ANIMAL FARM : GEORGE ORWELL

Animal Farm is a satirical set on a typical English farm. The story and language are very simple but orwell is unnervingly precise in the way he depicts each step on thw road from revolution to tyranny.

This book is set in a future when animals are much cleverer than now. And because of their cleverness, the pigs started a revolution against the humans. Pigs could speak fluently in English unlike the other animals, and that gave them the power to be leaders. But, the story that follows only happened a few years after that...

Their first leader, Old Major, was kind and fair who knew animals should be equal. But when Napoleon became the leader it was very unpleasant. He made a rule that allowed the pigs to have better food and that forced all of the other animals to work crazily hard every day and night. That wasn’t enough, Napoleon wanted more power.He decided to kill his brother, Snowball, so that he would be the only leader. Snowball was admired because he came up with a clever idea to build windmill. Snowball was also popular because of his role in the revolution. He and Boxer (a hardworking horse) were the bravest. So this selfish pig, Napoleon, destroyed what the animals built (the windmill) and blamed Snowball who escaped the farm. Then Napoleon made the animals work harder and harder, making the animals very weak and even die. If any of the animals were clever like Napoleon, he would just order an execution to get rid of them.

My favourite character is Boxer the horse, who would work the hardest of the animals but never give up no matter how much it hurt, or how old he gets. He never complained to Napoleon, instead saying, “Napoleon is always right”. This book made me think of another newer book, Mockingjay (Part Two of The Hunger Games films) because President Snow is like the humans and President Alma Coin is like Napoleon. President Alma Coin defeats President.

It is interesting to know that though the book was first published in 1945 and mainly attacked the Stalinism prevailing in then Russia, but it finds enough relevance in contemporary world. It rants the power corrupt political system by bringing about similar situations as we face in real world in a fancy symbolism. Orwell’s deep mistrust of political power comes shining through in this fable. ‘Animal Farm’ is a critical look at anyone who wants to keep us down ‘for our own good’. It does not have a happy ending rather it ends with a hair-raising warning to all its readers as to how devastating the state of affairs can be under a totalitarian government. It emphasizes on the often quoted Lord Acton’s saying “Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

It is often observed that even the one who has read very less has read at least this book. Though most of you would have already read this book but still I will insist read through it again and this time grasp the political satire in its entirety which you might have missed earlier thinking it to be a fairy tale. This short novel has a lot to say.

I hope it helped you!