Candi's Reviews > Animal Farm

This is a classic story that many readers are familiar with already, so I won’t go into too much detail with a description of the plot. This was a re-read for me; my first reading having been maybe 25-30 years ago! I will admit right away that when I first read this book, I did not care for it - perhaps our history lessons did not coincide well with the reading of this book for English class, therefore leaving me in the dark about some aspects of the novel. I am quite certain that I was mostly unaware of the majority of the key players represented in the story by the animals. I did, however, grasp the basic meaning of the story as many of the characters can be viewed as representing individuals other than those whom George Orwell originally intended. This is true even today. Even a child or a young teen could recognize Napoleon as the local bully at school or in the neighborhood. His cohorts like Squealer and his specially trained dogs are familiar to us. A bully has to have his or her followers after all, right?

What do I think about this book now, so many years later? I enjoyed it; it was concise and well-written. George Orwell does a wonderful job of conveying his message. It reads like a fable and is not hard to follow. I believe Orwell intended this for a wide audience so that many of us could have some sort of understanding on one level or another. Disturbing and yet sometimes even comical as a result of the clever use of irony, Animal Farm was an entertaining story. After the uprising against their human oppressors, the animals began self-ruling the farm in accordance with their Seven Commandments: “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. No animal shall wear clothes. No animal shall sleep in a bed. No animal shall drink alcohol. No animal shall kill any other animal. All animals are equal.” As the story progresses, the new oppressors (namely the pigs) gradually refashion and simplify these commandments for their own benefit. This is achieved through the use of brainwashing, intimidation, and power over the more simple-minded animals on the farm. Eventually we are left with a single commandment “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” I think one of my favorite scenes in the novel, which provided a good sort of comic relief at the time for me personally was when the pigs happened upon a long forgotten case of whiskey in the farmhouse cellar. The image painted here of Napoleon “wearing an old bowler hat of Mr. Jones’s, was distinctly seen to emerge from the back door, gallop rapidly round the yard, and disappear indoors again” will be ingrained in my mind for quite some time.

If you have not read this book previously, or if you, like me, do not have enough fingers and toes to count the number of years since you last read this book, then I highly recommend that you obtain a copy. You can perhaps identify which animal best represents yourself; and I am confident that you will find some similarities to each animal with those persons you interact with in your own life.

My new rating of this book is 3.5 stars. I rounded down only because my recent re-read of 1984, which I rated 4 stars, somehow appealed to me a bit more as the writing was more eloquent compared to the bluntness of Animal Farm.