Animal Farm: Book Review

A true masterpiece written by George Orwell, Animal Farm was gifted to me by one of my friends who is herself an avid reader. She was surprised by the fact that I had not read the novel before, and told me it’s not just any other novel. When I finished reading this fable, I couldn’t agree more.

Animal Farm is one of those novels which can be interpreted as a just-another fable “OR” a satirical take on the failure of communism, [particularly pointing out to the collapse of the Soviet Union & highlighting Russian History] and totalitarian rule [which is the deeper meaning that the author is trying to convey].

It’s a short story which starts off with the animals in the farm being displeased about the way Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm treats them. Hence, they decide to start a revolution against Jones to drive him away from the farm, so that they can lead a better, happier life. They are able to achieve this and they start with “animal farm”, where initially all the animals-pigs, dogs, horses, donkey, amongst others are equal [they all address each other as comrades]. With time, things change and pigs take control of the farm, one of them; Napoleon is the seen as the father of animal kind. The other animals are brain-washed into believing that pigs and Napoleon as a leader are helping them lead a life they always dreamt of [free from human control]-and they are more satisfied & happier under the leadership of Napoleon, than in the time when Jones owned the farm. In this way, the pigs slowly turn from fellow comrades to sly dictators who killed anybody who opposed them.

Each character in the story is carefully crafted by Orwell as they symbolically represent people in real life that we can relate to. The obvious comparison that came to my mind was Napoleon (the pig leader) with Kim Jong-il, see http://kaleidoscopeonline.blogspot.com/2010/03/north-korea-dictatorship-game.html. But if we take Russian History in to account, the author is representing Joseph Stalin, the ruthless ruler. Snowball, another pig is shown as Leon Trotsky, who was thrown out of Russia and was accused of being a traitor several times before being shot mysteriously by the Russian Police. The other pigs represent the political class who are ruling the nations using clever tactics to disillusion the public by giving them phony hopes and promises. Old Major, the boar with good intentions, who gave a stirring speech to urge the animals to start a revolution at the starting of the story, represents Karl Marx, the father of communism. The horses, Boxer and Clover, represent the laborious working class who gullibly believes in whatever their leaders say. The dogs, guards of the pigs, characterize faithful and loyal party workers who keep the public in terror, so that their leaders can boss around and nobody disobeys them.

The ending of the story shows the pigs, walking on their hind legs and dressed up as humans. It portrays that how leaders become corrupt overtime. All power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely-That’s the main underlining message that comes across.

Forget Prakash Jha's Rajneeti, George Orwell's “Animal Farm” is the real-deal when it comes to politics. I strongly recommend you to grab your copy; it’s an absolute delight to read.