Written by George Orwell
A book for readers in grades 8 and up reviewed by Olivia
George
Orwell's Animal Farm captures the themes of tyranny, revolt, and the
repetition of history. The book starts as an ambitious children's tale. When
Mr. Jones, the owner of Manor Farm, falls asleep in a drunken stupor, all of
his animals meet in the main barn at the behest of Old Major, a twelve-year-old
pig. Major makes a rousing political speech about the horrors imposed on the
animals by their human guardians and their desire to rebel against man's
oppression. Shortly after Jones forgets to feed the cattle, a revolt takes
place, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm.
Manor
Farm is renamed Livestock Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are
written on the barn wall, the most important being, "All animals are made
equal." This is then changed to, "All animals are equal, but some
animals are more equal than others." Via the reform of the commandments,
Orwell shows how political dogma can be transformed into malleable propaganda.
Animal Farm does not
have children's book content! It has a lot of heavy things. According to Orwell,
the novel represents the developments leading up to the Russian Revolution of
1917 and then to the Stalinist period of the Soviet Union. He claimed that the
Soviet Union had been a ruthless monarchy founded on a cult of personality and
implemented by a reign of terror. In his 1946 essay "Why I Write,"
Orwell wrote that Animal Farm was the first book he attempted with
complete awareness of what he was doing, which was to "mix political
intent and creative purpose into one whole." In my humble opinion, he
mastered that with flying colors.
I
am not a history buff, and I am not familiar with all of the historical
developments reflected in Animal Farm, but Orwell's narrative can be
applied not only to the Russian Revolution, but to revolutions and changes of
leadership in general. The animal protest against Farmer Jones is Orwell's
comparison with the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917. The Battle of the
Cowshed was meant to reflect the Allied invasion of Soviet Russia in 1918. The
rise of the pigs to preeminence represents the rise of the Stalinist
bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and the rise of Napoleon as the supreme head
of the farm reflects the rise of Stalin. The pigs' appropriation of milk and
apples for their own consumption is analogous to the suppression of the
left-wing Kronstadt uprising against the Bolsheviks in 1921, and the
complicated actions of the animals to create the windmill suggest the numerous
Five-Year Plans.
Another
subject of George Orwell's Animal Farm, which often strikes a satirical
tone, is the notion that religion is the "opium of the people" (as
Karl Marx famously wrote). Moses the Raven's talk of the Sugarcandy Mountain
originally annoyed many of the creatures, since Moses, who is regarded as the
"teller of stories," appears to be an inaccurate source. At this
point, the animals are still optimistic for a better future, and thus discard
Moses' paradise stories. But, as their lives worsen, the animals begin to
believe him. Here, Orwell mocks the vain idea of a better place that simply
does not exist. The pigs want Moses to remain on the farm—and even welcome his
participation by rewarding him with beer—because they realize that his
Sugarcandy Mountain tales can hold the animals docile. As long as they believe
there is a better life after death, the animals can trudge through their
current ones. Thus, Orwell suggests that religious devotion—considered by many
as a noble character trait—can genuinely distort the manner in which one thinks
about one's existence on Earth.
In the end, Animal Farm is a book that absolutely rocked me. It will torment and accompany me for the remainder of my life, and I will continue to fear and look forward to picking it up again and again.
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