Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Book Review - Animal Farm

"During the times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."


-George Orwell



George Orwell's book Animal Farm is parallel to the idealistic totalitarianism in Russia. The characters compare with the political leaders in Stalinist Russia.



After Manor Farm is taken over by the overworked, underfed animals, an animal rights revolution evolves.



Old Major, the flame to this fire of angry animals, explains that all animals are treated unfairly, and the revolution begins! All is well after the overthrow of Manor Farm until the pigs decide they are the smartest, most valuable animals on now, Animal Farm.



Soon the other animals start to realize the pigs are changing some of the founding commandments. What used to be "No animal shall sleep in a bed" was edited to "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets". The animals continue to be treated unfairly throughout the story.


My favorite parallelism is the pigs to humans. In the end the pigs invite the humans over for a game of cards and as the other animals look through the farmhouse windows they cannot tell which is human and which is a pig.

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