Animal Farm

Title: Animal Farm

Genre: Fiction

Author: George Orwell

Animal Farm is about a group of farm animals who decide to take control of their farm from their mean farmer, Mr. Jones, who mistreats the animals by slaughtering them for food, selling them, leaving them in dark rooms for days, and many more. After the rebellion from Mr. Jones, he and his men flee the farm. The pigs take leadership of the farm because they are the smartest animals, and all the other animals do the manual hard labor like planting crops and more. The pigs make a set of rules that all farm animals must follow. The rules were called the Seven Commandments. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, Whatever goes upon four legs or has wings is a friend, No animal shall wear clothes, No animal shall sleep in a bed, No animal shall drink alcohol, No animal shall drink alcohol, No animal shall kill any other animal, All animals are equal.  The main leaders of the farm are pigs named Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon is smart but very selfish. He wants all the power for himself. Snowball is also smart and wants to make the farm a better place for everyone.

They both keep peace and order on the farm until they have a disagreement on whether they should build a windmill or not, and  Napoleon uses his army of vicious dogs to chase Snowball off the farm. When Snowball leaves, Napolean starts acting very selfishly, going against the rules and changing them to fit his needs. For example, he sleeps on a bed and changes the rule to No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets. When other animals start to go against him, he holds public executions to kill them.

He was a terrible leader. He reduced the animals’ food rations, gave all the pigs a lot of food, and made the animals work very hard. Eventually, he starts to wear clothes, sleep in beds with sheets, wear human clothes, stand upright, drink alcohol, and even become comrades with all the other animal leaders of the different farms and even trade with them. All the animals didn’t dare to go against Napoleon for fear of being executed or eaten by his dogs. Napoleon changed the name of Animal Farm back to Manor Farm, saying that it was a more fitting name and that it was the original name. The book ends with all the farm owners coming to Manor Farm and having a party. They played cards and drank wine, and the other animals looked in through the window and couldn’t tell who was a pig and who was a human. They were too similar. After everything, only one commandment remained: “All animals are equal except some are more equal than others.”

One of the things I liked the most about Animal Farm is that it is based on the Russian Revolution. The character Napoleon is based on Joseph Stalin. It shows that power can change people (or animals, in this case). At first, the pigs seem like they are doing a good job of leading. Soon, however, they become just like the humans they wanted to get rid of. It really makes you think about how leaders and presidents can change and how important it is for everyone to have a voice. One thing I didn’t like about the story was that it was too short, and it would have been better if George Orwell made the story longer to add more detail. I also wanted to know what would happen after the pigs basically became humans. Would the animals stage a rebellion, and would the cycle repeat again? Apart from that, George Orwell did a fantastic job writing Animal Farm.

The book is written in a simple way, so it’s very easy to understand. It also has a lot of important lessons about fairness, teamwork, and how sometimes things may not be what they seem. The ending really surprised me, and it left me thinking about the whole story long after I finished reading it. Overall, I would recommend Animal Farm to anyone who likes a story with lots of excitement and a good message. It’s a great reminder of how we should be careful about who we pick to become our leaders and how we treat each other. Even though it’s about animals, the lessons apply to people, too! Overall, I would rate this book a 9.5 out of 10. If you liked this book, you should read:

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Lord of the Flies by William Golding etc