Give a brief summary of the novel.
Animal Farm is a dystopian novel that allegorzies to the Russian Revolution, the formation of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union's role in the beginning of World War 2. The novel showcases farm animals abused by their master, Mr. Jones. One night, Old Major, an old pig who is close to death, calls forth a meeting to tell of a dream he had. The dream tells of a farm where humans are no more and animals live together peacefully. He speaks of a rebellion that will come in the future and that the animals must be ready for it.
Old Major doesn't live to see the rebellion and dies a few days later. On one particular night, Mr. Jones was more drunk than usual and decided to just unleash his drunken wrath on the animals. Well, the animals revolted and chased all the humans off the farm. The pigs, being the most intelligent group, assume leadership with a pig named Snowball and a boar named Napoleon leading the group. The come up with the concept of Animalism and draft the Seven Commandments. Now, predictably, Jones comes back with others to take his farm back. In the Battle of Cowshed, the animals successfully defeat the humans and keep the farm, now named Animal Farm.
Naturally, our two leaders butt heads. Snowball is the most intelligent and comes up with plans of a windmill to help with production. Napoleon doesn't say or do much, but when he sees the windmill plans, proceeds to urinate over them. At a voting for the plans, Napoleon unleashes a group of vicious dogs upon Snowball, which were puppies he took and trained. Snowball is exiled from Animal Farm and Napoleon becomes sole leader,
Now, for whatever reason, Napoleon decides the windmill will be built. All animals, except the pigs, are required to work harder with lesser food rations. As the weeks wear on, the pigs begin breaking the rules of the Seven Commandments, They sleep in beds, drink alcohol, and even kill other animals! They blame everything on either Snowball or the humans if something goes wrong. However, the animals are completely oblivious to anything, thanks to Squealer the pig. Squealer is a master at persuasion and always finds a way to justify the pigs' deceitful deeds. When they send Boxer, the hardest working animal on the farm, to his death, he comes up with a sob story that would've won him an Oscar.
The pigs continue to worsen. They now walk upon two legs like humans and carry whips. The animals are more hungry than ever, yet still believe that they're better off now than with Jones. Napoleon is in full-on dictator mode and at the end of the story, eats with humans and changes the farm's name back to "Manor Farm".
Animal Farm is a dystopian novel that allegorzies to the Russian Revolution, the formation of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union's role in the beginning of World War 2. The novel showcases farm animals abused by their master, Mr. Jones. One night, Old Major, an old pig who is close to death, calls forth a meeting to tell of a dream he had. The dream tells of a farm where humans are no more and animals live together peacefully. He speaks of a rebellion that will come in the future and that the animals must be ready for it.
Old Major doesn't live to see the rebellion and dies a few days later. On one particular night, Mr. Jones was more drunk than usual and decided to just unleash his drunken wrath on the animals. Well, the animals revolted and chased all the humans off the farm. The pigs, being the most intelligent group, assume leadership with a pig named Snowball and a boar named Napoleon leading the group. The come up with the concept of Animalism and draft the Seven Commandments. Now, predictably, Jones comes back with others to take his farm back. In the Battle of Cowshed, the animals successfully defeat the humans and keep the farm, now named Animal Farm.
Naturally, our two leaders butt heads. Snowball is the most intelligent and comes up with plans of a windmill to help with production. Napoleon doesn't say or do much, but when he sees the windmill plans, proceeds to urinate over them. At a voting for the plans, Napoleon unleashes a group of vicious dogs upon Snowball, which were puppies he took and trained. Snowball is exiled from Animal Farm and Napoleon becomes sole leader,
Now, for whatever reason, Napoleon decides the windmill will be built. All animals, except the pigs, are required to work harder with lesser food rations. As the weeks wear on, the pigs begin breaking the rules of the Seven Commandments, They sleep in beds, drink alcohol, and even kill other animals! They blame everything on either Snowball or the humans if something goes wrong. However, the animals are completely oblivious to anything, thanks to Squealer the pig. Squealer is a master at persuasion and always finds a way to justify the pigs' deceitful deeds. When they send Boxer, the hardest working animal on the farm, to his death, he comes up with a sob story that would've won him an Oscar.
The pigs continue to worsen. They now walk upon two legs like humans and carry whips. The animals are more hungry than ever, yet still believe that they're better off now than with Jones. Napoleon is in full-on dictator mode and at the end of the story, eats with humans and changes the farm's name back to "Manor Farm".
Did you enjoy the novel?
That is a tricky question for me to answer. The true reason I selected the book is because of its complexity, not content. I mean, yes it had a great storyline and the language was okay, but I was in it for the depth, all the allusions, allegories, themes, symbolism, etc. So did I enjoy the book for itself? Not necessarily. But I did love all the research.
That is a tricky question for me to answer. The true reason I selected the book is because of its complexity, not content. I mean, yes it had a great storyline and the language was okay, but I was in it for the depth, all the allusions, allegories, themes, symbolism, etc. So did I enjoy the book for itself? Not necessarily. But I did love all the research.
Why is the novel categorized as a dystopia?
The reason Animal Farm is considered a dystopian novel is because it's society was once based off striving to have every animal equal, striving to be a utopia. This is popular among dystopian novels-the idea where the ruling class has this idea of everything being perfect and no one is above anyone else. Then, everything just comes crashing down and next thing you know, it's a nightmare.
The reason Animal Farm is considered a dystopian novel is because it's society was once based off striving to have every animal equal, striving to be a utopia. This is popular among dystopian novels-the idea where the ruling class has this idea of everything being perfect and no one is above anyone else. Then, everything just comes crashing down and next thing you know, it's a nightmare.
Would you recommend this book to someone?
If I were to recommend this to someone, it would have to be to someone I know would love the book for the reasons I do. Not many of my friends or even family members would be into something like this. I think I'll just keep it as my little secret!
If I were to recommend this to someone, it would have to be to someone I know would love the book for the reasons I do. Not many of my friends or even family members would be into something like this. I think I'll just keep it as my little secret!
