George Orwell - Animal Farm - 7

[endall]

Animal Farm

Rating 7
Animal Farm
Classic is a term often applied to books but few deserve the praise more than Orwell’s Animal Farm. It was published in 1946 at the very beginning of the Cold War between western democracy and eastern communism. Russian communism was still apparently successful and certainly powerful. The fear of it dominating the world was genuine.
Taken literally Animal Farm is a simple story, simply written almost a children’s’ tale. Set on a farm it has a cruel, greedy farmer and all the farmyard animals. Each animal is a model of itself: dumb sheep, motherly cows, friendly horses and of course the deceptively clever pigs. Unable to bear the cruelty of the farmer the animals revolt and drive him away. They keep running the farm as a co-operative and for a while all goes well. But soon the pigs take over more and more responsibility, they move into the farmhouse, begin walking on two legs and then there is a return to the darker side of animal farming.
The story is allegory and shows how the basis of communism leads inevitably to rule by the chosen few. It matters little who does the choosing even if they are man or beast. The circle of power always spins back to its starting place.
Whilst Orwell’s technique is much copied no other author is quite able to make such complex commentary by such simple story telling. This book is first reader for both speculative fiction and political readers.