[Animal Farm] is another classic written by George Orwell, one of the most renowned writers of the 20th century. Both of his [1984] and [Animal Farm] are widely considered the Top 100 English novels of all time. After reading both, I simply can’t agree more.
Both books are the fine products of Orwell’s long crusade against totalitarian. As an active member of the socialism movement in the early 1930s, George Orwell was an idealist. He despised the capitalism to his core and was longing for democratic socialism, which he believed to be the only savior for the hard work general public. The tremendous success of the Russian revolution gave him great comfort and joy. However, as Stalin established his dictatorship through ruthless purging in the mid 30s, Orwell once against fell into abyss. He was demoralized by what he saw and he couldn’t see any hope. The working class seems to be in an eternity of suffrage. As a result, he wrote [1984] and [Animal Farm] in a rather pessimistic way to condemn totalitarian governments.
[Animal Farm] was written in a highly comical way. The story is about how several smart and visionary pigs lead the animals in Manor Farm to a revolution that drives the suppressive farm owner, Mr. Manor, out of the farm. The Manor Farm is then renamed to Animal Farm, indicating the autonomy of the farm. What happens next is not something I will discuss here since I highly recommend everyone to read this short book (only about 110 pages long). However, I will tell you some of the most unforgettable characters in the book: Napoleon, one of the pigs that leads the animals to victory; Snowball, an intelligent and brave pig that is also a key figure to the revolution; Boxer, a strong male horse, whose motto is “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right”; Benjamin, an old eccentric donkey who seldom says anything except “Life is always the same, no better and no worse, no matter what happens”, Four sheep (whose names I really can’t recall) who are not smart enough to learn anything except “Four leg good, two leg bad”. All these are great characters created by Orwell and I found them extremely interesting.
The book is written in 1943 and published in 1945 after the World War II. However, it gave you a fairly accurate picture of what about to happen in China in the subsequent 30 years. Orwell’s ability to foresee the future is startling. I honestly think this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. The story is entertaining, engaging, and thought provoking. A lot of metaphors are used in the book and it will keep your brain busy for a while if you want to. [Animal Farm] is definitely one of my Top 3 novels of all time.
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