Animal Farm - George Orwell

Advantages: a book with many layers
Disadvantages: none

...It is these experiences that Animal Farm is drawn from. The main thrust of the story is about a group of pigs who organise a revolution to take over Manor farm and after throwing out Jones, the owner, set themselves up as masters. Eventually it becomes apparent that their equal society is no better that the old system for most of the farm animals, and only the pigs themselves have benefited from the new regime. Whilst Orwell maintained that the ...
...to be well represented. Animal Farm and its ideas and particularly its imagery is a natural continuation of a line of writing that runs through such authors as Aristophanes, Hobbes, Swift, Conrad, T.S. Eliot and H.G.Wells. Some of his sources are laid out in the open, especially when it comes to the new politics of the farms new masters. Stalin had been described as "the class war Napoleon" my Malcolm Muggeridge, the alteration of new commandments ... Read review

Advantages: brilliant, easy to read, classic
Disadvantages: none

Animal Farm is one of the most widely read and known novels by George Orwell. It is studied by many, much to their dismay, as a text for English exams, or as an aid to the teaching of Russian history. It is a brilliant novel, which can be appreciated on many levels and by a variety of people. The Story… Animal Farm is primarily a satire of the Russian Communist revolution of 1917, and the subsequent rise of Stalin to power. This is done via ...
...the only correspondence to history, Animal Farm is, on a higher level, a representation of all dictatorships and attempts to explain why revolutions often fail. Basically, for those of us unfamiliar with the book, or the events of Russia, the plot is as follows… Manor Farm is owned by Mr. Jones, a drunk who cares more about drinking than he does his livestock, subsequently he fails to look after his animals and they suffer severely from neglect. ... Read review

Advantages: All of it
Disadvantages: None of it

...already given their opinions about Animal Farm on this site, but there is always time for a reminder where these things lie. If you always have a nagging doubt that you never read enough of the really "important", "famous", "classic" literature, then you may as well resolve to get this from the library and peruse. It serves all those spurious categories mentioned - although it is only a modern classic, being published first in 1945, but at less ...
...is not the case with Animal Farm. Instead it really deserves its status as a brilliant short novel. Of course, some of you who have not read the book will have an impression as to what it is about, anyway, whether from the animated movie from years ago, or from the more recent Babe-style remake (or even the stage version, where the cast went round with card masks and roller-skates on to portray the animals!). But it does bear repeating what the ... Read review

Advantages: very well written and shows brilliantly the follies of humanity; short and to the point; very well characterised
Disadvantages: perhaps not enough character development, though its not really needed either, being a straight satire

...have been encouraged to read. Animal Farm was one of those books at the top of the list, George Orwell?s famous allegorical satire about revolution and betrayal. It is a piece which says so much about our human frailties, using anthropomorphic alter-egos to portray various leaders over the course of recent history, and the dangers that misinformation and simple cruelty and brainwashing pose. This short but sharp novel was written in the intervening ...
...beginning of our revolutionary new Animal Farm, we have a basically socialist set-up. All the changes are debated, with the smarter pigs proposing ideas and the not-so-clever animals voting as they see fit. There are two leaders ? the charismatic, brilliant Snowball and the taciturn, yet persuasive Napoleon (an apt name indeed!), and they are diametrically opposed on every issue. Eventually, Napoleon chases Snowball out with nine huge dogs that he ... Read review

Advantages: Clever and thought-provoking
Disadvantages: None, although some would likely disagree

...Pages: 140 Story Outline Animal Farm was written as an allegory of the Russian Revolutions and in particular as an attack on Stalin's Russia. Through the Animals on Mr Jones's Manor farm, Orwell sets the scene of a revolt, with the animals revolting against Mr Jones and his human ways and forcing him from his farm. Once they have gained control of the farm, they decide on some basic principles from which to run the farm, which to begin with stem ...
...with Mr Jones. Opinion Animal Farm, which was originally rejected for publication by TS Elliot in 1944, has since understandably gain respect as a classic piece of literature. Although based originally on the Russian Revolution and Stalin's control, this is a story which easily fits into today's society and is comparable with the political world of today. Animal Farm presents the view that although the "system" is of a strong and basically good ... Read review

Advantages: Fantastic read, Great Satire of Stalist USSR, Short & Sweet
Disadvantages: Perhaps it gives a too critical view of Stalinist Russia

...The short novel is a metaphor for the Bolshevik revolution and subsequent Stalin-ruled Communist Russia where the animals play the roles of the Bolshevik revolutionaries and overthrow and oust the human owners of the farm, who represents the Tsar Nicholas. They setup a commune in which, at first, all animals are equal; class and status difficulties and tensions soon emerge, however, between the different animal species. The society's ideologies are manipulated and twisted by individuals in positions of social and political power, and the utopian Marxist society is impossible due to the corrupting nature of the power necessary to create it. The book, the most famous satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism was published in 1945 by George Orwell (Eric Blair). Orwell who was a democratic socialist and a member of the Independent... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Very cleverly written
Disadvantages: Once you've read it on a symbolic level, you can't just read it as a story about boys on an island again.

...Like so many of the reviewers, I read this for my GCSE Eng Lit exam. At first, I admit I wasn't keen. The symbolism seemed too obvious and I prefered other novels that criticised society by creating a microcosm of it like Animal Farm by George Orwell. I have to abmit though, the novel is good. The idea of the boys being away from society and showing how the lack of society's rules and restrictions makes them revert to primative savagery, yet they also create a microcosm of society on the island, in which Golding criticises the society of the time. The book carries a powerful message; the boys are stranded on the island because of a nuclear war. Golding is clearly critical of the effects such a war could have on sociey, and of course there was the threat of such a war at the time it was written. There is also "The Beast... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good variety of reading texts
Disadvantages: The Shakespeare tests are out of date

...and Wordsworth. As well as Wordsworth's 'Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802', we have contemporary Roger McGough's delightful poem 'Pie in the Sky' in the Test Paper on Food. Here we also find an excerpt from 'David Copperfield' where David as a young man finds a waiter in an inn taking advantage of him and eating his dinner for him. The Test Paper on London has a text on the history of London as well as a modern description; the Paper on food has an unusual item in the form of a recipe for green pea pottage from The Medieval Cookbook. There is an interesting extract on organic farming in the fourth Test Paper, alongside a passage from 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell, whom pupils may remember from the extract from 'Down and Out in Paris and London' in the Year 8 book. Plenty of exposure here, then, to different types of writing... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful