The first thing someone will notice about this book is that
it’s political, and not only that, but the commentary is about Communism –
thought it’s more of a criticism of the
political system than an outright
denouncing of it by George Orwell. After
Old Major, a pig on Mr. Jones’ Manor Farm, tells all the
animals about a dream
he had where no animal would live under the tyranny of
humans any longer, he
inspires the creatures to plan a rebellion based off of Animalism, as they call
it. Unfortunately, he dies soon after
the meeting without really getting involved in the plans, leaving the animals
to interpret his vision as they want.
Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, become the leaders of the rebellion,
and when the animals aren’t fed one evening, it happens – and the humans are
chased out of the farm, which is then renamed Animal Farm. Though things start out well, Napoleon has a
taste for power and steals from the others, amongst other things, and employs a
pig named Squealer to keep the animals convinced that the
pigs are always
right. An attempt to retake the
Farm by
Jones ends in disaster, and then Snowball is chased off the farm for trying to
improve the lives of the majority with a windmill. He’s thereafter used as a scapegoat by
Napoleon for all the animals’ hardships, and that the debates they had set up
will no longer be held. The
windmill is
constructed regardless, using near slave-labor of the other animals. Trade with other farms is begun, which goes
against the theories of Old Major’s Animalism, and Napoleon becomes a dictator
who kills innocent farm animals in front of everyone with his vicious
dogs. As things progress over the years,
the pigs learn to walk upright, and expand the farm and the trade, and break or
change every one of the tenets of Animalism until they and the humans they deal
with are indistinguishable.
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