ANIMAL FARM By George Orwell

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

The pigs are responsible for this mind set and the pigs’ subjects are powerless to go against this. Before this problem is a problem (though it is never really exposed as a problem because of the animals’ ignorance) though, the initial problem of man had to be solved. If you oppress a group, they will raise up in a fiery rage and overthrow the oppressors. This is one of the first points of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. All of the animals on the Manor Farm grew weary of working for the humans, receiving nothing in return other than a place to sleep and just enough food to be able to continue working. Major, a twelve year old boar, called a meeting of all the animals after the humans had gone to sleep. At this meeting, he felt it his duty to pass on some knowledge before his inevitable death. He told the animals of a song his mother and the other sows used to sing when he was a little piglet. This, coupled with the belief that one day, animals will rise up and take back what is rightfully theirs, the farm and then the earth, which he passed on to the other animals as well, motivated the animals to start the revolution.

After the successful overthrow of the humans, the animals worked together for the common goal of preserving and bettering their lives. The pigs served as the overseers; they were the smartest ones, it only made sense that they should be fill the position that the humans filled, with the exception, of course, that the pigs were nowhere near as maniacal and tyrannical as man was. This continued for a while, with few problems. The main problem was the rivalry between Napoleon and Snowball, the two main pigs who ALWAYS disagreed on every subject brought before them. When this problem was solved, a new problem arose. This new problem is summarized in the last words of the story: “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” If a ruler’s power is not kept in check and only increases, that ruler becomes a pig, a dictator. The problems that affect his people do not affect him, meaning they are not solved and only grow worse.

Orwell’s “voice” in this story could be heard from one of the oblivious animals’ mouths. He writes about a traitor of the animals; if this book was transferred to the silver screen, a sheep could be saying all the narrator says about the traitor (sheep follow the pig leader blindly, not allowing for any words that go against the leader to be said, without the leader’s maxim of “Four legs good, two legs bad!” being uttered enthusiastically, drowning out “anarchistic” words). He writes from the point of view of the animals, never acknowledging what the reader gathers. While reading the story, the reader will realize that the pigs have put the animals under a dictator’s rule again, but the author never states this, and only speaks from the point of view of the other animals, who never realize this.

Animal Farm, like 1984, is a book worth reading that elicits analysis of one’s government, world and self. Unlike 1984, the only reason one would need to reread this book would be to identify the satirical identities of the animals, mainly the pigs. That is not to say, though, that it is not worth reading twice.