Book Review: Animal Farm

Orwell, George.  Animal Farm (New York, NY: Penguin Books Ltd., 2000), 112 pp.
Reviewed by Christopher Lee, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.


I decided to revisit this novel after reading it my sophomore year. I wanted to see how the context of this novel has changed after two additional years of education.


First off, I am definitely glad I did.  Revisiting this novel after two years allowed me to see things that were not as clear as when I read Orwell's work the first time.  Since Animal Farm is Orwell's allegory of the birth of Soviet Communism, including the subsequent revolutions, new "rules", and corruption, it really does the novel justice if the reader has a general understanding of this history. It makes the setting, for instance, more clear.  The Farm is an allegory of Russia, and these animals work "equally" on this farm.  The parallels grow clearer and clearer as the novel progresses.  Orwell's decision to equate the Communist nation to a farm is brilliant, considering many Russians were forced into collective farming during this time period.  


As the novel progresses, these original tenants of "Animalism" become more and more disintegrated and corrupted.  There are many uprisings throughout that challenge the leadership of each animal. While each animal is to be "equal", this is clearly not true as we learn that the horses work harder and more diligently as the pigs become more lazy and providing by "supervising".  A few of these greedy pigs are the ones who break down the original tenants agreed upon by the primary farm animals.  The rest of the animals are left to figure out what they must do to create "equality" again.


This novel was one of my favorites two years ago, and it remains one of my favorites today.  The creativity and ingeniousness in this novel is truly remarkable.  While one may think this novel is childish or immature for its subject, the reader must keep in mind that this is merely an allegory of Russian Communism, a surprisingly accurate one, as well. And since this is historically accurate, the novel is surely plausible. 


I sincerely recommend this novel for anybody looking for an easy, yet informative quick read.  Make sure you do your research beforehand.  It'll surely enhance your experience.


-Christopher Lee