Minggu, 22 Januari 2017

Animal Farm by George Orwell (Book Summary and Review) - Minute Book Report

Animal Farm by George Orwell (Book Summary and Review) - Minute Book Report

This is a story about a group of animals who
live on Manor Farm, a farm in the British countryside that is under the operation of
Mr. Jones, a poor drunkard. Old Major, a well-respected pig, calls all
of the animals to a meeting to share his vision of a farm free of humans, where the animals
reap what they sow. This vision inspires all of the animals and they await the day for
a rebellion.

After Old Major passes away, the rebellion
begins when Mr. Jones forgets to feed the animals. The animals, led by the pigs, chase
away all of the humans from the farm, renaming it Animal Farm. Two pigs named Snowball and Napoleon emerge
as leaders, and for a while life on the farm is good.

Rules are written on the barn for
everyone to follow and a rhythm of work and recreation settles on the farm. The animals
coexist in harmony and they feel a sense of pride as they work for no master. One day, the farm is attacked by Mr. Jones
and some men.

Bravely, the animals fight the intruders away. Tension begins to build on the farm, as Snowball
and Napoleon are at odds with one another on the direction the farm should take. Snowball
wants the build a windmill, which he claims will increase food and reduce work, while
Napoleon wants to increase production. Just as Snowball wins over the animals with
his windmill idea, Napoleon calls his secret attack dogs to chase Snowball away.

With Snowball
gone, Napoleon becomes the sole leader of the farm. Over time, more and more resources go toward
the pigs and dogs and less resources go toward the working animals. Through the smooth talking
of Squealer, the mouthpiece for Napoleon, the animals are assured that the pigs need
the extra resources in order to think and organize the farm. Surprisingly, Napoleon then declares that
they should build a windmill and that he was never actually against the idea since it had
secretly been his all along.

The animals work hard to build the windmill,
but it gets destroyed. Napoleon blames Snowball for this act of vandalism and vows that the
animals on Animal Farm will build it again. Soon, Napoleon reaches out to humans outside
of the farm and begins making business deals for more supplies. The attempt to rebuild the windmill is led
by the efforts of Boxer, an old work horse nearing retirement age.

Eventually, the windmill
is completed, but then gets blown up during an attack by neighboring men. Over time, the rules on the barn begin to
change to fit the pigs' new lifestyle until only one rule remains: All animals are equal,
but some animals are more equal than others. In the end, Napoleon invites neighboring farmers
to visit the farm and because the pigs have picked up on the mannerisms of humans, the
animals cannot tell the difference between the two. First, this story highlights the relationship
between the working class, proletarians, and the aristocracy, bourgeoisie, within the context
of a capitalist society.

As farm animals, they work not for themselves, but for the
profit of someone else and they are only fed and rested enough so that they can perform
more work. And when the animals are no longer productive, they are killed off and replaced. This relationship, though easily illustrated
through farm animals, is applicable to social classes today. Socialist theory argues that
for the rich to be rich, there must be a working class that is poor.

This is clearly illustrated
not only on a national level, but a worldwide level as well. Ideally, it might be nice to picture a world
where people own what they work for. That every person contributes and takes equally.
But as the story develops, readers see more of why this type of utopian society cannot
exist, an example of a communist system trying to exist in a capitalist world. The animals are protected within the boundaries
of their socialist farm and they thrive under this system of equality.

But soon, they are
forced to interact with the outside world and that's when communism turns into something
else. It becomes a totalitarian society under the rule of one leader. And slowly readers
see that for socialism to work under a communist rule, everyone, even those outside of the
community, has to be under the same system. Lastly, this story demonstrates the power
of knowledge and how the uneducated and ignorant can be easily manipulated.

Squealer will often
twist words and events around to make Napoleon look good. And while it may seem obvious as readers to
see the manipulation, this sort of thing happens in real life too. The public can oftentimes
be misinformed and manipulated about certain issues if they are ignorant about it. Facts
and events that seem so concrete may not actually be true.

Nowadays, it's often up to individuals
to find out for themselves..

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