Book Review: Animal Farm

 

“All Animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”

This book is about a farm where the animals decide they are tired of the lazy humans doing nothing but bullying them into doing all the work. You have to think that they’ve got a point.

This book bears similarities to others on this list in that it’s a commentary on the way in which ruling government’s run, and particularly the way in which dictatorships use brute force and fear to take power, and keep the regular Joe’s like Boxer, Benjamin, Clover, Miriam and all the other animals on the Farm in their place.

You could say that, given his background, George Orwell was making a comparison to the ideology of Communism, and the reality of the ruling parties in Snowball and Napoleon, the two main pigs of the story. Snowball is the driver of the rebellion and he insists on the rules, and the weekly meetings, the majority rule and the equal sharing of food. Though arguably things had begun to go bad already before he’s run off the farm by Napoleon and his mindless, vicious dogs.

What I found interesting about this novel is that there is no main protagonist, it’s a story about a whole group of animals, and certainly there are main animals, there is no one main character. I suppose there is an argument to be made for Boxer there, but I honestly don’t think any one animal is the focus of the story. This then puts the conflict and the politics right in the readers focus and fairly shoves it in your face.

I like George Orwell, I think he had a very interesting mind, he was very intelligent when it comes to politics and he had really interesting ideas and opinions that were and still are important. He also knew that the way to communicate with the masses, the way to people’s hearts is not through essays and non-fiction writing, but through fiction. His stories have endured time because they present a picture of what could be, he puts the reader directly in the situation and say’s “look here, for this is what might come if you do not exercise your rights”.

Whilst Animal Farm presents the formation of a government and the beginning of a strict Communist regime, 1984 presents the effects of that dictatorship years after it has come to the fore.

The novels have many parallels, the main focus of the ministry of truth is the keep up to date all of the present information in 1984, in Animal Farm the pigs change the tenants while the other animals aren’t around and use speeches to confuse them into believing that’s the way things have always been. The pigs take all of the good food and beds for themselves in Animal Farm, in 1984 the upper members of the Party get better food and goods than the lower members of the Party. Both the Pigs and the Party use public executions to control the population with fear and to turn them against an opposing enemy (Snowball and Goldstein) who may or may not actually be real. Animal Farm have their blind sheep who repeat one phrase that they have been taught “Four legs good, two legs bad”, in 1984 the Proles are oblivious to the goings on of the Party, and are often singing the songs that are made up for the propaganda marches.

What I love about Animal Farm is the way in which it affects you, no-one can help but understand the true meaning of the tale, and I have found that with both Animal Farm and 1984 I haven’t stopped thinking about either of them.

I would recommend this novel to everyone.

What’s next: Catch-22

Until next time Comrades,

J.M

 

Book Review: 1984

Image courtesy of Andrea Roberts – Flickr

Eric Arthur Blaire or George Orwell as he was better known, wrote this book in 1948.

If you have ever heard the terms “Big Brother”, “Doublethink” or “Orwellian” then you should know that this is where all of those terms come from. This novel could be considered to have spawned a genre.

This novel centres on a character, Winston, he is not a hero and there is nothing particularly exceptional about him. He is middle aged, he is not exceptionally good looking, he has a varicose ulcer on his leg that is constantly worrying at him, he has violent thoughts, and his most redeeming feature is that he has sharper than average curiosity, but the question being asked is whether this is, in fact, serving him well, or whether perhaps ‘Ignorance is Strength’ and he would be better if he was more ignorant.

The setting is a dystopian London, situated in Oceania, where there is no privacy, and everything is monitored down to the minutest facial expression, or even heartbeat which can be detected by the ever-present telescreens. However, it’s not just the telescreens, children, wives, husbands, partners, friends, no-one can be trusted because at the slightest indication of thought you could be turned over to the ‘thought police’ by anyone. There is no crime except ‘thought crime’ which involves any sort of thought, or conflict of emotion such as love. The exception is that Hate is acceptable because fanatical hatred can be used to control the population and to turn minds to the will of ‘The Party’.

This brings me to the next point, the power in this world is ‘The Party’ which is led by ‘Big Brother’, posters with eyes that follow you, loud, large slogans such as “War is Peace” “Slavery is Freedom” and “Ignorance is Strength”, and the ministries; The Ministry of Plenty, dealing with starvation and rationing; The Ministry of Love, dealing with torture and mental manipulation; The Ministry of Peace, dealing with war against Eurasia, or Eastasia, whosoever the Party is at war with at the time; and The Ministry of Truth, which deals with propaganda, and media. Winston works for the Ministry of Truth changing different publications to be the present ‘truth’, for example, Oceania is at war with Eurasia, but five years ago Oceania was at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia, Winston must change all of the publications to show that Oceania is at war with Eurasia and has always been at war with Eurasia.

There are some difficult concepts to grasp, such as “doublethink” which is the ability to hold two concepts in the mind simultaneously, knowing that one is true and one is a lie, but still believing in the lie and forgetting even that you have replaced the truth with the lie. Blackwhite which is a similar concept in that the Party states two and two make five, and you don’t just say that and agree but believe without question that two and two make five. Winston’s problem is that he doesn’t believe the lies, he can’t doublethink and his equal parts colleague, tormenter, and friend O’Brien puts it that his memory is defective.

I cannot fathom the thoughts that were going on in Mr Orwells mind when he wrote this novel, I can’t help but feel like I would have liked to have known him, to hear him speak and to converse with him. What fascinating thoughts he must have had.

This book is the single most thought provoking novel I have read in my life so far, and that is no exaggeration, the cogs of my mind have been whirling on this for days, and in my opinion, this is the kind of novel that affects you for life, and it has taken place as my most favourite novel of all time, so far.

Until next time, stay safe Comrades,

J.M