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Summary: Pigs In Power
Review: George Orwell's, Animal Farm is not only an accurate description of the Russian Revolution but of its key players as well. When you discover whom each animal in the story represents and how the events are parallel to real events of the Russian Revolution, you begin to realize what a truly innovative book this is. Orwell has combined his creative imagination with historical fact and has created a work that has lived well beyond his years. Aside from Orwell's historical overtones, I believe there is a more universal focus that applies not only to the Russian Revolution but to every single conflict of the world in human history: abuse of power. Acton's Law dictates, "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." The purpose of this "law" is not to stress how power over anyone is wrong, quite the contrary. A mother must have the authority to discipline and protect her child, even against the child's wishes, and the same principle can be applied on a larger scale. The focus lies with the absolution of such power and with the authority that goes unregulated. If a law is to be deemed just, what applies to one member of a society must apply to all members of a society. Animal Farm shows us what happens when members of a society are exempt from certain "laws" and even when those "laws" are broken they are exempt from appropriate punishment. Orwell tends to show us the more negative side of politics and like his work, 1984, Animal Farm is no exception. I liked this book and I recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in politics.
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Summary: Brilliant Metaphorical Work
Review: Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is a brilliant metaphorical work that conveys a message of the ruling classes versus the working classes. This "Fairy Story" of animals rising against their oppressive leader is symbolic of the communist movements in Europe and Russia and reflects the characteristics of a society ruled by a dictatorship. The book demonstrates how power can gradually corrupt an individual and lead to a system which may or may not be favorable to the masses. Animal Farm is a story that takes place on a farm in England. It begins with the boar, Old Major, at a meeting which includes all the animals on the farm, telling them of a dream he had about an animal rebellion against their care giver, Mr. Jones. Upon contemplation, the animals decide to rebel. Through key characters such as Snowball, Napoleon, and Boxer, Orwell intertwines their important characteristics and delivers an important message about the effects of a Totalitarian ruled society, its consequences, and the fate of this type of society. Orwell depicts many relevant scenes that contain betrayal, heroism, cowardice, loyalty, and friendship, which are all important in reflecting the nuances and characteristics attributed to a totalitarian-ruled society. Animal Farm, in my opinion, is a truly wonderful book. It deals with many complicated issues, but through the easy writing of Orwell, the reader can understand the issues of communism, capitalism, and the many aspects of a totalitarian dictatorship. The symbolism of each character in the story is clear. The reader sees, for example, that Napoleon represents Stalin, that Snowball represents Trotsky, and that Boxer represents the proletariat. The book blends humor with tragedy. Animal Farm deals with issues of inequality versus equality and the importance of education in determining whether or not one is being unfairly treated. Naivete can be a dangerous characteristic, and Orwell conveys this idea in his story. I strongly recommend this book. It is an easy read compared to other books which try to explain and discuss the same subject matter. With Animal Farm, one can grasp the concepts of Totalitarianism, due to the brilliant writing style of Orwell.
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Summary: A Unique Telling of History
Review: A Unique Telling of History Animal Farm is an excellent source on Totalitarianism. Author George Orwell tells the truth of the Bolshevik revolution and what the communist Soviet Union was like in a make-believe tale. Orwell uses animals to characterize the leaders of the communist movement in Russia. He starts with Old Major who puts the thought into the minds of the animals (the proletariat) rising up against Mr. Jones who is the farm owner (the bourgeois) similar to the way Karl Marx does with the Communist Manifesto. With the thought of revolution implanted, the animals decide to take over the farm. They assume the farm and compose seven commandments to live by, with the most important being that "all animals are equal." The animals seem to have created an animal utopia for themselves, but as the story progresses the characters Napoleon (Stalin) and Snowball (Trotsky) begin to acquire power. Eventually Napoleon takes Snowball out of the picture and gains total control of the farm. The newly equal animal farm then becomes a totalitarian farm. This story is a great way to learn about what can happen in a communist nation. This is a suspenseful tale with events constantly unfolding, keeping the reader captivated and eager to know what will happen next. The tale is an easy and enjoyable read for children and adults alike.
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Summary: Deeply Compelling Writing
Review: Kay Calhoun Book Review - Animal Farm 10/30/00 Animal Farm is a deeply compelling piece of work that asks us to imagine what world figures are represented by Animal Farm characters. The story is about an animal revolt (revolution) against the farm owner to make for better lifestyles and more justice in their existence. Each character in the book (animal) has its own distinct personality and represents someone in world history in the real world. I liked the book immensely, because it was extremely well written by Orwell and the characters were well developed. The book was easy to read and hard to put down. Besides being a pleasure to read about these characters, Orwell's book taught lessons on racism, dictatorship, propaganda, totalitarianism, loyalty and socialism. Orwell was a genius to have real world figures represented by animals and had trouble getting this book published because of the political atmosphere. Orwell obviously used one main character to represent Stalin of the Soviet Union and during World War II it was a hard time to publish anything against an allied country. I highly recommend buying and reading this book and suggest you think about each animal character and who they represent in real life, and you will learn a lot about the Russian Revolution. This book is an eye-opener on the pitfalls of totalitarianism...All this is apparent from a little book about animals! Buy it and read it!
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Summary: Animal Farm
Review: George Orwell's Animal Farm is a superb animation of the Russian Revolutioon. The book is amusing and interesting; it includes a comic element as it synonymously demonstrates the evolution from the proletariat revolution to a totalitarian government led by the swine of the society. Orwell successfully simplified the not-so-simple theory of class stratification and Karl Marx's proposed solution of communism. Orwell's method of conveyance is incredibly inventive. He uses satire in the form of a fairy tale to share his indignation for ideological doctrines that would, if allowed, lead to the eventual destruction of a society. Each character in the story is representative of someone who was involved in the Russian Revolution. Old Major is Marx, and inspires the proletariat revolution by motivating the over-worked animals and educating them on the ways of the human beings, who represent the bourgeoisie. Orwell's creativity convinces the reader that the animals on the farm are intellectual beings, revolting against the tyranny of the humans. Animal Farm offers itself as an example of a responsible criticism of Marxism. The story gives us a peek at the Utopian vision, and then offers a long look at what results from using a Marxist approach at achieving it. I strongly reccomend this book, as it is entertaining and educational. Orwell succeeded in creating a fairy tale that evokes both sadness and laughter, while causing us to feel sympathy and even empathy for the working class animals. The book escapes complexity, but its message does not.
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Summary: An unexpected Hell-hole
Review: "Animal Farm" is an easy and enjoyable piece of work. All the animals from Manor Farm are being overworked and neglected by the irresponsible owner, Mr. Jones. The animals are outraged and become conscious of their cruel and unjust treatment after listening to a discourse from Major, a respectable pig in the farm. The animals come to the agreement that a rebellion against their inebriated master must take place. The animals attack and scare away Mr. and Mrs. Jones. They seize the farm and proclaim themselves owners of "Animal Farm." The animals equally perform necessary tasks, under their own supervision, to maintain the farm and establish The Seven Commandments which every animal must abide by. The animals' hearts leap with joy at the idea of successfully working together on a common goal but this feeling is too soon shattered and converted into one of hopelessness. The pigs, which have greater intelligence than the other animals, become the leaders and problems begin to arise. Napoleon, the clever and deceptive pig, expels Snowball, the trustworthy pig, out of the farm and takes total control over every aspect of the farm. He manipulates conditions and decisions such as food production, consumption, etc., and violates every single commandment to benefit only himself. Read and find out how a single force can cleverly compel others into submission to "wise" authority. Analyze how no system is ideal and how many things can happen when some have no education and less power, and others are privileged with it all. Discover how an expected utopia turns into an unexpected hell-hole.
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Summary: This is one of the greatest books of the twentieth century
Review: In very few pages Orwell manages to write a savage critique not only on the system of Communisin but also on capitalism. In his tale the wrong doing is not the communist revalution itself but its betrayal by Nepolean and the other pigs and their return to Capitalism/feudalism.
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Summary: Animal Farm
Review: In 1944, George Orwell wrote Animal Farm, although it was not published until 1945. It took a year to find a publisher for the parody of a Socialist society. The story is centered on a farm in England. A secret meeting is held by the animals of the farm. The animals are rallied to rebel by Old Major, the prize winning pig of Farmer Jones. Old Major tells the animals of a dream he had in which all animals are free from human control. The animals conclude that man is the enemy and all his bad habits must be avoided. All animals are equals. The animals band together and revolt, driving the terror stricken Farmer Jones from the farm. The pigs take command of the new society, setting up rules of conduct and assignment of duties. Commandments are established based on the theory " Animalism " promoted by the pigs. The rules of conduct established by the pigs slowly change to best serve the ruling class of self important pigs. Questions by the other farm animals concerning the commandments are quickly put to rest by self promoting propaganda distributed keenly by the shifty pigs. To the animals own horror the utopian society they dreamed of is just that a dream. Orwell has the unique talent of making politics interesting and entertaining. Animal Farm is obviously a comedy of Stalin's Russia, but also a criticism of Marxism. It is evident that Orwell studied Marx's theory closely. In reading Animal Farm you can see that Orwell favored a Socialist society, but thought it would fail. Orwell' s Animal Farm reads like a good history lesson dusted with enough fairy dust to make it entertaining. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the effects of a totalitarian government or just a good read.
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Summary: An Entertaining Read on a usually Dry Topic of Government
Review: This book had some of the things I like best encorporated into it. The book was short, it was funny, and it gave insight into a complicated topic. Using an animal farm as the backdrop, Orwell shows the Communist Uprising and its way toward decline. He also writes to show our Capitalist Democracies fault(s). Again, without giving away much, a great short book worth picking up to have your intellect tickled.
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Summary: A winner
Review: I had to read "Animal Farm" in high school and I liked it. It's an original story, there's no other book that is anything like it, or at least none that I have heard of. It's about some farm animals who can talk, and they are governed by Major the pig, the leader of the animals. He talks of a revolution that could take place one day in the animals' favor of overthrowing the people who control the animals. The animals are overly worked and aren't given enough food, so the animals plan on rebelling so that they can have the land and all the food for themselves. "Animal Farm" was a lot better than I first thought it would be. Reading about Napoleon's leading the animals to doing such things as building windmills, of Boxer always wanting to work harder no matter what, and the animals from Animal Farm attacking any human being who tries to invade is interesting and makes this book all the more great. The turmoil and the freedom once the animals get what they want is evenly balanced to make this book even more compelling. Pretty much, it's one of the best books I've ever read. Even if you didn't have to read the book in high school, I recommend at least checking it out and reading it in your spare time, you probably won't be disappointed. It's a great all-around book.
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