Animal Farm by George Orwell, C. M. Woodhouse (Introduction), Russell Baker (Preface by)

Animal Farm Reviewby Anonymous

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December 05, 2009: In Animal Farm, George Orwell uses an example of animals on a farm to show what really happens after a totalitarian government takes power. Writing at the end of WW II, Orwell uses Animal Farm to show the way Soviet communism could grow in countries throughout the world. On animal farm, the animals stage a revolt against farmer Jones and drive him from the farm. Then, two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, begin guiding the feelings of the other animals about the revolt for their own advantage. Snowball is the initial leader of the animals, but is removed from power by Napoleon with his dogs. Napoleon then becomes a dictator and constantly persuading the rest of the animal's thoughts and opinions.

In the days after the rebellion against Jones, Snowball needed a way to keep the animal's attention focused on the ideals of the rebellion and diverting their attention from what the pigs were really doing. The result was the Seven Commandments which were painted in big letters on the barn. These commandments were whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend, no animal shall wear clothes, no animal shall sleep in a bed, no animal shall drink alcohol, no animal shall kill any other animal, and all animals are equal. The pig's goal was to make the animals focus on their resentment of humans rather than pay attention to what they were doing. That would allow the pigs to manipulate the animals emotionally throughout the story. One pig, Squealer, became the spokesman for the pigs, always explaining and interpreting the Seven Commandments for the other animals. The pigs constantly changed the Seven Commandments to suit themselves and Squealer would constantly reinforced the pig's understanding of the new commandments to the animals.

One of the most crucial of the original commandments was "four legs good, two legs bad". This was considered the most important of all of the commandments and was taught to the sheep as a saying that could be repeated over and over. It was used as the main slogan of the rebellion. However, as the story changes, the pigs adopt ways more like humans and, at the end of the book, the animal's slogan is changed to "four legs good, two legs better" and the original commandments were changed to one commandment, "all animal are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". This progression of manipulating slogans and commandments was the means used by the pigs to keep control.

At the end, of WW II, Soviet Russia was becoming a major player in world politics under its leader, Joseph Stalin. Stalin had expressed the ideal of expanding communism world-wide. Orwell understood Stalin and felt he needed to warn the people of the world about the Soviet intent. Animal Farm is his way of teaching the world how totalitarian governments rise to power and how they operate when they are in power. Animal Farm achieves this goal well by following a fictional uprising by farm animals along with the rise of two pigs as their leaders. Orwell also shows attention between leaders when Napoleon removes Snowball from power and becomes a dictator. In the end, the farm's leaders decide to become like their peers. The Russian leadership, at the time, also wanted to fit in with the other world leaders, but neither in Animal Farm nor in Russia did the revolution improve the quality of life for the citizens. Animal Farm is a call for people everywhere to be politically...

Animal Farm reviewby ShannonBradley

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December 04, 2009: Animal farm is a very interesting and entertaining book. I believe that the main message in the book is that one person should not control everyone else. The animals run out Mr. Jones and his men and take over the farm. Napoleon and Snowball take over the farm and get everyone to work together. It works for a while until Napoleon goes mad with power. Napoleon runs Snowball off the farm and takes over the farm. There were some good parts and bad parts I will tell you about my favorite and least favorite parts.

One of my favorite parts of the book is when Mr. Jones tries to take over his farm again. All the animals learn to work as a team and fight against Mr. Jones. The animals had to go in teams to fight him off. When that strategy didn't work all the animals charged Mr. Jones and his men. One of the sheep died in the process. They buried the sheep and had a memorial service for him. This was my favorite part because the animals all worked as a team to get something done and they proved that they could run a farm.

My least favorite part of the book would be when Napoleon ran Snowball off the farm. Napoleon had trained the puppies of the Border Collies and he had trained them to be vicious and they did just that. They chased Snowball off the farm by chasing him while barking and trying to bite him. Snowball was so scared that he ran off into the bushes and never came back. This was my least favorite part because Snowball and Napoleon worked great as a team and could work together to get things done. The government then was askew because at one time it was run by two people and then it was run by just one that was taking over and changing everything and not everyone liked his opinions.

One of the okay parts of the book was when the animals were trying to learn Beasts of England and trying to learn to read. This part of the book was important because the animals had to be able to read the commandments. Beasts of England gives an important message to the animals because it says that they can rule the land of England if they try hard enough. This part of the book told me that if you believe you can do anything.

In summation, this book has many lessons in it. The government cannot be run by one person because of the fact that the other people might not like their opinion. When trying to achieve something just know that you can succeed if you try hard enough.