Animal Farm (Signet Classics) | 
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Product Description
Orwell's brilliant 1946 satire, chronicling a revolution staged by the animals on Mr. Jones's farm.
Amazon.com Review
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
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Customer Reviews:
• Subtle Message 11 September, 2008
Wow- I was a little nervous to read this book, while at only 130 pages it is very unassuming...after reading 1984 in HS, I was dubious of enjoying anything of George Orwells. Perhaps I have grown up, or perhaps this is a much easier, and more interesting/intelligable read. Either way, I enjoyed Animal Farm!
Some parts I couldn't help but laugh at the subtle irony, other parts got me thinking on a deeper level but all through out the book I was curious where the story was going, how it would end and what "the point was". (I chose to read the Foreward, last, so as not to get any spoilers.)
I think this was a great subtle novel. I can see why it may be required reading in school, one of the reasons I enjoyed it was that it was an "easy", straight forward read! Gets you thinking...that's always a good thing!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1DQZBHEU98PBT
• Utopian Idealism Unmaksed 26 August, 2008
It is the rare political book that is both entertaining and thought provoking. Rarer still to be unforgettable and insightful and life-changing. Animal Farm, for me was all this.
The allegory is powerful and the use of farm animals both clever and entertaining, and helped makes the story all the more vivid and memorable. The story is well know, a group of farm animals eventually led by the boar Napoleon, overthrow the capitalist farmer and create an idealistic worker's paradise. Little by little and bit by bit they become not only as corrupt as the former system, but even worse as exemplified by their ruthlessness and hypocrisy. The reader comes away much more cynical about utopian ideals, which sounds like a bad thing but is actually a good thing. Incredibly powerful book, with the weight of truth and some kind of native energy that makes a despairing fairy-tale into a life-changing lesson. I've read plenty of books that I've enjoyed more, but few I've been so drastically impacted by. This book is a must for an adolescent, and if you missed it then even if you're eighty-five pick it up and read it now. It's both historical and timeless.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3V7OXQ6QNOWIG
• Animals Gone Wild.... 29 August, 2008
Animals Gone Wild...
By Lily Starbuck
George Orwell's fable, Animal Farm, tells the tale of frustrated animals who overthrow their master Mr. Jones, who owns the Manor Farm. Through many hard times and conflicts it comes down to who can survive the new farm life. New leaders, new problems, new jobs, everything is changing for the better. Or is it? Orwell is able to portray the idea "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Animal Farm is a quick read and has a loud and clear message, which Orwell shows through a microcosm of the 1917 Russian revolution.
The animals have one goal in mind after they defeat Mr. Jones. That goal would be change. And through this change there will be laws, the Seven Commandments that will help keep the animals equal with one another and make sure the animals don't acquire human-like habits, because the animals don't want to become like the humans who have treated them so terribly and striped them of their freewill. While reading the book you see some animals are starting to create a different status for themselves on the farm, making them more important and able to instruct as well as make decisions for the other animals. I know that while reading Animal Farm I felt angry at the animals that let a new leader control them. Only some of the characters didn't remain loyal to their new leader, and that to me showed bravery, for standing up for something they knew had to be stopped.
George Orwell used farm animals to illustrate the struggle for the control of the Soviet Union. The two pigs, Snowball and Napolean, from Animal Farm resemble Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stallin who both fought over power in Russia. Both Napolean and Stallin took all the power for themselves and became greedy and selfish, therefore not fulfilling their promises to their followers. The struggle for authority, throughout history, is an ongoing process.
I truly enjoyed reading Animal Farm. It wasn't a book where you couldn't put it down but one you find time to read in the oddest moments. George Orwell was an amazing writer. He made learning a life lesson and learning part of history simple and enjoyable. And I don't even like reading books about talking animals and yet I'm recommending this fabulous piece of literature.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2G98I17OU5GWK
• Animal Farm Review 31 August, 2008
Once Upon A Time, there was a farm called the Manor Farm, and the animals on the farm are very mistreated. One day, the animals rise up against their human masters, and establish a near-utopian society. But promises of equality and plenty soon begin to be forgotten... until conditions are worse than they were under the humans.
A cautionary tale of the corrupting effects of power, George Orwell intended this to be a commentary on the depradations of the Soviet Union. A very facinating book.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AF3SH5F9B13D8
• Animal Farm Is Instructive For Our Presidential Election. 29 September, 2008
2008 is the ideal time to apply the principles that we have learned from Animal Farm and apply them to November's 2008 Presidential election. Just as Napolean, the pig, instigated a rebellion against the owner of the farm (Jones) by talking about how great things will be once the animals ruled the farm, today we are told by the Obama Democrats that once Bush and the Republicans are thrown off the farm (Washington), that all will be well, that things will look wonderful, and that none of us will ever be hungry again. In Animal Farm, though, the animals were far worse off after Mr. Jones was kicked off the farm. Like Obama, Napolean also did not have any experience in running a farm, but this did not stop him from stating that he would be more competent and able to handle the farm. Further, once Napolean took charge of the farm, the interests of the other animals started to decline more and more. He started to remove any sense of democratic principles by eliminating the need for public comment and strongly took action against any potential dissent. This is exactly where the Obama Democrats want to take our country--first, by stating that they (and he alone) can manage the country -- even though there is no experience to suggest that he ought to, and secondly, by eliminating any form of dissent by destroying talk radio and also by heavily regulating and taxing the internet in order to suppress the one free and open medium that is available to counter their message. The lesson of Animal Farm is clear: those who claim to provide us with utopia on earth often will create hell instead through dictatorship, centralization of authority, and a desire to obtain power for power's sake. If we learn the lessons of Animal Farm, our nation will be far better off.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AZI0O32W4ZYGH
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