Animal Farm by George Orwell

ALL AUTHORS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME AUTHORS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. Hello and welcome to my review of Animal Farm. Obviously, it has been a while since my last review so I thought I'd kick this "return to form" off with a bang. And Animal Farm will suit that purpose quite comfortably. This book, only ten chapters long, is packed with extended metaphor and symbolism to the brim so let's dive right in. (Warning: SPOILERS)

So the story starts on Manor Farm. Old Major, the oldest pig, gathers all the other animals one night in the barn. He speaks of a world where they live by their own rules. Working for more food and shorter hours. He rallies the animals and inspires them to rise up against Jones, the owner, before suddenly dropping dead. Then one day, after Jones' men neglect to feed them, the animals break into the store shed and scatter Jones from the farm. The pigs immediately take up the control and organise the others re-naming it Animal Farm. Particularly Snowball and Napoleon - two boars. They establish order with weekly meetings, fair rations and Seven Commandments of equality. They even manage to fend off an attack from Jones and his men returning to reclaim the farm. All is not well, however as Snowball plans to build a windmill. Napoleon is very much against the idea and the debates are fierce. Napoleon's slogan is "Vote for Napoleon for a full stomach", whereas Snowball's is "Vote for Snowball for a three day week". That is until one of the weekly meetings where the animals shall vote. Snowball opens with a grand speech imploring his comrades to all come together for a better and easier life. Napoleon simply gives a straightforward couple of sentences, barely lasting thirty seconds. But, as Snowball gives his closing statement, Napoleon whistles and a pack of nine huge dogs jump out and chase Snowball from the farm. The animals are stunned and, seeing how Napoleon is now the only candidate the windmill is not passed. Things go on but then the pigs go even further by moving into the farmhouse, saving more rations for themselves and even hiring a lawyer to deal with the other farms. Squealer brushes the discontent aside by saying that their work is just as arduous. The strangest thing, however is when they recommission the building of the windmill, saying it was Napoleon's idea all along, which the animals blindly accept. As more and more goes downhill for the animals and up for the pigs, the blame is generally left on Snowball; like when the half finished windmill collapses. The animals push on, however, and continue to work like slaves everyday while fending off more human attacks. Several years later, all the owners of the neighbouring farms are brought to inspect the farm. The other animals peer into the farmhouse window and they cannot distinguish pig from man.

This story is great. It's gripping and frustrating and endearing all at the same time. Even if you don't know the communism metaphor. What? Yeah. A communism metaphor. The events in the book happening on Animal Farm mirror those of the rise of the Soviet Union between the First and Second World Wars. Napoleon being Stalin and Snowball being Lenin. As well as Old Major being a Karl Marx figure whose message of social equality and union amongst the working class was tragically misconstrued by his supposed followers. The level at which the story works is one of the many reasons we hold this book in such high regard. I'm almost struggling to find more ways to say how good it really is. But it can be frustrating, in the best way. The pigs throughout the story pull off so many obvious contradictions to the Seven Commandments of Animalism that you sit there waiting for the animals to finally click to their plot and fight against them. But no. Time and time again the animals just let whatever scheme and plot, however obvious, the pigs lay happen. You're almost screaming at them in your own mind to take the initiative and ask for their say. When they ban the singing of a song Old Major taught them, you think they'll rebel. When they remove the retiring age, you think they'll rebel. When they start walking on their hind legs and carrying whips around, you think they'll rebel. When the pigs ignore the very FOUNDATION of the Rebellion and their new society, you think they'll rebel. But it never happens. By the last chapter you give up all hope on the future of Animal Farm. And you realise after all this struggle you've ended up exactly where you started. It's perfect. What could have been a mundane, run-of-the-mill children' story became a fascinating, tense and exciting political drama. To imagine you could be so drawn in to such a simple idea is really a testament to George Orwell.

And that really is the catalyst behind this great work of fiction. George Orwell. A man who only really spent about five years actually being an author. But what a run it was. He hasn't got an especially distinct style as you find with other authors but that all lies in the commentary. Written in the closing months of World War 2, both the U. K. and U. S. were preparing for the next inevitable war between Capitalism and Socialism. Maybe not all were ready to go quite as far as people like Churchill, who was actually planning an invasion of the Soviet Union, but all were fully aware of it on the horizon. Many in both North America and Europe were also looking at the rise of socialism in the western world with hope. Parties like Labour would be elected the following years in England which was said to be pushing many socialist views. In any case, the building of the Berlin Wall could not be more symbolic of the split about to take place in global politics. So as you can gather, it was quite a heated time. The perfect time for a book like Animal Farm. While it was based on historical events it still makes lots of clear points about the Communist system. Namely, it did't work. It was clear to most outside of the system itself how corrupted and meaningless the title: "Communist Government" really was - especially by the end of Stalin's regime.

But let's talk about their book counterparts. The pigs on the farm are very interesting characters; and not only as allegories. Napoleon and his right hand, Squealer, are ruthless in their manipulation and abuse of their power over the animals. Squealer, it says, could make black into white. And it shows here. At every point there is discontent among them, Squealer is always there to effortlessly flip the animals opinions. Opinions on the food ration, building the windmill and even on their previous beloved leader, Snowball. This, like with the short-sightedness of the animals, is incredibly frustrating and endearing. You hate the pigs for their malicious deforming of the Commandments and how much they pull the wool over their comrades' eyes but you admire their wit and high intelligence for exactly the same reasons. It comes to a head, when Boxer, the strongest horse on the farm. loses his strength while moving stone to rebuild the windmill. The pigs say they will take him to the veterinary hospital and the van is called. But on the van is not a symbol for the vets but "Horse Slaughterer" Yes, it is exactly that. And what's best is how Squealer brushes it away in one off-hand comment and it simply says afterwards: "Boxer was never seen again." and that's it. It's almost comical how this heart-breaking moment is instantly forgotten by everyone involved. There are great character moments throughout with the pigs. One time when Snowball has finished his plans for the windmill, Napoleon goes in when no-one is there. He looks them over bit-by-bit and once he's done he just stands over them a literally pisses on them. It's so funny while also adding to the level of mystery surrounding his character when it comes to the commissioning of the windmill.

So that was Animal Farm. I hope you learned a lot and got a good view on this book. I would also like to apologise for the extreme gap there has been (plus the exclusion of Les Mis) after I have been so religiously following a schedule previously. I've decided to take this much more at my own pace. Not only for my own convenience but also to ensure a much higher quality, much more consistently.

Thank you.