Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers'
revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea
as the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About.
(The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by
Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm
is a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an
allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor
Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the
land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works
overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season,
every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted
in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal
shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow
four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are
friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon,
however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of
their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and
power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and
organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching
over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and
eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the
revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their
violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and
exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm.
Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains
unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to
his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs.
Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of
the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy.
--Joyce Thompson
Book Details:
Edition Info: Paperback; 1986-06
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