Original title: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Year of Publication: 1945
Number of pages: 147 [Trade paperback]
Available in: Practically every language.
I read it in: Spanish
- "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.
- All animals are equal."
Everything begins with animals in a farm sick of their situation who decide to rebel and free from the yank of humans. So they take the farm and work together to mantain order and peace. But, how can this end if the farm animals start to act like humans?
In 1945 the entire world was at war: The Great
Patriotic War was ending with the fall of Berlin, the Victory Day over the Nazi
Germany was celebrated and the first atomic bomb was detonated. During that
year, a novella that described allegorically the Soviet Union and the communism
instituted there was published.
In the book, a group of animals sick of their
situation and inspired by the bad treatments and the words of an old pig, take
up arms against their oppressors who are drunk enough or bad-paid enough to run
away at their sight, leaving this way Manor Farm in the hands (or claws) of the
animals, who then call it Animal Farm.
Immediately, they create the 7 commandments that
every animal must follow and for a while everything seem perfect: all animals
-or most of them- work together to feed themselves and others, nobody steals,
nobody takes advantage of anybody and they can taste their freedom every day
when they sing "Beasts of England". However, little by little things
start to change: the pigs decide that as they are the smartest ones they will
work in the administration of the farm and they constantly give instructions to
the less-smart animals, who always follow the words of the pigs and think they
are having a say in the decisions taken there.
When Snowball, one of the pig leaders, is exiled,
Napoleon takes the totalitarian power of the farm, strangely, keeping the animals
convinced that all that he wants is what they truly want. The commandments that
once were painted in the wall as sign of their freedom change slowly but surely
until disappearing, the pigs take more privileges than those that originally
were theirs and no animal has enough memory or brain to say otherwise.
This way we can notice that all that happens in the
story has its equivalent in history and even though it is a direct allegory of
the zarist Russia, it's impossible not to notice the similarities with current governments
and the fight for power, which is another theme that can be easily interpreted
without knowing the historical context.
Something that was really interesting is that during the entire story we don't
see the direct point of view of those in power, these being the pigs. We never
see what is going on inside the head of Napoleon, we don't know his true
intentions, we can only see through the eyes of those inferior to them and
their feelings, which are usually quickly appeased by few arguments and their
lack of memory. Those who do not remember the past are condemned to
repeat it.
George Orwell doesn't ask for permission or talks
with euphemisms when he accuses the Soviet Russia of feeding a corrupted
idealism in the way of a totalitarian government to its people, he is pretty
transparent with his goal of representing his context in the story, making it
understandable for all those who want to read it, even kids. In fact, it was so
up front that many publishers rejected it, something Orwell talks about it a
well-articulated and slightly angry preface that he called "The freedom of
the press". A delightful read that complements the story itself and gives
us a clear view of what Orwell intended.
Not only was he a visionary and a great writer, he
was also able to stir a few minds in the process. The book inspired 2 movies:
one of cartoons and other with real live animals, and a Pink Floyd album that
goes by the name of "Animals", one that I thought of, without
knowing, while I was reading it.
As almost every social stratum is represented in
the animals of the farm, we can ask ourselves a very important question: which
animal are we?
- Where to buy? Barnes and Noble, Amazon and The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)
- Movie from the book. Note: The ending was changed a little bit.
- Listen to PInk Floyd's album "Animals" or buy it.
- The Freedom of the press by George Orwell
