Animal Farm by George Orwell

This isn’t a book review. We might as well just call it a “re-visit” in the sense this particular book, Animal Farm, was first published over seventy years ago.

Animal Farm is a fictional story about a farm and the animals who live on it. The animals live relatively normal day to day farm lives until the farm owner gets too drunk and forgets to tend to the animals. Out of desperation to survive and escape their neglect, the animals of the farm revolt in order to gain access to the necessary items of survival. In the process the animals ultimately seize control of the farm and manage it on their own. It is clear throughout the story that Orwell's personification of the animals on the farm, and their corresponding social order, is comparable to the Soviet Communism order of thinking, communication and organization.

Animal Farm was written by the well known British author George Orwell in 1946. It was immediately seen as a provocative work and scathing critique of communism. It’s publication coincided with the drawdown of military forces built up during and just after WWII. Orwell’s native England had sided with the Russian dictator Josef Stalin in order to gain advantage over Hitler in spite of Stalin’s reputation as a dictator with a reputation for ruling with an iron (and brutal) fist back home.

George Orwell

Needless to say, the comparisons to the Soviet Union are quite easy to pick up. At one point in the story, the animals design a flag of their own, inspired by the worker- centered ethic of the communist lifestyle embodied in the story, and to which was implemented in Soviet society for many decades. Here is the flag "designed" by the animals in the story:

Does anything look similar?

Since it’s first publishing, Animal Farm has been adapted to radio, stage, TV and movie performances. There was even a comic strip inspired by the story. Due to the highly political nature of the work and obvious critique of the Soviet Communism, the book has attracted the attention of many political and military actors in real life over the years, wishing to utilize the content (and sometimes even skew it to fit their agenda) and re-package it for mass public consumption.

Stage reproduction of Animal Farm, Photo Courtesy of The Freedom Theatre

In terms of my personal opinion on the book, overall I would agree with Julian Symons responded, on 7 September, 1946, "Should we not expect, in Tribune at least, acknowledgement of the fact that it is a satire not at all gentle upon a particular State—Soviet Russia? It seems to me that a reviewer should have the courage to identify Napoleon with Stalin, and Snowball with Trotsky, and express an opinion favourable or unfavourable to the author, upon a political ground. In a hundred years time perhaps, Animal Farm may be simply a fairy story, today it is a political satire with a good deal of point."

I found the novel to be a fast read, with simple concepts that brilliantly illustrate bigger political and philosophical points. Personally, I find it frustrating that over the course of history, the affairs of the republics and societies that populate them consistently repeat the pattern of the "haves" versus the "have-nots," with the common person historically being taken advantage of by those who are in power. Even today, a very small portion of the world's population control a vast majority of its wealth, and the subsequent political decisions that facilitate the accumulation of that wealth.

Pigs.

This is my filter and I accepted that when jumping into this little novel. I appreciate this work in that I believe it speaks volumes to the essence of mankind and our individual thirst for power. It is extraordinary to me, surrealistic even, the lengths to which people are willing go in pursuit of power or riches or privilege.

Animal Farm speaks to what happens to us once we make it to the top of the mountain: we either stay there or get knocked off and fall down.

I agree with Orwell’s message and am happy to have come across it and share it with you all today. I feel its message is ironic in the sense that even America has become a testament as to what happens when any system becomes dominated, and corrupted by the powers that be. Animal Farm wasn’t published yesterday. Or last year. Or in the last decade. It has remained in circulation around the world for over seventy years, and that in and of itself speaks to its timeless commentary on the Animalistic nature of mankind.

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Blessings.