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Animal Farm (Signet Classics, CT304)
Despite the fact that Animal Farm is about talking animals that take over a farm, you will be hard pressed to find a book that contains as much truth as this slim novel does. While the book is a pitch perfect allegory about the Soviet Union under Stalin what makes this book so timeless is that it is ultimately about totalitarianism and the corrupting nature of power. The writing itself is brilliant - very simple and straightforward with a compelling plot, yet underneath everything is an insight and intelligence that holds everything together. On top of all that, Animal Farm contains one of the greatest closing paragraphs in the entire canon of English literature. There are small things you could nit-pick about (why is it that the animals suddenly start talking? How does a pig teach itself to read?) but they are irrelevant - Animal Farm is a quick and engaging read, a brilliant allegory, and given the current political climate of the world, it is as timely and as vital as it ever has been. Strongly recommended.
Animal Farm (Signet Classics, CT304)
Orwell's animal farm was written in 1946 and is still in schools today because it's a classic. I loved reading it in school, and I love it still. It's one of those books that you don't forget. It's simple, but good. The simple tale of communism, and takes place on a farm is a captivating story.
Animal Farm (Signet Classics, CT304)
Animal Farm; a book about abused, overworked farm animals that were set free after they chased their master away from their farm. The animals are now attempting to make the world a better place for them. They live just like we do in the United States; for example, they have a powerful president that sets rules for them, and they get paid (in food) for working in the farm. They attempt to slaughter all the humans that cross their farms, for humans make the world a dreadful place.I strongly recommend the book Animal Farm, because the author does an excellent job of personifying the animals. For example, the animals would rebel against the humans when the humans would attempt to harm them. The animals acted like humans would in this situation, for humans often times settle things by harming each other, not by negotiating. Also, the animals are exceedingly productive and desire to work hard to get their pay. Humans normally work hard in their jobs to get their pay as well as the animals in Animal Farm. Furthermore, the animals have a president to set examples and rules for them. The president plans meetings and gives speeches as well as President George Bush does in the United States.Another thing the author does a superior job at is giving the animals their own, unique personalities; for instance, the animals have certain names relating to their appearance and personality. For example, there is a horse named Boxer who is immense and burly, which is describes his name well. There is also a pig named Napoleon who is an exceptionally powerful leader as Napoleon Bonaparte was in the real world. Also, there are several different animals that frequently cause trouble and rebel to the "Seven Commandments" while others stay obedient to them. American Humans also break rules and rebel sometimes as well. Such as, there are humans that do drugs and break rules, while others stay obedient to their religion. What's more, some animals work harder than others and the ones that work hard get rewarded. This relates to real life because people who work long hours and have tough jobs normally get a lot of money compared to the people who work once a week at a McDonalds, who don't get paid much at all.In conclusion, I powerfully recommend the book Animal Farm by George Orwell because of his superior job of personifying the farm animals. The animals act exactly like humans would in their shenanigans. The animals also have their own unique personalities which makes the book interesting. I firmly believe this would be a fantastic book for all ages. I will be looking forward to reading this book again in the future and looking again for all of the excellent things the author put in this book.
Animal Farm (Signet Classics, CT304)
Read this book and the whole histories of 20th century Soviet Union and China unfold before your eyes. The writer has cannily used animal metaphors to drive home the atrocities committed by Communists. Of course China has been bit clever than the rest of the lot having fooled America by flooding its markets with their horrendous goods and having them berate against *Indians of the supposed job loses in USA; due to outsourcing - while swallowing millions of American jobs over 30 years without any hindrance and negative publicity! I believe semi-educated factory workers have the right to be called workers! And of course, all the American Presidents forget wee bit to enforce democracy in China but would want in say, North Korea and Syria etc! Melodramatic, don't you think? Not forgetting that China is regularly arming North Korea to divert attention from its (Chinese) many foibles and thus keeping likes of Prez Bush engaged!Good Going!PS:*This is also because the Indian Government mistreats and disrespects its own citizens - how can you possible presume that others will pay you any respect!
Animal Farm (Signet Classics, CT304)
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a compelling and interesting book describing the evolution of a farm run by animals.The Animals on Manor Farm are fed up by the rule of farmer jones. They deicide to kick jones and his wife off the farm. With a civilization under way a leader must be elected. This starts reigns of power, espionage and murder on the farm called paradise.
Animal Farm (Signet Classics, CT304)
George Orwell had written many stories before he got to Animal farm, addressing a variety of topics. With Animal Farm, he deliberately wrote a story describing Russia's revolution and problems. At the time, during World War II, Russia was an ally of England and he couldn't find *anybody* to publish his book. Finally, he did track down someone willing to do it. The first publishing was 50,000 copies and sold for $1.75 each.As you might imagine, it didn't go over very well. However, as the Cold War progressed, and the Soviet Union became more and more an "Evil Empire" to the west, the book's popularity skyrocketed. Many copies were sent to Ukraine and other Soviet-controlled areas as a way to "help" the populace. The book got added to many school required reading lists. I have tried to do research to find if the book became a best seller (over 10 million copies sold) because of the required school reading or because of voluntary pleasure reading ... I can't seem to find anywhere which says one way or the other. My own personal feeling is that it's the school reading that got this onto the best selling list. For example, Orwell's other main book - 1984 (also on many school reading lists) was selling 750,000 copies a year in 1984. That's hefty sales for such a serious book.At only 139 pages, this is one of the shortest books on the top selling list. If you want to understand the "meaning" of the book, here's a quick synopsis. Old Major (Marx) has a great idea about equality and gets the farm thinking. Soon the animals (people) oust the current bad ruler (Tzar). Two main pigs lead the newly freed animals - Snowball (Trotsky, the idealistic, nice one) and Napoleon (Stalin, the greedy, mean one). Napoleon even has a bunch of cruel dogs (secret police) to keep the animals in line.The book is interesting as a very thinly veiled attack on a political system. It's important to remember it's very biased, of course! It's like reading an anti-Democrat fable written by the Republicans. In Animal Farm, the animals are all *very* stupid. The pigs are explicitly "naturally" smarter which is why they lead. The rest of the animals (with only specific exceptions) are very stupid. Are they saying that the entire Soviet populace were very stupid? I know many people in that region who would disagree.I suppose the story might not have had the same impact if it was more realistic (still with animals, of course). Just one example - in the real world, Ukrainians fought fiercely against Soviet rule. Stalin inflicted a famine on them, killing millions. Few animals in Animal Farm fight back - they merely mutter occasionally and are quickly silenced. Instead, the book makes a gigantic line between "very innocent / dumb" (all animals but the pigs) and "very evil / smart" (the pigs). It's a shame the book couldn't have smart-but-stuck characters as well. I suppose the dumb-but-evil animals would be the dogs, doing the bidding of the pigs. Still, I don't like the portrayal of the pigs as "all naturally clever". I suppose I've made that clear :)So there's two ways I look at this book. First, during it's "peak popularity with regular readers" (i.e. the Cold War, the 60s) it was a propaganda tool for the West. You can consider this a "really good thing" in helping Ukrainians and other subjugated groups get a voice. I suppose you could consider it a "interference" issue since most Western countries wouldn't be happy if other countries deliberately wrote very biased, cutesy anti-current-policy books and flooded their marketplace with them :)Outside of that very specific selling time period, the longer life of this book has been with school sales. The kids reading the book don't really need to learn "Russian history" by understanding pigs and sheep reciting messages. Instead, by reading Animal Farm they get a *very* basic, easily understandable example of how symbols work in books. When they tackle advanced books they get very subtle symbols to understand. This is a book to get them started. The dogs act like secret police. The propaganda pig works like a propaganda machine. The book isn't subtle at all, you can see the similarities very clearly. So as a teaching tool, the book works wonderfully. It's relatively entertaining, and it's short.As far as an adult reading this in the post-2000 era, I found it interesting, but its one sidedness shone through. It's a bit like watching Barney the Dinosaur. The message is fine enough, but as a book intended for adults, even in "fable form", I would have appreciated a bit more meat. Still, there are many aspects of the book which are deeply embedded into current culture, because culture assumes that every child read the book on the way towards adulthood. So from that point of view, it's a book that everyone should read at least once, to understand those references.