Well, How would you handle being underfed, overworked, naive, unequal and absolutely controlled? Would you feel like all your work was being done for the good of someone else? What if you had evidence you were being lied to, which disappeared or was changed? What if you became trapped by an absolute and supreme leader?
At the beginning of the story, an old boar, called Old Major, gathers the animals at Manor Farm. He tells them that they are nothing but slaves, working hard their whole lives, only to the benefit of the humans, without even getting enough food to satisfy their hunger. Then, when they grow to old and to weak to serve a purpose, all the thanks they get for their toil, is a cruel, undignified death, at the slaughterer´s block. He tells them that no animal must ever forget that mankind is their enemy and there for, all animals, must stick together. Someday comrades, he says, there will be a rebellion and the animals will take over.
Old Major dies shortly after the meeting.
Three of the pigs, Snowball, Napolion and Squealer develops Majors teachings even further and calls the ideology Animalism. The three of them manages to make all the animals at the farm, believe in, and fight for, their ideas.
The rebellion comes sooner then anyone could’ve imagined.
The animals are left to starve, and when they finally help them selves to some food, their crapulous owner, Mr Jones, and his men, furiously crack their whips upon them. Overtaken by rage, the hungry animals chase their tormentors off the property. Suddenly they have the farm to them selves and they almost immediately rename it, from that day on, it’s to be called Animalfarm.
A new era begins, where all animals are equal, though the pigs have some privileges, since they consider them selves to be the hardest working animals. The other animals accept the pigs’ superior notion and pretty much do what the pigs tells them to do. After all, every animal is allowed to vote in any decision concerning the farm, but Napoleon, the shrewd, malicious, pig, (for whom lust for power is of much greater importance, then any corny ideals), has other plans. Soon enough, the animals find them selves in a much more harsh situation then before the rebellion...
This novel criticises dictatorship in general and the Soviet regime in particular. Mr Jones probably symbolises the tsar and his regime. Like Russia became the Soviet Union, after the revolution, the Manor Farm became Animalfarm after the rebellion. Trotskij wanted a Permanent revolution. So did Snowball, and they both ended up fleeing for their lives.
As well as a lot of people in the Soviet Union, Benjamin, the bad tempered donkey, can see through Napoleons lies, in spite of the propaganda,
Symbolised by Squealer, but refuses to become engaged in the matter, since that, would only mean signing his own death sentence. Napoleon has a great deal in common with Stalin. If you know the history of Russia and think hard enough you could probably find an equivalent to most of the characters and events in the novel.
“Animalfarm” is definitely worth reading. Though it may seem as if you have to know the Russian History in order to get something out of this book, that is definitely not the case. The message is crystal clear even without that knowledge. After all, Russia isn’t the only country where a good idea has been abused and used for evil purposes.
George Orwell wrote Animal Farm to inform the public of the potential corruption of communism and the totalitarian state of government. The book is an incredible extended metaphor that will inform you of your most important asset, your freedom. Although ‘Animal Farm’ is only 10 Chapters in length, it is extremely thought-provoking with the meaning behind the story.
Its appeal is that it passes comment on various Communist and Rascist regimes which were particularly prevalent in the 20th Century, but it also gives an insight into human behavior.
