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Summary: Animals Gone Wild....
Comment: Animals Gone Wild...
By Lily Starbuck
George Orwell's fable, Animal Farm, tells the tale of frustrated animals who overthrow their master Mr. Jones, who owns the Manor Farm. Through many hard times and conflicts it comes down to who can survive the new farm life. New leaders, new problems, new jobs, everything is changing for the better. Or is it? Orwell is able to portray the idea "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Animal Farm is a quick read and has a loud and clear message, which Orwell shows through a microcosm of the 1917 Russian revolution.
The animals have one goal in mind after they defeat Mr. Jones. That goal would be change. And through this change there will be laws, the Seven Commandments that will help keep the animals equal with one another and make sure the animals don't acquire human-like habits, because the animals don't want to become like the humans who have treated them so terribly and striped them of their freewill. While reading the book you see some animals are starting to create a different status for themselves on the farm, making them more important and able to instruct as well as make decisions for the other animals. I know that while reading Animal Farm I felt angry at the animals that let a new leader control them. Only some of the characters didn't remain loyal to their new leader, and that to me showed bravery, for standing up for something they knew had to be stopped.
George Orwell used farm animals to illustrate the struggle for the control of the Soviet Union. The two pigs, Snowball and Napolean, from Animal Farm resemble Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stallin who both fought over power in Russia. Both Napolean and Stallin took all the power for themselves and became greedy and selfish, therefore not fulfilling their promises to their followers. The struggle for authority, throughout history, is an ongoing process.
I truly enjoyed reading Animal Farm. It wasn't a book where you couldn't put it down but one you find time to read in the oddest moments. George Orwell was an amazing writer. He made learning a life lesson and learning part of history simple and enjoyable. And I don't even like reading books about talking animals and yet I'm recommending this fabulous piece of literature.
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Summary: Utopian Idealism Unmaksed
Comment: It is the rare political book that is both entertaining and thought provoking. Rarer still to be unforgettable and insightful and life-changing. Animal Farm, for me was all this.
The allogory is powerful and the use of farm animals both clever and entertaining, and helped makes the story all the more vivid and memorable. The story is well know, a group of farm animals eventually led by the boar Napolean, overthrow the capitalist farmer and create an idealistic worker's paradise. Little by little and bit by bit they become not only as corrupt as the former system, but even worse as exemplified by their ruthlessness and hypocrisy. The reader comes away much more cynical about utopian ideals, which sounds like a bad thing but is actually a good thing. Incredibly powerful book, with the weight of truth and some kind of native energy that makes a despairing fairy-tale into a life-changing lesson. I've read plenty of books that I've enjoyed more, but few I've been so drastically impacted by. This book is a must for an adolescent, and if you missed it then even if you're eighty-five pick it up and read it now. It's both historical and timeless.
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Summary: Think the thought to the end.
Comment: So Communism is bad because it becomes, in the end, like Capitalism. What destroyed Communism in Europe? Lech Walensa and the trade union Solidarity. Why won't Communism in China come to an end? Because capitalist companies like Walmart won't support unionization in China. Chinese communism survives in China because of support from American companies; alone it would tumble to despair. The rich brotherhood of Capitalism and the slavery of Communism are in alliance in China and it has put American Democracy in its greatest jeopardy ever, prophetic of the classic ending of this book. Democracy has to be protected and nurtured on its own terms, beyond economic theory and systems.
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Summary: Animalism! Yes?
Comment: How did I not receive this book as required reading back in high school? Well now that I've picked it up, I realize that I would have enjoyed it then as much as I did now. This thinly veiled (perhaps obvious) critique on the government at the time in Russia provokes many questions on the legitimacy of any government and the inability for communism to operate effectively. The animals band together to overthrow the evil "human" to form their own government - animalism, where all animals are created equal. This belief is reinforced in the seven commandments of animalism. However, corruption and power struggles quickly impede on the central tenets of animalism.
This story reads like an extended Aesop's Fable with messages much more poignant than "slow and steady wins the race" adding a biting satiric wit to it all. This is altogether a facinating allegory to the way Soviet Russia was; yet, it still remains unbelievably revelant in today's society. After all, "All animals are equal (but some animals are more equal than others)."
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Summary: Timely reading because the world is still not free
Comment: Better (?) than a horror movie because it's real. Monarchy, revolution, communism, state capitalism. Sound familiar? Check the Olympics.
Animal Farm catches you off guard with the animal characters, sucks you in and keeps the plot fast. History of the Soviet revolution in an hour of entertainment. But it quickly ceases being entertaining, and becomes very realistic. Ride up the roller coaster of genuine hope that communism could work, and then down into the depths of war and murder. Finally, settle into a gray, hopeless dictatorship that lasted 70 years for the USSR, but repeats itself in other countries today. If you want the power of irony, this is about as powerful as it gets: these animals do kill each other (if not their own species). Pigs! Sounds like ... people.
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