Animal Farm: The Rise of the Pigs
"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but it already it was impossible to say which was which."
The line above you just read is the final line from Animal Farm. Hello all! Thank you for coming to our blog. I'm Wes and as you can tell, today I'll be talking about George Orwell's Animal Farm.
Published in the end days of World
War II, the goal of Animal Farm was to show how truly
dangerous Joseph Stalin's regime was. Orwell himself had actually fought in the
Spanish Civil War, and after seeing the atrocities committed by Stalin's
regime, decided that he should he should write a book, which is now known
as Animal Farm.
Orwell was a strong believer in
socialism. However, he viewed Stalin's regime as an "alien" form of
socialism. A regime too dangerous to be left alone, and he used Animal
Farm in order to express his views. Many people didn't know that
Orwell sympathized with socialism, and Orwell himself was quite okay with that.
He enjoyed being seen as an enemy of Soviet Russia, and anyone who has read the
book would believe that as well.
That's enough rambling, I just
believe understanding the history behind Orwell and his reasons for
writing Animal Farm make the story that much better. With that
in mind, it's time to give a brief summary (spoiler free) and review the book.
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The book starts out on Manor Farm,
a farm where the humans have it good and the animals are nearly worked to
death. That had been the way for years, and no one saw any reason to change it.
This all changed when Major, an old pig who was dying, gathered everyone around
him and began to speak. He talked about a revolution. A revolution which would
end the suffering of the farm animals forever. Immediately everyone was
intrigued. By the time Major was finished, everyone was moved. They knew that even if the revolution didn't come in their time, they would have to help it succeed. However, the revolution did come during their life. The animals fought bravely against the humans and won, claiming Manor Farm to now be "Animal Farm".
With the farm now controlled by animals, the farm thrived. Animals were given large rations compared to what they got during the human reign, and all were happy. Collectively, they animals made seven commandments. These included commandments such as: "Four leg good, two leg bad".
After awhile of the animal's rule, one particular species started to emerge as a leader. The pigs. Pigs were already seen as the most intelligent species, and so they took it upon themselves to be the "leaders" of Animal Farm.Two pigs emerged as the leaders, Snowball and Napoleon. At first, both the pigs included all of the other animals in decisions for the farm, however, the two pigs never agreed with one another. In a sense, they had balanced and checked each other. But it all came to a T when Napoleon chased away Snowball. Previously, they had found a way to compromise for the good of the farm, but now that Napoleon was in charge, his only interest was for himself. And soon, the animals found the the previously stated commandment had somehow become "Four leg good, two leg gooder."
And after all that, the book ends on a rather dire note. "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but it already it was impossible to say say which was which."
---
(Not all the events were listed. If you want to get the whole story read the book)
Before I started the summary, I said that it was spoiler free, however, there was nothing in the story to spoil. There was no big plot twist or some dramatic ending that would have made reading the story useless if known. Everything about what happens in the book is located in the summary on the back of the book. That is my chief dislike of this book. We already know what is going to happen. Another thing I dislike about the book is how it passes time. The entire events of Animal Farm take place over many years, however this is not made clear by Orwell. I would at least expected a large time jump to take place with a new chapter, or at the very least a paragraph separated from the previous one with a fancy asterisk (*). The time change also isn't signalled by the text very well, so it seems awkward whenever one of these changes occurred.
Despite the points listed above, I still love this book. Orwell's comparisons of the pig's actions to the Stalin regime can only be described as savage. I found myself many times dying of laughter because Orwell had so beautifully "roasted" Stalin's regime. Even though this book doesn't have a mind shattering twist, Orwell still makes the book interesting and engaging the entire way through.
That concludes my review of Animal Farm. I strongly advise every to read this book because of it savage comedy and unique concept. Animal Farm is definitely something worth putting on your To-Read List.
With the farm now controlled by animals, the farm thrived. Animals were given large rations compared to what they got during the human reign, and all were happy. Collectively, they animals made seven commandments. These included commandments such as: "Four leg good, two leg bad".
After awhile of the animal's rule, one particular species started to emerge as a leader. The pigs. Pigs were already seen as the most intelligent species, and so they took it upon themselves to be the "leaders" of Animal Farm.Two pigs emerged as the leaders, Snowball and Napoleon. At first, both the pigs included all of the other animals in decisions for the farm, however, the two pigs never agreed with one another. In a sense, they had balanced and checked each other. But it all came to a T when Napoleon chased away Snowball. Previously, they had found a way to compromise for the good of the farm, but now that Napoleon was in charge, his only interest was for himself. And soon, the animals found the the previously stated commandment had somehow become "Four leg good, two leg gooder."
And after all that, the book ends on a rather dire note. "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but it already it was impossible to say say which was which."
---
(Not all the events were listed. If you want to get the whole story read the book)
Before I started the summary, I said that it was spoiler free, however, there was nothing in the story to spoil. There was no big plot twist or some dramatic ending that would have made reading the story useless if known. Everything about what happens in the book is located in the summary on the back of the book. That is my chief dislike of this book. We already know what is going to happen. Another thing I dislike about the book is how it passes time. The entire events of Animal Farm take place over many years, however this is not made clear by Orwell. I would at least expected a large time jump to take place with a new chapter, or at the very least a paragraph separated from the previous one with a fancy asterisk (*). The time change also isn't signalled by the text very well, so it seems awkward whenever one of these changes occurred.
Despite the points listed above, I still love this book. Orwell's comparisons of the pig's actions to the Stalin regime can only be described as savage. I found myself many times dying of laughter because Orwell had so beautifully "roasted" Stalin's regime. Even though this book doesn't have a mind shattering twist, Orwell still makes the book interesting and engaging the entire way through.
That concludes my review of Animal Farm. I strongly advise every to read this book because of it savage comedy and unique concept. Animal Farm is definitely something worth putting on your To-Read List.
I’ve heard of this book before, but never actually considered reading it. Your post gave me a new perspective on the novel and brought up some interesting topics that I hadn’t previously thought about. I was wondering whether there were any direct references to socialism in the book or whether Orwell preferred to keep his opinions more subtle, like L. Frank Baum’s political opinions in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Another question I had after reading your blog was whether Orwell ever wrote any more books about his socialist views, or whether his other books are purely fictional. Finally, I was confused about one point that you made. You mentioned that Snowball and Napoleon took charge of all the animals before Snowball was driven away, but later you add that the book didn’t have any plot twists. I thought both developments would mark plot twists in the book when a new manor is created by the animals, and when one of the main leaders is driven away. Overall, I thought your post was really informative and interesting.
ReplyDelete"Animal Farm" was on my list of books that I have to read. Reading your review on it makes me think I should make this book higher up on my list. Your summary explained the book well, and your description of Orwell's ideologies helps make the book make more sense. I have read some of Orwell's books before, and I hope to read this one soon.
ReplyDeleteI read this book about three years ago, but I didn't really understand the deep political message it was trying to send. Looking back, it makes a lot more sense contextually, and I plan to read it again to try to get the full experience. Something you mentioned that was very surprising to me was Orwell actually believed in socialism. Reading your summary, I totally would have thought Orwell was through and through a capitalist and completely anti-communist, but not a socialist. When I read it again, I'll keep this in mind.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this book before, but it seems like an interesting read that would provide insight on the political structures of that time. I like how the politics of real life are incorporated into the fiction of this story and made to be an entertaining read for anyone willing to read this novel. The title makes the story seem so innocent but where in the book, it's about a group of animals who rebel against their farmer and establish (sort of) a political system.
ReplyDeleteI read Animal Farm a few years ago, but I was a little too young to understand the book's message and the point it was trying to get across. I agree that there is little plot development, and at times, I found it a little boring (But again, it could have just been because I didn't understand what the book was about at the time). I think this review is useful for explaining the book to people who might not have understood it and for deciding if it is the type of book you would be interested in. I might consider reading it again now that I am able to understand the context better than when I read it the first time. Overall, I found this review helpful, and I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you wrote this, it has a unique style you took a more relaxed and casual tone. I have heard of this book before as many people read it for the Banned Book project subbie year. I like how you went from an overview of the book to describing the plot to a small review at the end. I have also heard that the book doesn't have a huge surprising twist or how everything is basically in the summary from other people that have read this which, makes me want to read it now to see for myself. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI read this book a few years ago and I remember, like you, being very entertained when I noticed connections between the book and the political drama at the time. As far as I can remember, I enjoyed the book. I'm glad that you wrote about the history and your problems with the way the story was told. Nice review!
ReplyDelete