheep's songs, and Minimus's updated anthem "Animal Farm, Animal Farm." All of these songs work as propaganda, one of the primary conduits of social control. By making the working-class animals speak the exact words simultaneously, the pigs invoke an air of beauty and dignity associated with the text's subject matter. The songs also consume the animals' sense of identity and keep them centred on the tasks they will achieve freedom.
As "Animal Farm" squads gears from its first revolutionary fervour to a phase of the union of power for a few, national rituals become an ever more regular part of the farm's social life. Military honours, grand parades, and new songs all increase as the state tries to strengthen the loyalty of the animals. The growing frequency of the ceremonies bespeaks how the working class in the book becomes more reliant on the ruling class to determine their group identity and values.
This book was an absolute dream to read, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how fast a great idea can turn into something so horrible it can mess up the whole plan. Furthermore, it is pretty essential, in my opinion, to also read about the historical events that were going on while is the author of the world this book.
First printed in 1945, "Animal Farm" - the tale of a revolution that went wrong - is George Orwell's excellent satire on the corrupting power of power.
One of the novella's accomplishments is the portrayal of the figures in power and the mistreated people. "Animal Farm" is not told from one particular character's viewpoint, though seldom does it slip into Clover's consciousness. Instead, the story is narrated from the view of the common animals as a whole.
"Animal Farm" is most popular in the West as a stinging commentary of the history of the Russian Revolution. Retelling the tale of the emergence and spread of Soviet communism in the form of an animal fable, Animal Farm allegorises the rise to leadership of the dictator Joseph Stalin. In the novella, the overthrow of Mr Jones by a democratic alliance of animals quickly consolidates leadership among the pigs. The pigs establish as the ruling class in the new civilisation.
The conflict for preeminence between Leon Trotsky and Stalin begins in the competition between the pigs, Snowball and Napoleon. In the historical and fictional cases, the visionary but politically less influential figure (Trotsky and Snowball) is suspended from the revolutionary state by the malicious and violent usurper of leadership (Stalin and Napoleon). in Animal Farm as the false confessions and killings of animals whom Napoleon suspects following the collapse of the windmill. Stalin's brutal rule and final abandonment of the establishing principles of the Russian Revolution are represented by the pigs' turn to a violent state and the selection of human traits and behaviours, the trappings of their first oppressors.
His novella creates its most potent ironies when Orwell depicts the corruption of Animalist ideals by those in power. For Animal Farm serves not to condemn tyranny or despotism but to indict the horrifying hypocrisy of tyrannies that base themselves on ideologies of liberation and equality and owe their initial power. The gradual integration and perversion of the Seven Commandments illustrate this hypocrisy with striking force, as do Squealer's complex philosophical justifications for the pigs' blatantly unprincipled acts. Thus, the novella critiques the destruction of the Stalinist regime against the human beings it ruled and points to Soviet communism's violence against human logic, language, and ideals.
"Animal Farm" gives commentary on the progress of class tyranny and the human tendency to maintain and reestablish class constructions in societies that allegedly stand for complete equality. The book illustrates how classes initially united in the face of a shared enemy, as the animals are toward the humans, may become mentally divided when that enemy is defeated. The removal of Mr Jones creates a power space, and it is only so long before the next oppressor allows dictatorial control.
The actual division between intellectual and physical work quickly expresses itself as a new set of class divisions. The "brain workers" (as the pigs in this case) use their superior intelligence to manipulate society to their benefit. The novella points to the strength of this tendency toward class in many communities and its threat to democracy and freedom.
Animal Farm demonstrates how the failure or unwillingness to question authority punishes the working class for suffering the total size of the ruling class's oppression.
One of Orwell's central concerns in "Animal Farm" is how language can be manipulated as an instrument of control. The pigs deliberately twist and distort a rhetoric of socialist revolution to justify their behaviour and keep the others in the dark. The animals completely embrace Major's visionary ideal of socialism, but after Major dies, the pigs gradually change the meaning of his words. Consequently, the other animals seem unable to oppose the pigs without opposing the rebellion's ideals.
"Animal Farm" describes the idea that leadership ever corrupts. The novella's massive use of foreshadowing, especially in the opening chapter, creates the feeling that the story's events are unavoidable.
"Animal Farm" is deeply sceptical about the use of intellectual activity. The pigs are known as the most intelligent animals, but their intelligence rarely produces anything of value. Instead, the pigs use their knowledge to manipulate and abuse the other animals.
As an allegory of the methods humans abuse and wrong one another, "Animal Farm" also makes a more critical argument: humans use and oppress animals.
"Animal Farm" is packed with songs, poems, and slogans, including Major's stirring "Beasts of England," Minimus's ode to Napoleon, the sheep's songs, and Minimus's updated anthem "Animal Farm, Animal Farm." All of these songs work as propaganda, one of the primary conduits of social control. By making the working-class animals speak the exact words simultaneously, the pigs invoke an air of beauty and dignity associated with the text's subject matter. The songs also consume the animals' sense of identity and keep them centred on the tasks they will achieve freedom.
As "Animal Farm" squads gears from its first revolutionary fervour to a phase of the union of power for a few, national rituals become an ever more regular part of the farm's social life. Military honours, grand parades, and new songs all increase as the state tries to strengthen the loyalty of the animals. The growing frequency of the ceremonies bespeaks how the working class in the book becomes more reliant on the ruling class to determine their group identity and values.
This book was an absolute dream to read, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how fast a great idea can turn into something so horrible it can mess up the whole plan. Furthermore, it is pretty essential, in my opinion, to also read about the historical events that were going on while is the author of the world this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide and Violence