Just A Barely Spoilt Review On Animal Farm By George Orwell
Prior to reading Animal Farm, my exposure to Orwell’s literature had been restrained to 1984, which I read a few months back to explore how writers explore political themes in their work. The book was haunting, nightmarish and drawling, all in the best ways. Following my reading of Animal Farm, George Orwell has only impressed me more.
The book follows a seemingly childish storyline of animals residing in a farm, oppressed by their farmer. The themes explored mirror the Russian Revolution, which led to Joseph Stalin’s dictatorship. It discusses the negativities of monarchy, the adulteration of socialism and the rise of autocracy. Each farm animal represents the archetypes that were present during the revolution, be it of the passionate revolutionist or the aloof bystander. The pigs, the smartest animals on the farm, represent the intellectuals who led the revolution, brought it to its peak only to lead it to corruption and bring things full circle back to the oppressive days the farm once saw, under different masters this time.
The pigs piqued most of my interest throughout my reading. The four pigs: Old Major (Karl Marx/Lenin), Snowball (Leon Trotsky), Napoleon (Joseph Stalin) and Squealer elegantly represent their real world counterparts. Squealer was my favourite amongst the four, given that he infuriated me the most. I could not place a finger on who he is meant to represent, only to discover recently that ‘Squealer’ stands for propaganda, which explained my infuriation.
In a similar vein, the sheep from the story, representative of the cronies who blindly bleat for their leader, were another set of favourites I had. On a less sarcastic note, Boxer the horse and Snowball the pig were the characters I felt for. Boxer represented the loyal and hard-working lot of the crowd whose unwavering resolve to work for societal welfare is only met with exploitation. Meanwhile Snowball like his real life counterpart, receives an arc that feels undeserved and incomplete. Snowball was not a flawless hero but he was a victim of injustice. This brings with it a nagging feeling that something is wrong — as though things were supposed to be different. Snowball’s misfortunes are the perversion of destiny that the greed for power brings.
As far as the writing is concerned, Animal Farm follows a snappy, witty and engaging form of storytelling. While 1984 felt like a slow horror baring its teeth, Animal Farm felt like a house on fire I could not take my eyes off of. The book was fast-paced with a kind of absurdity that the narrator expects you to never question, just as a “children’s” fable is supposed to. It managed to keep me up in horrified amusement.
Animal Farm was everything it tried to be with a kind of elegance and relatability that drives you to question your beliefs and the system you live in. The more I stared at this house on fire, the more I felt its heat and the more I realised my house, too, is made of wood. And once you realise the house across the street is no different than your own, you wonder how long you’ve been used to the smell of charcoal.
