A review/summary of the book "Animal Farm"
Author: George Orwell
Genre: Fiction / Political satire
Parts: 1
Animal Farm
Introduction
This is a classic. I had an idea of what the book is about going into it. I was recommended this book by a lot of people. And I had a vague intuition that I will like it. And sure enough, I liked it. More on it in the following sections.
The book comes from the cold war era, where ideologies were paramount. People were filled with a sense of hyper nationalism and a will to prove their nation superior to that of the foe.
The book captures, in my opinion, the perfect balance of politics and satire.
Summary
Spoiler free area
The story is about a farm where the animals take over and drive away the humans. What follows is the forming of a political system in the farm and a lot of twists. The story follows the farm animals as they come up with ways to govern themselves and the power distribution that comes with it. The main characters are all animals with a few notable exceptions. The animals range from pigs to dogs to hen to horses to cats and sheep.
Spoiler area
The book begins with an old animal talking about a dream that he had. The dream was one of revolution. The boar (Old Major) told the other animals of a revolution that could be incoming.
Old Major gave the animals an anthem of sorts. He set up a very basic ground work from where a revolution could be started. He ignited the flame within the animals. This motivated the more "intelligent" animals to prepare for a revolution. The animals began to see how mistreated they were and how they deserved better if they were the ones that were working. They wanted to harvest the fruits of their own labour instead of giving it all to the humans. A chant of two legs bad and four legs good was also made. The ideology soon was formalized and called "Animalism".
Soon, two pigs rose up in the ranks and they began the revolution one fine day. These two pigs were Snowball and Napoleon. They were the political leaders of the animals now. One fine day, the owner of the farm was chased away and the animals were now free to rule themselves. This created a power vacuum.
At first, there was a sort of a healthy competition between the two pigs. This was not lasting very long though. Napoleon took under him a few puppies that had been born. These puppies were then trained under him and became the physical power houses that propelled Napoleon to power and kicked Snowball out of the farm.
Humans attacked the farm in order to regain control, but they failed.
The narrative of animal supremacy was being set up in the farm. Seven commandments were written on the wall. These seven commandments would soon be shifted slightly in order to accommodate for the corruption of the pigs under Napoleon.
The animals kept going from one extreme to the other. They began with the extreme ideology of Animalism. This would soon be replaced by the ideology of Napoleon, where things get worse than what they started from. All the time, the animals are fed propaganda to keep them under control. Once rebellion starts to break, executions are done of the culprits.
The matter escalates into such a height that the pigs become equal to the humans in all aspects other than the body. The revolution is destroyed and the pigs are now in the same place as the farmer was in the starting of the book. The animals are the ones that suffer throughout.
There is a gradual escalation in the events. It is as follows
1. The animals chase away the owner of the farm
2. They burn and discard anything and everything that has to do with the oppression that humans did to them
3. They decide that no one gets to live in the house of the farmer, and it will stand as a museum of sorts
4. They begin to harvest and make the farm functional
5. The seven commandments are written
6. Napoleon takes away the milk and scams it into the diet of the pigs instead of the other animals that used to receive it earlier
7. A good harvest is done. The farm seems to be more prosperous than before
8. A green flag with a hoof and a horn is made the symbol of the Animal Farm
9. The pigs start to separate themselves in order to learn technically challenging professions like blacksmithing, etc.
10. Snowball tries to unionize the animals, but the unions fail spectacularly
11. All the animals are given reading and writing classes, although some are more naturally gifted than the others
12. "Four legs good, two legs bad" was chanted and unofficially replaced the seven commandments. This is the beginning of the oversimplification
13. Napoleon took the new born puppies under his guidance
14. The milk scam is uncovered, and Squealer explains to the rest of the animals how pigs deserve the milk more than they do. He convinces them that the pigs are drinking all the milk for the benefit of the others
15. News of the revolution spreads far and wide. The neighboring farmers are not happy with the Animal Farm
16. Pigeons are sent by the Animal Farm as diplomats in order to get support from animals in other farms
17. The humans decide to attack and take over the farm, but are unsuccessful. Snowball fights bravely in order to defend the farm
18. The pigs become in-charge of all the policy decisions of the farm
19. Snowball tries to work as a diligent politician who promises progress and shows plans on how he plans on delivering on his promises. Napoleon uses his rhetoric to gain support in the sheep community
20. The idea of a windmill is pitched by Snowball. Electricity and whatnot is promised
21. Snowball works hard on the plans of a windmill, while Napoleon tries his hardest to shoot the plan down
22. In a presidential debate kind of event, Snowball is chased away by Napoleon's puppies for good. Napoleon becomes the unopposed leader in the farm. This is where the true downfall begins
23. Squealer is set as the propagandist for Napoleon and he starts setting up the narrative of Napoleon being a good leader and how he just wants the benefit of the animals
24. Napoleon changes the rules and regularities of the meetings that were conducted in the farm every Sunday
25. Napoleon changes his mind and starts work on the windmill. All the animals are forced to work day in and out on the windmill
26. A trade policy was brought into effect despite the anti human nature of the animals
27. Squealer goes the the animals after every meeting in order to convince them of the steps Napoleon is taking. This happened with the trade policy as well
28. Trades begin, and along with that begins the relation with the farms adjacent to Animal Farm. Both the neighbors do not like the animals
29. The pigs break the resolution and shift into the farmer's house. They start to casually violate some of the commandments. Slight alterations are made to accommodate for the comfort of the pigs while being similar to the original spirit of the revolution
30. The cycle continues. The pigs keep violating the spirit of the revolution while modifying the narrative such that the animals keep calm. The narrative is always kept in favor of Napoleon and his company
31. Snowball is gradually villianized and the animals are gaslit into believing things differently as to how they actually happened. Modification of facts and replacing them with narrative becomes the job of Squealer and he is highly successful at it
32. Executions and other extreme steps are also taken in order to maintain power in the hands of Napoleon
33. Things keep on escalating and escalating until one day the pigs are seen walking on two legs and partying with the humans. This marks the death of the spirit of the revolution and an absolute corruption in the pigs.
The book in three sentences
1. All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
2. Ideals are good to stick to, but being mindful of the room you are in is better.
3. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Highlights and notes
I didn't really make many highlights in my reading of the book. One notable highlight is the quote
ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
This I feel is a wonderful line. The line comes up when the pigs have taken over completely and the narrative is fully in their favor.
Thoughts, Concepts and Takeaways
From what I understand, the book deals with the existence of a power vacuum. In the farm, after the owner is removed, the power over the population is pretty well balanced between Snowball and Napoleon. However, gradually, the power imbalance begins to widen and Napoleon is seen using unethical ways of usurping power. The parallels that I see with real life political and power scenarios is uncanny.
The commentary on the nature of power is pretty self evident and is very easy to understand by reading the story.
We have heard that power corrupts, and this story provides for a very satisfactory example of the same. As the power starts getting concentrated in the hands of Napoleon, we can see a shift in priorities of the pig. The character starts of a bit shady and shows it's true colors by the end of the novella.
In the book, the author also sets a classist narrative through the use of the species of the animals. Sheep are often showed mindlessly following what they are told. Horses are too work centric and devoted to give a rational thought to what is going around them. The dogs are loyal and enjoy the benefits of remaining close to the ruling class of the pigs.
Different species are also shown to have different abilities when it comes to the functioning of the society. Different levels of educational ability makes for an interesting watch as to how the narrative is twisted in favor of one thing or the other to cater to specific individuals.
The author ends the book with lines that draw parallels between the humans (who have been severely antagonized) and the pigs (who were antagonized too by the end).
A takeaway from the book is how the shift in power is always gradual. How a distopia is not an overnight creation. It take a lot of time and a lot of missed mistakes in the direction for an organization or a place to get to a place of nightmares. Allowing one mistake after the other is often a letter of doom that people write to themselves.
A mistake repeated is an intentional action.
Analysis of the style of the author
The book is written in a very readable and easy to comprehend way. It had my interest from the start to the finish. There is not a single dull moment in the book. The author manages to keep a healthy pace along with a narrative that is easy to follow along.
Despite the number of the characters in the book, the dialogue and actions are never confusing.
The book does not contain many descriptive paragraphs, and instead focuses on the narrative. The narrative is captivating enough and the perfect amount of detail is given every time details are needed. The characters are described well and the narrator does a beautiful job of conveying events in an unbiased or matter-of-fact way while maintaining ambiguity where it is necessary.
This is done by reporting the events as they happen with important details when reporting facts, but when conveying something that has to be ambiguous, the narrator decides to cover it with a layer of he-said-she-said. This subtle shift in the storytelling makes for a beautiful blend of what is actually happening in the world and what the characters see.
Conclusion and rating
The book is an excellent read. The commentary is wonderful and easy to grasp. I would definitely recommend reading this book. There are a lot of takeaways that a person can derive from this book.
I would rate this book a good 4 out of 5
This is an amazing review! I love you