Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm Review
Melanie Foust, a FLVS English 1 student, 10/05/2008

In the average fairy tale when you stage a revolt in hope of a better world everything goes almost perfectly with just a few mishaps along the way, and you will soon enjoy living happily ever after. But although George Orwell called Animal Farm a fairy tale it definitely is not an average one, and it is way too many other things to be so easily classified. Animal Farm is the story of the animals on Manor Farm who rebel against the humans, are successful in overthrowing them, and then go about establishing a new form of government under a new name, Animal Farm. At first, their lives go along quite smoothly, but soon the pigs begin to realize that their intelligence is greater than that of the other animals. They put themselves in control and begin to use the power to their advantage. Soon, they quite easily take complete control of the farm. When I read the book hook on my copy of Animal Farm it immediately captured my attention. Animals with newly found freedom from tyranny going into totalitarianism sounded intriguing. After reading the book and learning about how the entire story is an allegory to the Soviet Union’s unjustness it was easy to perceive why this book is a classic. Animal Farm is a lesson in human nature and a lampoon of human folly all set within a fairy tale. It is also a fervent lecture on the hazards of political innocence. When the loyal workhorse, Boxer, is sent to the factory to be turned into glue, hides, and bone meal it shows the evilness of human nature, the cynicism of the Soviet Union, and the stupidity of the human nature to follow a leader no matter what. As the story continues, totalitarianism goes on. It is amazing to see how the other animals on the farm succumb to the pigs’ propaganda. After a couple of bleak attempts of reasoning they simply decide they must be remembering the original rules wrongly and surrender. It is remarkable to see how human nature can believe in things because they want to believe that their leaders really do desire the best for them. This book was beautifully written with intelligence and also a passion against the injustice of the Soviet Union. Although it was disheartening to see how easily mankind is deceived the book is a great way to be enlightened to the true nature of humans. Overall Animal Farm is an excellent book, and I would recommend it to all. It teaches us important lessons in history, and also warns us to not fall for the same tactics in the future.

Also recommended: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Lord of the Flies

Animal Farm Review
Michael (thepaladin07@hotmail.com), a student from FLVS, 10/04/2008

Absolute power left unchecked leads to the downfall of society. This statement is demonstrated in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, an allegorical novel in which a group of animals launch a revolution of independence against the humans on their farm, taking it over. The novel is a clear reference to Communism and events that occurred in Soviet Russia before and around the time of World War II. This reference is made clear early on in the book, and in the revolution when it is stated that all animals are to be equal. It’s a sad truth that, because of human nature, equality never truly works out, as is displayed in Orwell’s novel. The story is set on a farm in England, likely sometime during the late 1940s, where the animals are over worked and under fed. One night, the wisest and most respected of the animals, Old Major (a “prize Middle White boar”) tells the animals of a dream he had, along with a speech about Man being the only true enemy of animals. Old Major expresses to the farm animals that if they rid themselves of Man, their problems of overwork and hunger will be no more. The highly regarded boar also warns his “comrades” that no argument can mislead them, and that they can never listen to the lies of Man, an obvious instance of foreshadowing of events that will occur later on in the novel. The tone of the novel changes from time to time but overall keeps a seemingly down beat sort of feeling. In the beginning of the novel, while the animals are still under Jones’ oppression, the tone that is given off is rather negative, but with a glimmer of hope that is found within Old Major’s final gathering. Then, once the animals take over, under the leadership of Snowball and Napoleon, two of the farm’s head pigs (following Old Major), morale rises greatly, as does the tone of the entire novel, to an up beat, happy feeling. At this point, the work for the animals is more intense, but the supply of food is great and seemingly endless, and the animals are happy to be under their own rule. Eventually, hardship strikes the farm, crops frosting over, clashes of interest (between Snowball and Napoleon concerning education), or desertion of “comrades” (Mollie). These events cause minor disruptions around the farm, causing an overall undertone of hardship ahead, but nonetheless, the tone is still bright. Eventually, conflict between Napoleon and Snowball reaches its unsuspected peak, and Napoleon attacks and banishes Snowball from the farm, causing a further drop in the novel’s tone. Overall, this novel holds a great value within literature. Many lessons may be taken from this piece by Orwell and should be taken to heart. Orwell’s writing of this novel causes the reader to lose himself (or herself) within the story while still retaining historical and moral value.

Animal Farm
Courtney, a student at BVS, 10/04/2008

So what would happen if you were never taken care of? If your parents just forgot about you? What would you do? In this story, the animals on Manor Farm become sick of not being taken care of a revolt against the farmer. They try to form a new society and a new life. Everything is fine until the fight for power over Animal Farm becomes tougher and tougher. Soon, one pig has complete control over the farm. Though it was a little upsetting, the animals thought they would be fine. But the animals trust too much in their leader and soon turn out to be worse than before. Before they know it, history has repeated it self. This book was written upon many historic events. The main battle was written about the Russian Revolution and the effects of it. The fight for power showed the struggle between Trotsky and Stalin. The book was also written about the effects of communism. So for anyone who wants to learn about history in a creative fashion, this is for you!

Also recommended: 1984, The Westing Game

Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.
Hailey Guyette,, a English I student at FLVS, 09/30/2008

What would you do if your boss treated you badly, didn’t pay you for you’re work and didn’t let you eat? Obviously you would quit, but if you didn’t have a choice what would you do? These animals staged a revolution. When I first saw a book about talking animals that take over a farm I had to wonder why it was an adults book, and why it was a classic. What I later learned was the relevance of what was going on in the story to things that are happening today. I think that is why Animal Farm is still looked upon as a classic, because we are still learning from it. Animal farm is a lesson in human nature, politicians and the need for education. In the novel the animals become fed up with the bad treatment from Farmer Jones and stage a battle to overthrow him. With Jones gone the pigs take the thrown and make plans for the farm. Starting with bringing in the harvest. All the animals pitch in and soon the harvest is in the barn. Everything is going well until one of the pigs is ran out of the farm as a traitor. From there it goes downhill. The animals don’t know any better so they don’t ask any questions. The animals don’t know how to read the rules written on the barn so they are unable to tell when they are changed. The pigs have all the authority so there is no one to tell them no. They use scare tactics and propaganda to control the farm animals and are quick to get rid of one if they show nay signs of disagreement. This novel is an parable of the Russian revolution. When George Orwell wrote this book he was seeing the effects of this revolution. The unhappy lower class revolts against the upper class and takes power. Soon a few rebels become corrupted and the entire group suffers. The main theme is that absolute power corrupts and I agree with it. Everywhere we look people who are given power are abusing it. While this book was well written, relevant and interesting, I did not enjoy it. For me it was a depressing book retelling countless stories of corrupt politicians and the down fall of the people who looked up to them. While I did not enjoy it, it was an important book for me to read because it teaches us about history and it tells us about our future.

Also recommended: All of the Harry Potter books, Sold, Troll Bridge, Elsewhere, The Uglies, The Gospel According to Larry, So Yesterday

FLVS student
Paige Kitzis, a student., 09/29/2008

This is a book that I think is a very good, but you have to be able to have a little bit of an imagination and an understanding of what the animals are supposed to be representing. I have read animal farm before and watched the film and I thought it bored me because we were watching it to relate to our social studies class when we were studying Russia. But also it was about how animals were taking over the farm and acting like humans, which seemed like something for younger kids. Reading this book the second time and understanding things at a more mature level, I thought that it was an interesting way to put a historic event such as that, but that it had a very powerful message to it. How people have tried to create the 'perfect' government and how it has failed many times in this attempt. Also that not one person can make a decision for every person. Like how at first Snowball was the leader but if there is only one leader there is bound to be somebody jealous and trying to take that power. Another important lesson in the story is that everybody wants power, and power can be good but people should never let it take control of them and that power was given to them for a reason and you shouldn't abuse it. Like how the pigs misused the animals so they could be lazy and get drunk. I did have trouble keeping up with which character was which and who was an animal and who wasn’t. Like how later on in the story the author described Napoleon it seemed like he was talking about Mr. Jones, the farmer that treated the animals so badly that it started the whole mutiny against humans, he was wearing his clothes and started to be drunk all the time like Mr. Jones. But as it got later in the story it became easier to figure out which animal was which. Another lesson in the story that I thought was the most important was that we should be grateful that we don’t live in a time like that and that there is a very slim chance of something like that ever happening again. And how we get to choose our leader and how we have more than one person with power to also make decisions and to take control of situations when others can’t. It also showed that we shouldn’t take our freedom for granted and to enjoy it.

Also recommended: The Devil's Arithmetic