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Summary
Summary
George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution has become an intimate part of our contemporary culture, with its treatment of democratic, fascist, and socialist ideals through an animal fable. The animals of Mr. Jones' Manor Farm are overworked, mistreated, and desperately seeking a reprieve. In their quest to create an idyllic society where justice and equality reign, the animals of Manor Farm revolt against their human rulers, establishing the democratic Animal Farm under the credo, "All Animals Are Created Equal." Out of their cleverness, the pigs--Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball--emerge as leaders of the new community. In a development of insidious familiarity, the pigs begin to assume ever greater amounts of power, while other animals, especially the faithful horse Boxer, assume more of the work. The climax of the story is the brutal betrayal of Boxer, when totalitarian rule is reestablished with the bloodstained postscript to the founding slogan: "But Some Animals Are More Equal than Others."
This astonishing allegory, one of the most scathing satires in literary history, remains as fresh and relevant as the day it was published.
Author Notes
George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair on June 25, 1903 in Motihari in Bengal, India and later studied at Eton College for four years. He was an assistant superintendent with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. He left that position after five years and moved to Paris, where he wrote his first two books: Burmese Days and Down and Out in Paris and London. He then moved to Spain to write but decided to join the United Workers Marxist Party Militia. After being decidedly opposed to communism, he served in the British Home Guard and with the Indian Service of the BBC during World War II. After the war, he wrote for the Observer and was literary editor for the Tribune.
His best known works are Animal Farm and 1984. His other works include A Clergyman's Daughter, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, The Road to Wigan Pier, Homage to Catalonia, and Coming Up for Air. He died on January 21, 1950 at the age of 46.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Booklist Review
Why should animals work so hard and allow humans to reap all the benefits? The animals rebel, chase the people off the farm, and set up a new society. A clever fable, this is also a bleak picture of a totalitarian society.
Library Journal Review
Ostensibly a simple fairy tale, this little parable is actually a biting satire on the Russian Revolution. The story begins on a quiet English farm whose dissolute human master (representing the tsar) mistreats his farm animals so badly that they eventually go against him and set up a new order under the leadership of two brilliant pigs (i.e., Stalin and Trotsky). As in the history of the Soviet Union, their workers' paradise is steadily perverted until the animal farm becomes an even more oppressive state than its predecessor. This book's combination of superficially lightweight subject matter and a deadly serious underlying theme calls for a dexterous narration, and Richard Matthews provides it. Animal Farm should be in every public and school library.-Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Mr. Jones, Of the Manor Farm, had locked the henhouses For The night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring. As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm buildings. Word had gone round during the day that old Major, The prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it To The other animals. it had been agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones was safely out of the way. Old Major (so he was always called, though the name under which he had been exhibited was Willingdon Beauty) was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour's sleep in order to hear what he had to say. Excerpted from Animal Farm by George Orwell All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
