My dear students of 4E, as I said in class you can download & read the beautiful novel by George Orwell for free here: ANIMAL FARM
I have also prepared some material to share with you on the topic. You can download and study my worksheet on GEORGE ORWELL the plot of the novel, its main characters, its historical background and main themes & do te QUIZ to check how much you remember. Here below is my presentation to read.
The next is an interesting but easy video dealing with the connections between G.Orwell’s Animal Farm and Stalin’s Russia. Have a look & TAKE DOWN SOME NOTES.
The next video is the trailer of the cartoon by John Halas, Joy Batchelor.(1956) Notice the year of its creation, it’s not a typo! You can watch all the episodes on YouTube. We’ll watch some parts in class from my DVD.
There’s also a new movie version (1999) of the novel with real animals? Have a look!!
When you’ve finished reading the short novel leave your “personal” comment. No plagiarism please 😉
Hope they’ve helped you broaden your knowledge on the novel by having fun!
If you want at this site you can download all Orwell’s novels for free. http://www.george-orwell.org/ See you next Friday 🙂
Hi! here’s your Snowball’s speeches done with Vocaroo. Great fun to listen to. 🙂
Luca T’s http://vocaroo.com/i/s1lfTVFeq5D9
Enrico B. http://vocaroo.com/i/s159LcbE5xJZ
Davide V. http://vocaroo.com/i/s1JSJBMbJZ0B
Simone http://vocaroo.com/i/s0ORielFoMXx
Nicole http://vocaroo.com/i/s0h8wf42GKtO
Federica http://vocaroo.com/i/s0HnMi6VpeTS
Francesco http://vocaroo.com/i/s0HFPp45dk1W
Andrea D. http://vocaroo.com/i/s1wFQtqiAkAS
Michael http://vocaroo.com/i/s1LpwdYOMGc0
Matilde http://vocaroo.com/i/s1zWanOTEEq7
Alberto C.http://vocaroo.com/i/s0fPOqSA9S5l
Luca B http://vocaroo.com/i/s1P45nmAM1rQ
Giovanni http://vocaroo.com/i/s1nEXdJ1NnfE
Filippo http://vocaroo.com/i/s1BUt5OBlFH9
Matteo http://vocaroo.com/i/s0JoHcC20AEr
Andrea G. http://vocaroo.com/i/s1t0ql2k8c9t
Elia http://vocaroo.com/i/s0eWfyfUBq0L
Stefano http://vocaroo.com/i/s0mskAbC0sfH
Riccardo http://vocaroo.com/i/s02wXifGROMq
Anna http://vocaroo.com/i/s0IKw80Y6clz
Davide D. http://vocaroo.com/i/s0JL1UAXosxG
Gaia: http://vocaroo.com/i/s05U2NJsBDYW
Enrico S:http://vocaroo.com/i/s1C0iSEOSXzI
I state I found ‘Animal Farm’ a nice book, full of meaning but boring to read. However, I think Orwell is a really brilliant and astute writer for being able to develop a so fitting metaphor of the Russian Revolution. He chose to write a fable to express his hostility to Stalin and the Communist regime, identifying each animal with a character of the historical facts and associating each event of the farm’s revolution with a specific real one that occurred during the years of communist dictatorship. The result has been a bitter satire full of criticism for the utopian ideals of communism and the revolutions that have been corrupted by the liberators themselves and become regimes. But, if someone (like me) had read it uninformed about historical events which the fable alludes to, it could be still understood the moral that this story makes us innocently slip in our mind, ‘the conditions were nice, wonderful ideals, but in reality, sadly, turned out to be impractical.’. What I’m wondering is: ’Why did not it work? The equality, equal rights, a happier society … They’re ideal that cannot lead to anything but good, aren’t they? ‘ Well, the answer I have given to myself is quite obvious if you think about it. The pigs, the same who planned the revolution against the oppressor, have come to satisfy their interests and be corrupted by power, turning into the oppressors. And those who had runned/RUN the revolution, the other animals, they found themselves in a worse situation than the initial one. Orwell, as many people, thought that communism failed because the ideals were too utopian, but I do not think is correct. Men are too power-hungry to work and fight all together for the common good and a happier Humanity.
You say that “Orwell, as many people, thought that communism failed because the ideals were too utopian, but I do not think is correct. Men are too power-hungry to work and fight all together for the common good and a happier Humanity.” Isn’t it the same idea: ideals too high for too corruptible men? I do not see the difference 🙂
Hi every body!!!!!
i want to say that i like very much “Animal farm” by George Orwell, i read it flowing for the second time in english with the Unique and useful help of notes on the blog.
I found this book absolutely interesting and original☺, the originality of it, is in the roles that Orwell gives to his characters in the farm: he identify different social classes of human race in a group of animals, in where they are society (comrades) and the farm is a sort of common government that born taking action for the first time at the beginning of the book with the animal’s rebellion.
I’ve like in general veery much animated cartoons since i was truly little ☺(i see video tapes and DVD almost every day) so i found this reading pleasant in his facility (composed by: funny immages, original metaphors, situations that i could compare to nowaday’s life) but useful at the same time, manage to explain, with examples, how in the hystory a political, filosofical and social movement like COMMUNISM is destined to FAIL if it’s applied to the reality.
The socialist ideals can theoretically be considered extremely revolutionary recognizing the time in when they born but it is demostrating by the facts that the comunism had failed because humans are WEARY and when they can take POWER they desire it more and more, so the total equality between “camrades” is impossible.
Orwell defines different classes into the animales’ society, and i like in particular some of them:
OLD MAJOR: (it’s a pig) the wise guide of animales, whoose words are listening by everyone without complains and with attention. He stirs animals to revolution and to take action against the cruel farmer: i like him very much!
MOSES: (the raven) farmer’s favourite domestic pet. It catches my attention because it’s a free character that has no true role in the farm: he never works and he found ever food flying everywhere he want sand telling sometimes story to the remains animales of a sort of heaven called Sugarcandy Mountain (there is a fabulous image of it in my mind and i think also in animales ones) : it is very interesting!
THE SHEEPS: they are absolutely fantastic!! ☺ they are the funniest characters in the book: i like very much Orwell’s satirical spirit in describing this part of society that really exists!!
They repeat continually everything someone teaches them (for example: “two legs good, four legs bad” and at the end of the book the second version “four legs good, two legs better”), without knowing the meaning of it: fantastic!!☺
BOXER: the loyal, laborious soul of the group! he deserves our attention only for his willpower to try again and for his motto “i’ll work harder” for a common objective that he want absolutely try to reach working harder more than his posibilities. And like often happen in the reality the best have the worst end: i can’t see myself in this character but i can appreciate his high sacrifice.
Actually Moses has a great role the same role as RELIGION, making people hope for a better world. Or as Marx said “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”. I’m very glad you appreciated the book Anna.
In my opinion anymal farm is a very beautiful book and, moreover, it is also interesting and useful. In fact it semplify/IES communism, comparing it to the animal word. In particular it shows how pigs, next Mr Jones has banned and while they are improving the farm, use all their intelligence to got vantages/ GET SOME ADVANTAGES and to have a better life instead the one of the other animals.
Moreover it shows the idea that in every place THERE must be someone that organizeS all the work, the food and some exchanges with the word, someone that have/HAS a lot of power and controlS everything.
My favourite character is Squealer, the pig that talkS to the other animals instead of Napoleon. I like that role because it shows how important is to have someone very good at speaking, in fact it can explain everything in the best way and can find the support of all the other animals, that is fundamental to prevent rebellions.
Yes the role of a good PR which is what Suealer is after all, is fundamental in any organization!
I’ve read this book with interest and willingly because the argument attractED me and the narration was simply/SIMPLE to understand and so I like it and also the animated film. I already read the book in italian years ago, but now, WHWN I reread it, I understood more things and uncovered comparisons with the Communism regime and the ideas of Stalin and Marx. The book wantS to say to the lector?/READER that after a revolution to repress the power of someone there will be ALWAYS someone who will want to be the most powerful and will want to control the others. The character at issue is Napoleon, who, after the revolution of the animals against the man Jones, wanted to govern and so took the power with the violence.
All of it could happen in every moment and in every society and so we have to be careful and we have to not permit to anyone to take control to everything and everyone for living better than the others ( like Napoleon who modify/IES the right roles of Snow Ball to his advantage).
You certainly have to beware of all despots and absolute rulers!
I think that Animal Farm by George Orwell is a great novel because criticizes in a marvelous way the Russian dictatorship and the totalitarianism in general: He simply shows us with a sharpened fairy tale the birth , features and tools that a regime of terror usually has.
However, Animal Farm isn’t just a critique of the plague that afflicted the XX century: it also gives us a model of behavior. The author invites us to reflect on the past to learn and do right in the present . Then, we shouldn’t always believe to the words of the others. Orwell makes the culture and the use of reason fundamental in the novel: animals don’t own neither of them and so they are dominated by the will of the pigs, the cleverest members of the farm.
During the reading I’ve felt very sympathetic with Boxer, the powerful horse who spend the last years of his life working very hard for the community and becomes dog food after he hurt himself on work to make the pigs richer. Emblematic is the analogy between pigs and men, whose greed doesn’t seem to have equals.
I adore Boxer too and without hard workers any society would collapse. 😉
I find really admirable how Orwell described the oppression of a dictatorship, the born of an illusory revolution and the subsequent return to the beginning in such a short book: lot of concepts and a description of the society in few words, with such an originality!
I was quite stunned by how the whole book flips around the unawareness of the animals, which brings them to a worse situation than the beginning one.
However, in this way Orwell teaches us the importance of learning from our mistakes, so that we don’t make them again.
The book itself is very nice, short and with a lot of ideas in every page; it’s a very pleasant read, mainly because of its fairy-like plot I think, with all the animals trying to rebel to the human dictator: simple plot, full of concepts!
Don’t you think that unawareness is the same of Italian citizens nowadays? A bit like the frog in warm luke-water given by Al Gore as an example of Global Warming in his documentary? As you said I hope that the study of history will make your generation wiser 😉
I’ve always liked and admired Animal Farm.
Since my term paper when I was 13 was about this book, I’ve read it countless times in Italian and three or four English. Reading it again now didn’t change what I know about the Russian revolution, but convinced me even more that the writer is one of the best ever.
My favourite character is without doubt Benjamin the Donkey, who represents cinical thinkers, intellectuals and also Orwell himself. He already knows how it’s gonna end and he’s resigned from the beginning. He shows up always in the right moment to give a lapidary statement about what’s happening.
What I think is great in this book is the mastery of the writer in magnifying every animal’s attitude in order to describe every single part of the society. Every word he uses is put in the right place to induce the reader to search the meaning behind the sentence.
Even if it’s a short book about a farm, this is a masterpiece.
I love Benjamin too and I don’t find him cynical at all, just realistic! It reminds me of Clint Eastwood in the movie Gran Torino. I’ve also read the book innumerable times and at every reading I discover something new!
This is sheer genius. Orwell is probably the best writer of the last century and he demonstrated this in his two masterpieces: Animal Farm and 1984. I consider them the best books I’ve ever read. If only he hadn’t died so young, he could have become the greatest writer ever, as famous as Dante. With his subtle satire, he could also change history, putting peoples knowledge about all the horrible things that happened and that we discovered only at the end of cold war.
In this book, he sharply criticizes one of the two greatest countries at that moment: this shows great courage and skills in grasping the finest details. But at the same time he’s not aggressive or violent, he tells the story like if it is a fable, suitable both for kids and for adults.
I’ve found genial the choice of names, because though they don’t remind of the Soviet Union, they clearly indicate the roles of the characters. For example, between Napoleon and Snowball, it’s obvious that the first one is evil and overpowering and the second is quieter and overwhelmed; or the name Squealer, that indicates an instrument since the character is an instrument of the regime.
This last character is my favourite, not for what he does, but for how Orwell created him: it’s really genial, reading the book I was tempted of going back to read again some parts, because he convinced me too of what he was saying and I wasn’t sure anymore of what really happened.
Great comment Filippo. As you said the skill of the great communicator who is able, thanks to PROPAGANDA, to make you believe that 2+2 is 5, scares me ’cause it reminds me of a politician we all know too well. 😉
Hello:) I read “Animal farm” written by George Orwell twice. The first time that I read it was a few years ago but I don’t remember exactly when. I understood better the meaning of this book only reading it for the second time. It is true that if you read a book in different years of your life you can found new meanings.
I have discovered a new point of view to understood/UNDERSTAND this book. It is a parody of the Communist regime, Stalin and Marx’s ideas. Reading this story written by someone who lived those bad moments of the history I understand that the where really bad and that they had succeded to create a regime based on terror. This made me also think about the reaction of Napoleon that decided to kill Snowball and take control of the farm with the violence. This could occur also nowadays so we must keep also attention of the media and what they tell us because not always they tell the truth.
We must “do not forget” because bad periods of our history could return.
The thing that I liked of this book is that George Orwell wrote it during the Communist and for me was very brave.
I appreciated a lot this book and I recommend it to all!
But mind that he didn’t live UNDER a communist regime therefore he could probably be even more objective in his analysis.
Hi:)
I’ve already read Animal Farm in Italian, but this time in English I liked it most, maybe because I paid more attention to the plot and his many meanings. I find it brilliant because is a fable, so it can be read by children because there are all the animals of the farm who speaks and they are the main characters , but is also a political and philosophical satire, so is addressed to adults too. It shows exactly the steps that lead to a dictatorship: the revolution, the rise of a class or a person (or animal in this case) because of his charisma or ideas that seems in favor of the most of the crowd, the deletion of the opposition and of the weak, sick and old that are only a burden for the state and don’t make a profit. I think it’s important to underline that in Animal Farm the animals have to work for the most of the day and they have no time to think about what is happening, their mind are passive and manipulated, they can’t react because of the dogs or of the sheep bleating and they accept everything that Squealer says as true, because they see Napoleon as their guide and can’t think that he might would do something against them and the Farm without a good reason. The book also shows the importance of memory, so that what has been wrong in the past doesn’t happen again. In fact the animals don’t remember how they lived in Jones’s times so they don’t realize that Napoleon’s government is like the old one before the Revolution and they prefer to think that how they stay now is better than in the past, hard but better, thought they are not sure.
With this novel Orwell criticizes every aspect of his time, that is characterized by dictatorship and abuses of power, using a lot of metaphors to describe the Communism, Stalin and everything around it.
YES Nicole you’re absolutely right, thanks for mentioning the importance of MEMORY, a very important theme of Orwell.:)
Hello to everybody. In my opinion the satirical comparison of the Russian communism isn’t the only aspect of this book. I think that G.Orwell wants to give a larger message, he wants to attack and criticize all the totalitarians and absolutism regimes that happened in the history and also the damage that the power can do if isn’t in the right hands. An example of an other regime that we can compare to ‘animal farm’ is the “ancient regime” of the France before the ‘French revolution'(1789) because this way of conduct a country oppressed the poorest layer of the population that are inclined to revolt . About the constitution of the farm :the seven rules that change progressively during the story; with this aspect Orwell wants to criticize the flexibility of a constitution like the “ Statuto Albertino” because it promoteS and facility/FACILITATES the coming of a despot.
In the end I enjoyED reading this book AS I found it very interesting and involving; to understand the political aspect of this book I recommend it for a public of adultS or students.
Sure it’s a criticism of all totalitarianisms and that changing of the rules is so very … contemporary 😉
This is the firts time I read ‘Animal farm’ by George Orwell and I’ve found it really interestring, but I can say for sure that to understand in depth the meaning reading the book is not enough, you have also to be prepared on this topic.
For example you must know Marx’S tought about THE struggle between classes to understand the words of the big/OLD major( the old pig).
In fact at first impact the farm of Orwell at the beginning makeS me think about a factory like the ones of eighteent century in England where a lot of workers were completly dependent on a few owners like in this case animal and farmers.
Also Marx in his age supported the idea that workers,to escape from the bad conditions of THE factory where they were exploited, have to organized/ORGANIZE themselves in the factories( in this book could be the stable) and rebel. They had to make a revolution and kick their owners and than regroup.
But it is also simple that in this breakable situation there is someone who try/TRIES to take advantages pretendedING to want the common good as did the pigs in this case. And this is probably the analogy with the dictatorship of Stalin in Russia.
In conclusion I can say that i’ve enjoyed reading this book also for the simplicity with wich IT tells this kind of thingS that are not so simple to undestand.
Reading this book you realize also how a few people can reach the command and control all other people if they don’t stay togheter.
Sure and it’s up to you not to allow anybody to manipulate your minds and take control over you!
Hello!
It is the first time that I read this book, and I’ve always heard it as a fairy tale. The thing made me curious and reading the book I discovered why he is considered one of the masterpieces of literature. Orwell has made it that, an apparent story for children, became the narration and the mirror of a society that told everyone what had happened in Russia with Stalin. Indeed in the story, Napoleon is the Stalin of the farm, that can not to do without expanding himself eager to have more and more power. I’m reminded of all dictators and how to be, as highlighted many times in the book the author, must be intelligent, CLEVER and cunning, able to submitting others … it always amazes me. Orwell has made known to everyone, in an ingenious way, the message that there is the ambition and that history can’t do without have a “dictator”, a “megalomaniac”, someone who wants to go beyond everyone. The fact that he used animals, making everything more “fairy-tale”, makes him look like the old wises, Romans cantors, as Fedro (come to mind “The Fox and the Crane” or “The Fox and the Grapes”) , telling a simple story giving it a deeper meaning, teaching them from childhood, in a simple and easy way, that even in daily activities and in life there are different forms of ‘”BE man”, making this book not only a fable or a historical narrative but also didactic. I like that, a writer, has made this message in a simple and immediate way in an epoch who was devastated by all this and was able to make people participate, denouncing what was happening.
Well said Federica and in fact Orwell believed in the SOCIAL role of the writer who had the duty to write to denounce the evils of society in order to improve it.
I think “Animal Farm” is a great novel both for children and adults. In fact, although it’s very dense of significances, it can be appreciated also by the children. They won’t understand the real meaning of the plot but they will consider the book great because of it’s a story of animals and similar to a fable.
The adults will understand the real meaning of the novel: George Orwell writes this dystrophic story to compare the “pig’s revolution” to the Russian revolution of 1917.
After the explosion of the revolution the pigs didn’t behave how they had mediated before, for example when Napoleon became the leader tried to kill Snowball, because he had some different ideas. But it wasn’t the only bad episode: indeed he decided to modify the seven commandments they had given before the revolution and in a few time the pigs became like the human beings.
The animals didn’t respect the equality they had predetermined and they found in a worse condition than before the revolution. In my opinion this story is really instructive and I think that a revolution could be a good way to cut down the previous negative regime but if people aren’t prepared it’s unhealthy.
After a revolution all the people should become equal but this is impossible because every person of this group will try to turn into the leader, of a higher importance from the others.
Not dystrophic mind but DYSTOPIC 🙂 I’m glad you found the story educative as this was Orwell’s aim after all.
Haloa.
I’ve found the book really interesting, and I perceive that is a very close description of the political and economical situation of a big part of Europe and Asia after the first world war; the matters narrated in the book are the merger of what was happening in Italy, Germany, Japan and Soviet Union; but it reminds a lot also the French revolution, when all is said and done we could say that this is the narration of a big part of the human history. Reading the book I get an heavy pessimism in the Orwell’s words, from this book we can understand that in his point of view, all the hopes that we have and that the people of his time has7HAVE are and were useless, AS IT is in the human nature to try to dominate the others, and even when the things seem to change is just the beginning of a new loop, similar to the previous one. I am not an expert of the period, but the book was written in 1945, during the end of the II world war and, for me, it reveals his terror of the beginning of a new catastrophic loop.
For sure the book was written in a period of great disillusionment and very few hopes but I hope you’ve also learnt that history’s repeating but there are cycles of crises, wars and periods of peace and prosperity 😉
Hello! This is the second time that I read this book, but now I understand what’s the real meaning of it. I read it for the first about 3 years ago and sincerely I found the plot very simple and I thought it was almost a fable for child.
Now, at the second reading I understand that my impression was completely wrong because the plot could seems easy to understand but it’s not so.
Reading this book you can understand how the lust of power is something that was common at Orwell’s time and now even more.
In my opinion using the figure of the pigs that before helped the other animal to dispel the farmer and then they took power, the author wanted to personified all the powerful man that before promise improvements of the life to the people and great advantages to them, but then they make their life even worse and do everything to advantage themself.
I also liked how Orwell’s talked about politics of his time without using concrete examples that probably would allow to the reader to understand immediately what he was referring to.
In conclusion I vividly advice this book, maybe reading it twice or more, because this book make you think a lot about human behaviours and make you understand even something about politics.
I’m glad you’d recommend it. The greatness of literature is that at every reading you can find or add new meanings.
Animal farm is really an interesting book. Personally I read it twice, the first time some years ago in Italian, and the second one now in English.
During the second reading I see the story under a different point of view (probably cause I pay more attention on it) and I understand better, even if not completely, all the similitudeS that the author would show us.
While during my first time reading I followED the story without comparing it to the Russian Communism now I pay more attention to all the words that were pronounced and during the reading I try to link every animal with the person that they represented in Russian Revolution.
The most interesting character of the novel, in my opinion, is Benjamin the donkey cause he appearS wise and is the only that understandS that revolution would not change ANY/nothing and especially don’t will/WILL NOT change the life of THE workerS ’cause humanS are ever/ALWAYS the same people.
Animal farm is one of the bookS that I like readING every time. The novel have/S two faces/SIDES and this aspect makeS it appropriate to everyone; children, as a fairy tale of animalS. Guys/YOUNG PEOPLE and adultS: for/TO analyze the nature of human and a particular historical period.
So from what you said, going to school and learning History, English literature and philosophy helped you enjoy the book even more. Wow 🙂
So from what you say, going to school and learning History, English literature and philosophy helped you enjoy the book even more. Wow 🙂
Hi everybody!
I’ve read/READ Animal Farm during the summer of 2010. I didn’t understand the real meaning because I read it only because I was obliged to do it.
Yesterday, when I finished the book for the second time, I decided to reflect about the book. The book in my opinion was done really well: the words are simple and this is fantastic because the book is for everybody. I think that Orwell was a genius when he decided to set his book in a farm: with a simple scene and history he wanted to pass on us a complicate and fundamental sense. With the reading I understood the communism in Russia and I think that live/LIVING like the animals of the book is horrible: You can’t have your personal thoughts because all the people have to thinking/THINK like the master! In this way I can’t called/CALL this population ‘people’ but ‘puppets’.
Nowadays in Italy the politicAL situation is sad because in my opinion the politicians are like Mr Jones. AN Italian Political/POLITICIAN can be definite/DEFINED with this quotation: “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing” (Old Major)
In this book I think there is an other important topic: the insurrection. In my opinion IT is one of the most important things in all the history. ”The insurrection is the most sacred of all the rights and the most indispensable of all duties” ( Marquise De La Fayette)
I recommend the book for the guys in the high school because for understanding the real meaning you can know a lot of history.
See you tomorrow 🙂
I hope that not ALL politicians are like Mr Jones but for sure there are a lot of analogies to our political scenario 😉
Intense and moving.
If I had to sum this book I would choose these two words.
Intense because I don’t read a lot or better still I read rarely, but this book took me and strangely I was very fast to read it.
Moving because in two scenes, I didn’t cry, but my eyes have become lucid. The first scene was when Boxer, the best worker in the farm, was taken away, the second was in the final when the animals spy the pigs inside the house of Mr. Jones.
This book as well as myself enjoyed it made me discover better the communism in Russia and I agree with Enrico B. because if I had read this book three or four years ago probably I wouldn’t have understood. And for me we young people need to study for not be ignorant so as not to repeat history!
Changing the discourse only after have read the book I saw the movies about Animal Farm and in my opinion reading the book is the best thing.
I reccomend it especially to young people but also to adults!
I cried too Giovanni. As you said I strongly believe you young people need to develop your CRITICAL THINKING which is the only hope for a better future and the only way to keep your freedom!
Helloo! I have already read in Italian this book when i was fourteen of fifteen. Sincerely 3 years ago I found the book, not boring, but a bit harder to understood philosophical meanings. I thought also that if you lost a thought or a passage o history, you lost all the thread of the story. But on thursday, when I finished the book, I changed my opinion. First of all maybe because this is our second philosophy’s year. This subject, with history of the time and of literature, helps you a lot to understand the plot.
I think that Orwell’s idea to explain the concept of revolution is great. He could choose all the animal species, but he chose farm animals to compare them, with people of that time. It’s a fantastic example because we understand that if you want, you can change traditions. But also if you haven’t a great personality, it’s hard to resist to the power and the authority, because if we are all in the same level, there is always someone who wants more than what he has. But it is a problem also now.
So I really appreciate the book and his plot and I reccomend it.
I always appreciate your sincerity & frankness 🙂
In my opinion this Orwell’s book is really nice for several reasons.
It can be read by both children and adults but surely with two different perspectives.
In the first case the book could be like a fairy tale , where the animals eventually prevail on humans or are at the height and they decide to do what they want.
But it’s from the second point of view that the book takes a certain weight and meaning.
Behind the “Animal Farm” Orwell propels us what the real story has been, that is the Russian revolution.
In this way you can explain the story in an alternative way and it is a really efficient way to explain some important pieces of history to people who are not interested in it.
And it’s for this reason that I consider Orwell a phenomenon!
In every detail is depicted someone of that happening: as Napoleon represents Stallin and Snowball Trotsky, so the chickens are no more than ordinary people.
And neither the choice of these animals to be given, is for me random.
As just said, people are the chickens, animals that do their things adapting to what surrounds them: and so we often do the same and perhaps we pass our life without realizing us, or only too late, about what is happening , where the power is located into the few and powerful hands .
In my opinion makes we think a lot the correspondence between animal and man’s role in the revolution , because in this way we understand how much and of which nature we are made of.
It is also nice that someone have made films and cartoons about this book, other ways today, perhaps, more efficient that the books, to attract the public attention to teach something important indirectly.
I partly agree with you: movies are a great way to “show” the story but nothing compares the pleasure of reading the words on the page (also electronic mind!) and entering our world of imagination.
I read the book “Animal Farm” for the first time when I was fifteen. At first I didn’t like it so much. Reading it again I understood many things that, with a quick read, I had overlooked. Orwell explains, with great humor and originality, the thirst for power of man and human selfishness. In history many times the ideas and ideals have been manipulated for personal gain, to the domination of some men over other men. “Animal Farm” with its parody of the communist regime is an example. But that’s not the only one. I Think about how the Christian religion has been exploited in past centuries with the Crusades or still how the Muslim religion has been manipulated with the holy war. Even in these cases, “faith” is used only to gain power. Orwell is also great in his book “1984”, in which he explains how, through the cancellation of thoughts and feelings, the “big brother” gets the absolute rule over people.
In these days our country needs to decide its new government. A government that has the duty of making the necessary reforms to get out of the economic crisis that in the last five years has been creating great difficulties for the population. I wonder if those people in Parliament who have this goal, act for the benefits of all, or like the pigs in Orwell’s book act for the good of the few.
I appreciate your comparison to our contemporary world. That’s what the study of literature should make you think of. And hope the answer will be … not like the pigs in Animal Farm 🙂
I’m not a bookworm, but I read Animal Farm twice, and I really appreciate reading it. I found the plot easy to follow, in both case: English and Italian, just at the beginning is hard to memorize all the names of the animals. The story is short and clear you can narrate it to kids, they probably won’t understand the political connection with the Russian communism, but the story could be a tale. Civilized animals who wear clothes, read, talk between them even if they’re not the same specie, sound a lot like a kids-tale. Probably this is the reason ‘cause I like this book, because my favorite literature genre is the tale. Than thinking with an adult brain I found nice all the analogies between Napoleon and Mr. Jones and Napoleon and Stalin. I suggest this book to the people who don’t like reading and they’re obligated, not just because is short and easy to read with clear words, but mainly because you will finish it without noticing it.
A great achievement for an author I would say 😉