Any smart person would know not to show this book to a frog, but seeing as I had never woken up with Kermit staring at me, I didn't think it could be so bad. I mean, he's about 30cm, how bad can it be? Well, I'm not going to say I am in any danger but I am writing this review for him under NO threat whatsoever, which is fine! It is totally fine. I don't need help, seriously don't call for help...
The post service failed me again and only sent me one of the 10 books I had ordered, so I decided to pick up an old book I've had at home since 2010, and read it again just to see how I would feel about it this long after. I can feel myself sink into my dystopian phase again which means I need someone to stop me from reading any more of these works before I'm suddenly 14 again and mentally fighting the system from my bedroom while scrolling down on tumblr reblogging music quotes and gifs.
So, what do I really think of Animal Farm?
Well if you're having trouble remembering, the book is about the animals on a farm, In Manor Farm, all sorts of animals live under the rules of their master Mr Jones. But one day the animals choose to make a revolution against their master in order to live free. They want to break free from the hand of man and his system and form a communist society together. It's going great… at least for a while.
Because despite the fact that the desire for everyone to be equal is there, there is probably no society that can do without having a kind of leader. In Animal Farm, the pigs take that place immediately. They are the ones who can read and therefore take that role quite obviously. It becomes a bit like a textbook on how a society goes from democracy to dictatorship in just a few seconds.
I mean the book is a classic, there's no going around the fact that it's a well written, full with meaning, government fighting classic. Orwells genius-self shines through when he decides to depict a society and a government in the shape of animals to show just exactly how things are going down in the real world. The famous quote ”All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” basically let's us know just exactly where this little democracy is heading.
Orwell does a good job at showing people just how slowly we get used to the extremist ideas if the process is gradual and he change sneaks up on you, the book takes such a metaphorical form that it becomes easy for us to see just how the process moves forward. The book represents the simplest explanation to how one wrong person in the lead can lead to corruption.
The writing style of the book is very simple and clear, there are short sentences and the lines are delivered quite factually. The different animals have different ways of speaking, some animals that are smarter speak in a more complex language to appear deceiving, however others like the sheep are very simple and only use a few words, which is a a smart move from Orwell to draw that metaphor. Orwells writing style is a constant reminder that truth can be conveyed even if the language is straightforward. Theres the contrast between the plainspoken type and the manipulative style that the different characters adapt to themselves depending on which role they want to take.
One thing that stands out to me is the passive voice that features in the book. For example when someone like Napoleon does something bad, it is not noticed who did it, just that the bad thing has happened, showing us that the animals are helpless. The passive voiceOrwell uses shows us the power of false information in an oppressive society, If no one noticed or saw something bad, it's easy to claim it did not happen at all.
Overall, I am always impressed with Orwells writing and his way to tell a story, he's creative and political at the same time, he was ahead of his time in his thinking ways and this book is a really good short novel that you can read if you're into the political genre.
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