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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: This was a fun book to read. It gave me a look into how messed up a government can become. That and it was nice and short. Time is a big factor since it's so close to graduation. I'd recomend this book to anyone; it is definately a must read.
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Summary: The World That Was, Isn't Anymore
Review: In August of 1945, war was still raging in the far east and the atomic bomb had yet been dropped on Japan, but George Orwell dropped his own bomb on International Communism, a bomb so overwhelming, that Stalin had no comments to make to Truman when he asked Stalin about it.Animal Farm is a wonderfully written political book on how the system works to make those that work under them believe they are doing better than before, all the while warning them of unforeseen enemies that might attack unless they do as they are told. And when worse comes to worse, the system itself purposely provokes a war with those unforeseen enemies in order to keep the those that work under them in line. When George Orwell wrote Animal Farm, he was directly speaking about Communism and the Red Revolution in Russia of 1914. But after reading the book, we can easily apply it to our Establishment here in the United States and most Western European Countries today. The basic plot of the story is rather simple. The animals of a farm, owned by one Mr. Jones, speak stories of revolution and throwing off the human masters. They speak of slavery and oppression. Most importantly, they speak of equality. Equality for all animals, or as they put it, "Four legs good, two legs bad!" During the whole course of this book, it is always the pigs that decide how things are run, although in the beginning a minority, they grow to be a majority in time. It is the pigs who end up living in bliss while the other animals they work hard everyday and live with nothing, but all the while they are told by the pigs that they are in fact living with more than they were before the revolution. How can the other animals argue with that, they say to themselves, they scarily remember the days before the revolution, so the pigs must be right. In the end, the animals learn a harsh lesson in life, as they look upon the barn wall were in the beginning of the revolution, the pigs wrote down seven commandments for the way the animal world should be, they learn that over time the words that they all swore to live by have slowly changed with time. "All animals are equal" no longer stood alone, but now had an additional line added to it, namely, "but some animals are more equal than others." I strongly recommend this book to everyone who wishes to think and stop being a lemming in society. This book will give you a strong understanding of how the System works, and when applied to present day Western governments, it bares a strong resemblance. Whether or not you believe the Jews are the System, when Orwell points out one species of animal as being the masters and manipulators of that animal society, he isn't talking about class, but race.
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Summary: Animals To Humans
Review: Animal Farm by George Orwell is a wonderfully written book. Hey, what book by George Orwell isn't good? The book takes place on an English Farm called Manor Farm which is owned by Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones is a very bad farmer who neglects the animals. He gets drunk almost everyday and doesn't feed the animals. One day, after years of mistretament, one of the animals gives a compelling speech to rebel against Mr. Jones and to take over the farm. Inspired by the speech, all the animals on the farm make a plan and carry it out. They are successful and take over the farm. The plot of the story takes the reader through the trials and tribulations of what the animals do to keep the farm going and to stay alive. At first the farm is successful and all the anaimals are happy. But the choosen leader of the farm, a pig named Napolean, gets power hungry and does what's best for him and his fellow pigs and doesn't care for the other animals on the farm. Napolean starts acting like a communist leader and wants all the other animals to be scared of him and to be loyal to his regime. As time goes by, Napolean starts acting like a human. He starts sleeping on the bed in the farm house, starts to drink alcohol and plays poker. These are things the animals promised not to do. Eventually, Napolean becomes a leader who is even worse than Mr. Jones ever was. This is a very good book with a great plot and compelling conclusion. This is a very book which anyone can read and enjoy. The plot of the book is great with new surprising story lines rising every chapter. This book keeps the reader intrigued and the book is very suspenseful. I recommend that you read this book.
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Summary: one of the few books in my life that I will never forget
Review: Animal Farm is an imaginatively suspenseful novel based on communism and socialism. Although the characters in the story are farm animals, they represent influential figures of the Russian Revolution. In the midst of an unsettling atmosphere between farmer and animals, Old Major, a prize-winning boar, as well as a metaphor of Karl Marx, spreads the idea of a utopian society and a rebellion among the animals. The animals, never before charismatic enough to think of this vision themselves, seize the very first chance that comes up to drive the tyrant farmer Mr. Jones (Czar Nicholas II), his wife, and the farm hands out of the farm. The other pigs feed off his inspiration, and are eventually overcome with greed, using it to benefit themselves, instead of following through on the Old Major's original proposal. In the long and short of it, some pigs lead a revolt against people, act like jerks, and play poker. George Orwell creates a satire in his book Animal Farm, ridiculing the Russian government in the shadow of his words. His book warns against totalitarianism, which is displayed through the pig's slowly growing power over the animals after the riddance of the previous dictator, Mr. Jones. However, this is not the only work portraying Orwell's view of Soviet Communism. His previous novel, 1984 displays yet more depth into the author's view into the so-called idea of a utopian society. He believes "although socialism is good as an ideal, it can never be successfully adopted due to uncontrollable sins of human nature." Orwell's fable is a must read, however, to make full sense of this novel, I would only recommend this book to mature audiences of at least thirteen or over.
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Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This is possibly the greatest book ever written by man. "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others" I can't read or think of that brillant line without getting shivers down my spine. This is a book that should be read by every literate human being on the face of the earth.
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Summary: Fallen Utopia
Review: I have read and re-read Animal Farm since studying ithighschool, and yes it is a heart breaking allegory about the failureof organised idealogy, its also a gripping simply and sharply written story that can engage people on every level of the intellectual food chain. Many readers will start off by pinning the signs on the donkey's backside so to speak i.e. Moses the crow who tells the overworked animals that their afterlives will be bliss represents the church. Benjamin the wise, but silent donkey is the silent intellectuals who could see what was going, but did nothing to save their own skin and so on. It still shocks me how accurate Orwell is, I can recognise a Squealer (the government publiscist talking in fanciful meaningless figures), a Napeloen and sadly too many Boxers in my own country. Strange that what Orwell wrote about the Russian revolution applies to almost any third world country today. The simplicity of the prose of Animal farm is by design, he wanted his book to be accessable to the masses, afterall this is the man who changed his name from Eric Blair to Goerge Orwell just to appeal to the "average Joe". I don't think he would have wanted this book to be discussed by intellectuals, he wanted it to reach you and me. Humanity has learned (in some parts of the world at least) that the only organised idealogy that works is the abscence of an organised idealogy. Utopia can never exist because 1- It can never be defined 2- It is against human nature not to strive to be better, superior, more powerful and richer then others. Unfortunate but true. The character of Snowball is in my opinion the most important of the book. He is full of good intent, he wants to start classes for the other animals to elevate their understanding of the world. He is also a careless and unrealistic character. What Orwell is saying here is that intent without action is useless. A person who cares about injustice and can't do anything about it is no better than a person who doesn't give it a moment's thought. Animal Farm is Orwell's masterwork, it is clairovoyant, the Soviet Union has indeed fallen. I believe the events of 1984 are only a few you years away, the government can already take pictures of your roof top. If you for some odd reason are among the few who haven't read Animal Farm, you must rectify that situation. It will make the inexplicable around you crystal clear.
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Summary: Still my *favorite* after all these years!
Review: Orwell writes one of his best works with "Animal Farm". Supprisingly enough we read this in Economics class in high school and not English! We had fun analyzing the communist meanings in the book (as Orwell was describing). Now that Communism is all but dead this book should be one that everyone reads...it shows how this diseased economic system can easily be instituted and the obivious disasterous outcome, and why it should never be repeated. The book is engaging and fun to read even if economics is not your thing! It's simply a great story with an unusual cast of farm animals as the leads! Buy the book and enjoy!
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Summary: Imagery helps to convey theme
Review: "Animal Farm," by George Orwell, is an eccentric piece about beaten and weary farm animals who take over their drunken owner's farm. After the control of the farm is in the hooves and paws of the animals, they establish certain rules and rights. Throughout the book, the pigs, who are the leaders gain more and more human-like qualities. They go against all their first set rules about no human objects or habits. Towards the end of the story things start going oddly wrong and the pigs' communist cooperative turns into a dictatorship. Things then become weird and confusing for the other animals. George Orwell's depiction of the setting and plot of the story is brought out by the carefully placed imagery. This impressive imagery displays the theme of how life has a certain order and trying to change this will only bring it right back around the circle again. The imagery of the piece conveys how Orwell made the animals seem less animal-like and more like humans. "A pig walking on it's hind legs," the piece states, displaying the human characteristics the pigs were obtaining. The symbolism is not so obvious, but yet simple enough for the reader to catch the idea. The imagery lets the reader knows something is going on (Russian Revolution) but that knowledge of what, wasn't key to understanding the book, for the theme is very universal.
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Summary: Animal Farm-Good fun with fun loving animals
Review: In "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, a rebellion is suggested and acted upon by animals. The pigs take most of the power themselves, believing they are the best administrators of government. Eventually the power corrupts them causing them to turn on their fellow animals, eliminating competitors through brainwashing and bloodshed. In "Animal Farm" George Orwell uses the farm to symbolize the communist system. Though the intention of overthrowing Mr. Jones isn't inherently evil itself, Napoleon's adoption of most of Jones' principles and mistreatment of animals proves that communism is just another form of inequality. Orwell intends to criticize the communist regime using symbolism. The farm represents Russia and the neighboring farms are Germany and England. The pigs represent Soviets and the other animals are workers. The Rebellion can be classified as the Russian Revolution and the whip symbolizes man's cruelty.
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Summary: animal farm
Review: I REALLY LOVE THIS BOOK. THIS IS A BOOK THAT GOES THROUGH ALL STAGES THAT COMMUNISIM DOES,BUT THE DIFFRENCE IS THAT IT IS ONLY ON A FARM. AND DIFFERENT GROUP OF PEOPLE ARE REPRESENTED BY DIFFERENT ANIMALS. I ALSO THINK THIS STORY HOLDS THE POWER OR EXPLAIN THE POWER OF POLITICAL UPRISING. AND I WAS VERY HAPPY AFTER READING IT BECAUSE IT GOES A LONG WAY AND TELLS MUCH ABOUT WHAT WE HAVE TODAY IN THE RULING OF COUNTRIES.
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