Animal Farm

Pasi kanë hequr qafe pronarin e tyre njerëzor, kafshët e fermës "Menër" janë duke shpresuar për një jetë të lirë dhe të bollshme. Por ndërsa një elitë e mençur mizore vjen në pushtet, kafshët e tjera e gjejnë veten në mënyrë të pashpresë të zënë në grackë sipas mënyrave të vjetra. Historia rrëqethëse e Oruellit, e tradhtisë së idealizmit përmes tiranisë dhe korrupsionit, edhe sot është po aq e freskët dhe reale sa edhe kur u botua për herë të parë në vitin 1945.

It was fun reading this short novel again after many years, and in particular from this edition, a beautiful little hardcover book with original illustrations.

The novel describes the overthrow of a farm by its animals, who espouse equal rights and fairness to all in the beginning, but whose main leader, a pig named Napoleon, becomes corrupt over time. In the end he’s not only indistinguishable in his behavior from humans, but he’s created conditions which are worse for the rest of the animals than what they had originally.

It’s obviously thinly veiled commentary on the Soviet Union. What’s interesting to me is that Orwell was a socialist, but recognized that the Soviet Union had corrupted the ideals of communism and had show more actually implemented a totalitarian regime. What I find refreshing is that (1) he wrote Animal Farm during WWII, when others considered Stalin a respected ally, and (2) he did not abandon his belief in socialism despite the miserable failure that Soviet experiment had become, as many others did. He really nailed it on both counts.

In a broader sense, through these animals, Orwell makes observations on the foibles of human nature which make idealistic government difficult; it starts with the natural differentiation in abilities as well as fickleness (I love the cat who votes twice, once for each side, and who disappears when it’s time to work), and quickly gets into more base characteristics. Greed. Jealousy. Vanity. Cruelty. Deceit. There is an inherent will to power in mankind which needs to be closely checked, Orwell is saying, for power concentrated in the hands of one or few is dangerous. Amen. show less

Mr Jones is a lazy son of a bitch, and his farm animals are quite done with him. A rebellion chases him and his no good family off the farm under the leadership of Napoleon and Snowball. They are finally free - no more tyranny, no more humans, no more abuse. Or at least, that's the idea. But as lovely as the peace and freedom is, it isn't very long lasting...

This is a real classic, and it's been on my reading list for years. I recieved it as a present from Noura a few years ago, but I've been waiting for the right time. But as we all know, there is no right time. But there's always a good time, if the book's good. And man, was it good. It's a great satire on both capitalism and communism - especially the way Karl Marx's original show more communist ideas are used to be a cheap cover for the real greed and corruption.

It's great, but it's also scary how relevant this book still is - you always wish satires won't be this relevant so many decades later, but alas... show less

This allegory demonstrates George Orwell's ability to demonstrate a naked contempt for power and a ruthless critique of those who abuse it. Born Eric Blair, better known to the world as George Orwell, he created and recreated an authorial life over too short a period of years. In his brilliant allegory called Animal Farm he restages the hypocrisies of the Russian Revolution with the principal figures played by, of all things, farm animals. By presenting atrocities in the terms of a sort of fairy tale, he makes them fresh, restoring to readers numbed by the 20th century's parade of disasters a sense of shock and outrage. The perversion of an ideal, the corruption of power, the abuse of language, the wreckage of a nation—it’s all show more there, in a small package. And having read it, the reader is made wise of the ways of the politically wicked. Paradoxically, by turning Trotsky and Lenin and their followers into pigs and horses and chickens, he reveals them as all too human, and none the less evil. show less

مجموعة من الحيوانات قررت القيام بثورة ضد مالك مزرعة لتحكم نفسها بنفسها .. و بخيال أورويل الواسع يتحقق ذلك ، ليبدأ فصلاً جديدا يكشف فيه التناقض الحاد بين الشعارات الثورية و ممارسات أولئك الثوار" الحيوانات" بعد أن يحكموا .. ـ


هنا يبرع أورويل فى إظهار تشابه الإنسان الذى كرمه ربه و الحيوان .. لا فرق .. قانون الغابة يحكم ..و كم في النفس من خسة الخنازير ، و شره الكلاب .. ودناءة الجُعل .. وفسق الفأرة ..و مكر الثعلب .. و خيانة show more الضبع .. و من لم يجاهد نفسه و ميبها للحيوانية ضاعت دنياه و آخرته و نزل إلى مدارك البهيمية ـ


أظنها رسالة قوية فى وقتها لشعوب الثورات فى بلادنا العربية .. فمن يظن الكمال فى االثوار فليحذر ، فكم خُدع البشر على مر تاريخهم بشعارات براقة و كلامات كصنم العجوة إن جاع أصحابها أكلوها .. لا قداسة لأحد فى الثورات ، فالثورات جاءت لتحطم الأصنام جميعها لا أن نستبدل صنما بصنم .. جاءت حقيقة للتأكيد على معنى لا إله إلا الله .. لا معبود بحق إلا الله .. و ما سواه فعبيد كالعبيد ..الجميع سواسية !ـ

أظن هذه الرواية تجيبنا - و قد كتبت منذ عقود - عن اسبب ضياع الثورات أو تانحرافها عن طريقها .. فإذا كان الثوري نظيفا ، فلماذا تتسخ الثورة ؟!ـ show less

One summer day, I pulled this off of a friend's bookshelf, sat down to read it and wouldn't budge for the rest of the night. I couldn't put this down. I remember reading rapidly, putting the book down in my lap and thinking for long periods, reading more, going for a pen and journaling (I wish I had those musings to archive electronically!) and reading more. After I finished, I sat for hours pondering democracy, socialism, human nature, government in general, social class, work, animals, intelligence, etc. So I cannot recommend this reading enough! Everyone should read it! I think my overall conclusion was that the three class system is inevitable due to irrepressible human nature--not sure if it's good or bad, but socialism truly seems show more impossible to maintain. Struggle seems futile, but of course this fact becomes one of those many that I choose to reject in order to give my life meaning.... show less

The shortest, sharpest knife in the literary drawer.

Some books are long because they have much to say. Animal Farm is short because every word would cut its own throat if it lingered. You can read it in an afternoon. You will remember it for a lifetime.

What it is:

A farm. A rebellion. The animals overthrow their drunken, neglectful master, Mr. Jones, and establish a new order based on Seven Commandments, the most famous being: "All animals are equal." They work. They hope. They believe in Old Major's dream of a world without humans. And then the pigs, the cleverest among them begin to walk on two legs, carry whips, and rewrite the commandments one by one until the final, devastating line: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal show more than others."

It is an allegory for the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism. But it is also a mirror for every revolution that has ever eaten its own children.

Why it's a masterpiece (and why it still stings):

1. The economy of language. Orwell wrote this book in the clearest English imaginable. No ornament. No poetry. Just fact, sequence, and consequence. The sentences are short. The chapters are brisk. But the cumulative effect is devastating. You finish the book and realize you have been watching evil happen in plain sight, one small betrayal at a time.

2. The characters are archetypes who feel like people. Boxer, the faithful cart-horse, works until he collapses, repeating "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right." When his body fails, the pigs sell him to the knacker's yard for glue money. I have read this book five times. That scene makes me cry every single time. Snowball, the idealist, is chased out by Napoleon's dogs and then retroactively erased from history. Squealer, the propaganda pig, can make the animals believe black is white with nothing but "facts" and terror. These are not animals. These are us.

3. The pacing is relentless. The book moves from hope to compromise to betrayal to horror so smoothly that you barely notice the descent. The animals notice. But they are told to look forward, not back. Orwell's genius is showing how ordinary creatures with good intentions and no malice become complicit in tyranny because they are tired, because they are afraid, because they are told that things were worse before.

4. The ending is a punch to the stomach. The final image: the pigs and the human farmers, drinking together, playing cards, indistinguishable. The animals outside look from pig to man, from man to pig, and cannot tell the difference. No moral is spoken. None is needed.

Where it might feel limited (but this is not a flaw, just an observation):

1. It is not subtle. Orwell himself called it a "fairy story" with an explicit political argument. There is no ambiguity about who Napoleon represents (Stalin), who Snowball represents (Trotsky), or what the windmill represents (five-year plans). If you prefer novels that ask questions without answering them, this will frustrate you.

2. The female characters are barely present. The mare Clover is loyal and worried, but she does not drive the plot. Mollie, the vain horse, flees to be pampered by humans. This is a limitation of the book's era and focus, but it is worth noting.

3. It has been co-opted by bad actors. "Animal Farm" is frequently cited by people who want to dismiss all revolution as doomed to failure. That is not Orwell's argument. His argument is that revolution fails when the revolutionaries forget why they began. Use the book as a warning, not as a resignation.

Who should read this:

Everyone. I mean that. It is short enough for a reluctant reader and deep enough for a professor.
Students of politics, history, and rhetoric.
Anyone who has ever been part of a group that started with ideals and ended with compromises.

Who might skip it:

No one. Really. It is 112 pages. Read it.

Final verdict:

Animal Farm is not a comfortable book. It is not a beautiful book. It is a necessary book. Orwell wrote it in 1945, during the wreckage of World War II, as a warning to the West about the Soviet Union. But it has outlived its original context. It is now a warning about power itself. About how language can be weaponized. About how the vulnerable are always the first to be sold. About how the pigs learn to walk on two legs, and the sheep learn to chant, and everyone else learns to look away.

Five stars. Read it. Then read it again ten years later. You will see something different the second time. That is the mark of a classic. show less