Plot Summary

Animals have feelings too, especially the animals on Manor Farm. The animals at Manor Farm are tired of being treated poorly and they just can’t take it anymore. Old Major, the respected, wise, prize-winning boar suggests to the animals that it is time for a change. The animals need to be treated fairly and equally, and that’s not going to happen with the humans in the way. Farmer Jones is not doing his job properly and it is time for him to resign from his position as farm leader, forcefully.

    Commence the concept of Animalism, the idea that favors animals over humans and considers the humans to be “the enemy”. After Farmer Jones is taken care of, the animals begin creating their own world, a world in which they are all equal; at least that’s how it was supposed to be. Slowly but surely, some of the animals begin to get power hungry. This craving for power takes over the minds of some of the animals, blinding them.

    The pigs then come up with an idea to build a windmill. The windmill is to be built to make the animals’ jobs easier. Though the windmill starts off as a good idea, it comes along with some interesting complications. With the constant battles and situations, the renamed, Animal Farm, is never a dull place to be. With the never ending need for power, rifts are created in the downward spiral of entertaining but shocking events. Join the animals on their roller coaster of a journey to be independent and equal on the new and not-so-improved, Animal Farm.

Autobiography

                George Orwell is the author of the best selling novel, Animal Farm.    George Orwell was born on June 25th, 1903 and passed away on January 21st, 1950 after a three- year battle against lung disease.  Orwell was born in India but moved to England with his mother and sister shortly after birth.  As Orwell lived through poverty and hardship, his hatred towards dictatorship and the existence of the working classes increased.  Being involved in the Police force also increased and expanded his understanding of imperialism and the negative effects following it.   All his works written since 1936 have been directly opposed to totalitarianism and praising democratic socialism. This hatred and resentment towards totalitarianism inspired his dystopian novels and works, including Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.   Orwell has a strong point of view on many of the major political movements during his lifetime.  He was a democratic socialist; an outspoken critic of Joseph Stalin.  He was best remembered for his political criticism as an anti-totalitarian.   One of his best selling novel written in 1943-1944, Animal Farm is a satirical novel, criticizing Stalin and his totalitarian ways.  When the book finally published in 1945, it became a massive commercial success because the cold war was quickly followed by World War II.  Hatred towards Stalin and the Soviet Union was at a high point during this time period.   As a result, any criticism towards Stalin was largely welcomed.

Animal Farm's Historical Context

     

    Animal Farm is a satirical allegory which  reflects on the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the bureaucratization of the Russian government. The inspiration of the book originally came from George Orwell’s thought of analyzing Karl Marx’s theory from animals’ point of view. Additionally, there are parallels between the Russian Revolution and the Rebellion at Manor Farm; The plot follows the timeline of Soviet history. Each character is an allusion to historical figures: Napoleon, as an allusion to Joseph Stalin, is the pig who becomes the leader of the farm and takes full control over other animals. Snowball, as Napoleon’s greatest rival, is identified as Leon Trotsky. Other animals are described as the “working class” who are loyal to their leader.

   The first external conflict between humans and animals (Battle of the Cowshed) is contrasted with the Russian Civil War, when the old government wanted to retake power back but failed to do so. However, Snowball wins support over Napoleon because of his impressive speeches, just like how Trotsky was more popular than Stalin. Later on, Napoleon gets rid of him by tricking animals that Snowball steals the construction plan of the windmill. Napoleon’s behavior is equivalent to Stalin’s practice, since Trotsky came up with the idea and Stalin actually implemented it. Stalin promised his Five-Year plans would improve the living condition, but the plan failed. In the book, the windmill is a symbol of industrialization and modernization. Other parallels that reflect on Stalinism include the influence of propaganda, which is used as a means to deliver false impressions to deceive the animals. Squealer is a brilliant speaker, becoming the one who spreads communist propaganda. He represents Vyacheslav Molotov, Stalin’s trustworthy follower. Moreover, due to the fact that the USSR was still an ally of the U.S. in 1944, Orwell was forced to change the ending of Animal Farm, where the communist pigs met with the capitalist men. Obviously Orwell is strongly affected by the historical events during the process of writing.

    Animal Farm is biased against tyranny, political propaganda and vices. Totalitarianism and dictatorship were originally developed from people’s desire for a utopian world. Even today readers think the same way as Orwell does; believing “a true perfect society” never existed. Not only does it mirror the Russian revolution but also human nature, which is why Animal Farm can still be relevant in present day.

Connection to readers, other text/films/stories and the world

       Animal Farm, a novel written in 1945, has many connections to other text, films and stories. In fact, the Animal Farm is very similar to novels such as 1984, Handmaid's Tale and films such as V for Vendetta. All of the titles above are similar as they all share themes such as lack of freedom and class stratification. The authors of those books wanted to emphasize the human tendency to maintain and establish class structures even though the society calls for everyone to be equal. The novels also describes how harsh life would become if the people are ruled by the dictatorship of a person or a group as the citizens' daily lives would be filled with censorships, propaganda or even brain washing. The readers, however, may wonder if they are being brain washed with the idea of "democracy is the best" after reading those stories.

       The novel may have had a strong connection to the world back in 1945 since the U.S.S.R. was only established for approximately 20 years then and the Cold War was starting up. However, as time progresses, the connection between the world and the story is lost. The Soviet Union has broken up and a more democratic Russia has been established. The dictatorship and manipulation of speech described in the book are no longer common in the world. The working class in the modern society are no longer naive and are more educated than before.

       Animal Farm effectively connects to the readers in a thrilling way. In the story, Squealer is a propaganda tool that brain washes animals into believing that life is better than before when in fact it has been the same if not worse. In comparison, the media around us is, in as sense, also a propaganda tool of the government. It often praises the achievements of its own country and criticizes the actions of other countries. By listening to the media, the reader may be brain washed into believing that their own country is the best and their life is the best when in fact it is not.

Animal Farm's Selling Points

            Animal Farm is a novel that definitely stands out to readers. Multiple points assist this critically acclaimed book to be one of the classics that everyone is aware of. First, this novel is the shortest out of all the six books we are reading as a class in our Literary Circles. However, in just 95 pages, Orwell manages to fit all the possible ideas related to totalitarianism. Readers tend to have an aversion to extensive and lackluster books. Luckily, George Orwell presents the events of the Russian Revolution in a satirical, concise, and appealing way. Similarly, the author’s writing style is very different from other books of its era. Orwell utilizes simple vocabulary (for that period) and words to explain the mindset of Napoleon and Snowball. For example, he does not use complex vocabulary to explain the pigs’ gluttony and desire for power, but rather literary devices such as foreshadowing and allegories to dictate the actions of the animals. In the words of George Orwell himself, “On my return from Spain [in 1937] I thought of exposing the Soviet myth in a story that could be easily understood by almost anyone and which could be easily translated into other languages."

            This short story is the only one that is politically driven. Not many fiction books nowadays are driven by political means and are well received by the public. Most publishers are just too afraid of public backlash. Orwell originally wrote Animal Farm to dictate the socialist changes that were occurring in Russia at the time. Sadly, several publishers rejected his work and refused to publish it since WWII was still raging and Russia was a crucial ally of Britain. The form of government described in Animal Farm is a severe case of dictatorship that parallels the government that Joseph Stalin was running. For instance, when the original seven commandments are changed to suit the pigs’ needs, it demonstrates how political promises and beliefs can be transformed into concrete propaganda. Furthermore, the animals’ attribution of their wellbeing to their “leader”, Comrade Napoleon, exemplifies the brainwashing techniques used by Stalin to influence the society to agree with his actions.

This political satire tackles one of the themes that is not prevalent in modern day society and literature: dictatorship. No country nowadays except for North Korea is under strict dictatorship. Even if North Korea adopts a “one leader, all power” rule, the United Nations would enforce stern limitations on the country, so it is nearly impossible to have a dictatorial nation nowadays. Likewise, fiction books are more driven towards ideas of crime, romance, and mystery. Modern authors rarely tackle difficult concepts such as dictators and descriptions of historical events. Since these ideals are rarely encountered by this generation’s readers, it will expand their understanding of one of the most bloody and tragic moments in history. Therefore, Animal Farm is a classical allegory that everyone should read at least once in his or her lifetime. After all, it will not take up too much time.

Animal Farm's Selling Points Pt 2

         This novel is crucial because it brings a different perspective on history. Not many books nowadays are capable of accomplishing such feats. Most novels only speak of one side of the story and not from the opposing side’s perspective as well. For example, in Western society, we have often heard of how to the reign of Stalin caused massive bloodshed and unnecessary deaths. However, to the Russians, they still idolize Joseph Stalin today. Their people believe that he united the people as one and led them to victory during World War Two. However, the exact same people believe that the amount of terror and disaster he caused amongst the citizens were completely unnerving. These conflicting and mismatched ideas seem to be the popular opinion amongst Easterners, but to us in the West, this seems preposterous and absurd. In the end, it falls upon one’s perspective of the event and his or her’s cultural influence.

Animal Farm is valuable to us as readers since it outlines some of the basic concepts of propaganda. An example of this that is used in Animal Farm is the endless speeches and twisting words of Squealer to suit the pigs’ needs. Nowadays, the media, school, and the government constantly bombards with all kinds of information and rumors. This book caused us to think about how much we should trust the knowledge we read or hear every day. After much discussion, we agree with the saying: take things with a pinch of salt.

Our selling points matter because it is what makes our book stand out from others. Most of our selling points that we have are not seen in the other five books that are a part of our Literary Circles. Similarly, Animal Farm’s unique and quirky theme sets it apart from other novels. In reality, selling points are important since they assist the author in publicizing his works in order to gain a profit.  Selling points are just one of the ways to receive more attention for literature. Other ways include reviews and marketing by bookstores and publishers. Thus, effective selling points are the foundation for paving the way to being a renowned title, as Animal Farm as become.