Animal Farm (1945)

So easy to read I'm not sure why I haven't picked this up before. Very timely listen. Lots to think about. ( )

Ma per piacere!
Me lo fecero leggere in seconda media, probabilmente speravano che mi aprisse gli occhi, che risvegliasse in me una coscienza politica... boh, non so.
Ricordo benissimo che mi parve ingenuo e, quel che è peggio, insulso già a quell'età.
Parliamo anche di estetica: una volta tanto una copertina azzeccata. Orrida copertina per orrido libro. (A distanza di anni me la ricordavo ancora benissimo!)

OGGI, nel 2011, leggo che il miglior Orwell è quello di prima della seconda guerra mondiale e non fatico a crederci: peggio della Fattoria può solo esserci un libro-game! ( )

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
― George Orwell, Animal Farm ( )

Interesting book. I hadn't heard about it until my wife checked it out from the library. We were looking for books under certain genres for kids to read, and one of them was "Animals". Figuring this might be some sort of fictional satire, she checked it out. While the entire story does center around animals and their Rebellion, this is most certainly a political satire, and one centered around Soviet Russia during the early to mid-1900s.

Historically, the book does well following the rise of Stalinist communism (called "Animalism"), the oppression of the totalitarian state on its people, and the inevitable corruption of its high ranking officials. Further, the story shows how Russian history was rewritten by the addendum to each of the Seven Commandments.

Really. the book reads like an allegory of a distopian farm with animals under oppression. It does well to show the gradual oppression by the rulers over the general population, including stretching truth, rewriting history, unfair distribution of wealth, and flat out lies. Conspiracy theories, favoritism, secret agents, and double-faced relationships are discussed throughout the story.

My only gripe, is that the plot really doesn't progress. I mean, you know the animals are going into further oppression, yet it plods along slowly. Some of the characters, like Boxer, are well loved, and others like Squealer, are deeply hated. Yet, the slow pace of the story continues, one chapter after another, until in peaks at the last chapter, then just ends without resolution.

But, far what it is, and what Orwell was trying to accomplish with the book, he did a great job. It really is quite intriguing. I don't know if I would recommend it to anyone though. Maybe to those who are interested in dystopian societies, or political philosophies. I could see this as required reading for middle school grades, if anything, to teach the pitfalls of Stalinist communism and fascism.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

I won't go too far with the plot for this one as I suspect that most people know the story already. All that I will say is that one night, all the animals at Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. Inspired by his philosophy of Animalism all the animals plot a rebellion against the farmer Mr Jones lead by two pigs. When one day Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones is chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm.

Initially, the rebellion is a success. Napoleon, however, proves to be a power-hungry leader. Snowball is forced to leave the farm so that as Napoleon's lust for power increases he becomes a totalitarian dictator, forcing "confessions" from innocent animals and having them executed.

Years pass with the animals get less and less food whilst the pigs get fatter. Life for all the animals (except the pigs) is harsh. Eventually, the pigs take on many of the qualities of their former human oppressors even changing the name of the farm back to Manor Farm.

The novel is an allegory of the Russian Revolution which Orwell initially regarded as a success but ultimately fell back to the old ways where the rich got richer and the poor poorer where it's leaders abandoned the true principals of Socialism . Therefore, probably the most important theme of this book is tyrants or perhaps more accurately tyranny. Orwell satirizes politicians, specifically their ability to manipulate others in particular those who espouse the most virtuous ideas to become the worst enemies of the people whose lives they are claiming to improve.

However, Napoleon is not the only cause for Animal Farm's decline. Orwell also satirizes the populace whose attitudes allow tyrants like Napoleon to succeed. This is particularly true of Boxer, a shire horse with prodigious physical power, but is likened to a blindly devoted citizen who prefers slogans to questioning his own situation and is therefore unwilling to challenge what is going on around him allowing the leaders to gain in strength

Now I read this book initially many years ago when I was a teenager and perhaps did not fully get it then but now with quite a few more years of experience under my belt I see it for the real genius that it is. Unfortunately despite the Russian Revolution occurring over a century ago little in the world seems to have changed. The rich get richer whilst the poor get poorer with an over-reliance of being in the right club. The greatest strength of this book is that many of it's arguments are still valid today. ( )