Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers'
revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as
the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The
latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell's
intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly
perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an allegory that
actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their
drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash
in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity
soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The
animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the
barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear
clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those
that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by
definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled
themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the
temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole
management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we
are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that
milk and eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the
revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their
violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and
exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm.
Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains unmoved
when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his
comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs.
Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the
Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy. --Joyce
Thompson --This text refers to the Paperback edition. |
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