Upon reading Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm

I read this book for the Banned Book Project last year, and I loved how the book was written, so I decided to share this book with you. :)

Animal Farm begins as Old Major, the most prominent porcine figure (pig) on the farm, announces to all the animals on the farm that he had a dream of living in a world without humans. He claims that all animals should strive to create this utopia. He teaches the animals a song called “Beasts of England.” Shortly after, Old Major dies and Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer develop the main ideas of Old Major’s speech and name the idea Animalism. One night, Mr. Jones, the cruel farmer of Manor Farm, comes back completely drunk and falls asleep without feeding any of the animals. The starving, enraged animals organize an uprising and break open the doors of the barn. Alarmed, Mr. Jones and his workers wake up and come outside to see what is happening. Upon finding that their animals had all escaped, they grab their weapons and force the animals back into their barns, but the animals kick the farmers out of the farm instead. The animals then change the name of the farm to Animal Farm and follow the ideas of Animalism. 

At first, the farm seems to be a huge success, with all the animals contributing to the farm. During the harvest season, each animal carries their own weight, with the horses hauling massive carts full of wheat and the chickens carrying a kernel of corn at a time. 

As time goes on, however, Snowball and Napoleon start quibbling over every trivial matter. They begin a battle for power amongst themselves. This fight hits a climax when Snowball proposes plans for a windmill that would decrease the labor time of each animal substantially. Napoleon tells the animals that Snowball isn’t capable of dealing with such complicated technology, but is shocked when Snowball produces a perfect plan for building the windmill. Napoleon urinates over the plan and returns with nine savage dogs, and chases Snowball out of the farm. Napoleon turns into the sole dictator of Animal Farm.

I loved this book because it was written in such a simple and effective way. Each sentence is relevant to the main idea, which constantly reminds the reader about the underlying moral. The book itself is easy enough that a young child could easily interpret it as a fable about talking animals and farms, but the underlying elements tell a completely different story to the slightly more mature reader.

I personally loved this book and would gladly rate it as one of the best books I’ve ever read.

-Jay