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    Animal Farm is powerful & relevant

    I read Animal Farm recently and I know, I’m very late to the party, but this work is brilliant. It makes me remember why I enjoy reading in the first place. We rarely come across such works – as simple and as complex as this one.

    I appreciated the way each incident has a hidden reference/s like the naming of Napoleon. I would also like to praise how each animal was given a unique character of its own, which made it so much more meaningful, especially Boxer.

    The way the story progresses is almost natural and unnatural at the same time, which makes it so much relevant even today. From totalitarian regimes to the dismantling of freedom in today’s world to the rights of weaker sections, the book raises a lot of questions. Orwell has done a marvelous job, hats off to him!

    by Flower-1496

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    49 Comments

    4. Dr_Lecter1623 on

      It’s definitely a must read, and I think it is more important to read it first than 1984.

    6. DoubleM571 on

      I also just started reading it last night! I was enjoying it so far but fell asleep. Not a long book lol but seems very enjoyable.

    7. zoop1000 on

      My favorite part is imagining a pig wearing clothes, smoking a pipe and cracking a whip

    11. dumottschumand on

      Such a good book. I also read it a bit late in life, but I’m so glad I did, because it’s so amazing and powerful. Nothing subtle about it, it’s right to the point and I really loved it

    12. OneGoodRib on

      Animal Farm is the only required reading from school that I kept after we were done reading it.

      It’s also one of the only required readings from any level of school that I actually finished – partly because it’s short.

    13. Puffit27 on

      “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

      What a quote.

    16. dietsmiche on

      I recently read it for the first time too and couldn’t put it down! I read it immediately after reading 1984 for the first time so it felt kind of like a prequel in a way.

    18. LukeSniper on

      I never read it when I was younger. It just never landed on any of my reading lists at school.

      I read it for the first time a few months back (I’m in my late 30s now). It’s great, and I think Orwell did a fantastic job creating a short and simple narrative that would appeal to children that also had a very profound message that could be understood by them.

    22. cerebud on

      Now read 1984. Orwell was a mad man genius. I thought it would feel dated, but it’s really good.

    24. geoprizmboy on

      It’s odd to me that everyone else didn’t read this book in high school like we did.

    25. __MichaelScott__ on

      In the cartoon the part where Napoleons face starts morphing into Jones’. Chilling, even as a cartoon. Amazing allegory.

    26. BeardyBarrel on

      My mom finished Animal Farm and talks about it a fair bit. She’s now reading 1984 and we quote both pretty frequently, it’s both scary and neat.

    27. alohadave on

      > The way the story progresses is almost natural and unnatural at the same time, which makes it so much relevant even today. From totalitarian regimes to the dismantling of freedom in today’s world to the rights of weaker sections, the book raises a lot of questions.

      While it works on these levels, it’s an allegory of the Soviet Revolution of 1917. Orwell didn’t like Stalin at a time when the UK was allies with the USSR.

    28. [deleted] on

      The part that I have been thinking about lately is the first year of animal farm. When there is plenty of everything – leisure, joy, harvest. Would it have been possible to continue the success of that first year indefinitely? Was the intention to provide a pinnacle from which to fall? Was the downfall inevitable? Was that Orwell’s glorified portrayal of the noble savage trope?

    29. liquidsspawn on

      This also belongs in antiwork. I stopped blindly obeying after i realized i was a work horse

    30. socksonsundays on

      My favorite quote is the bit where “they looked from man to pig and pig to man and it was impossible to tell the difference.” We had to read this for school when I was a teenager and this quote blew my mind. Then as you grow you see the phenomena for yourself when people around you come into power or money and they eventually become indistinguishable from the people they once criticized.

    32. grunge615 on

      When I read Animal Farm in 2020 it felt so fresh and relevant. It wasn’t until I researched the book a bit more that I learned it was a satire on the Bolshevik revolution. It’s a great book with so many lessons to be learned.

    33. ElrondHalf-Elven on

      Everyone recommending the standard highschool reading list as follow on books (Fahrenheit 451, 1984, lord of the flies) like they’re some kind of incredibly obscure books

    35. Apod1991 on

      “Animal Farm is a book!”

      “No, it isn’t Lana! It’s an allegorical novella about Stalinism! By George Orwell! And SPOILER ALERT IT SUCKS!”

      🤣

      I did love reading that book

    37. LowBeautiful1531 on

      One of the most important books.

      Orwell had trouble getting it published. WWII was on, so it wasn’t considered okay to criticise Stalinism at the time.

    38. kdawg1986 on

      Just read this a few months ago and was in awe of how important works like this are and why books are so important.

    39. julesdottxt on

      I read this book a long time ago for school and a couple parts really stuck to me. First thing that comes to mind was the>! horse getting shipped off in a cart to be turned into glue!<, I think because they were old and no longer able to work (maybe I’m misremembering). Anyways, that part really fucked me up. Second>! was how the pigs ended up becoming just as corrupt as the farmer.!< I agree that it’s a super relevant book and I think it is timeless not only as a classic but also in the sense that it will always be relevant. Great book.

      I think you’d also like Brave New World. That and animal farm are my favorite dystopian novels.

    40. bluitwns on

      “man looked at pig and pig looked at man and no one could tell the difference”

      One of the best last lines in a book ever

    41. Thirdtwin on

      Yeah, it’s a satire done very well. Have you read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad? You’ll like it.

    44. LizzieNea on

      I can deffo agree with you.

      I had to read it for my english class when I did english literature and at all the things are going on in the world now yes

    48. PrometheusHasFallen on

      “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

      It’s scary that we see people say things like this in this day and age.

    49. lmg080293 on

      Ahh this just got me jacked up to teach it again next week. I can’t wait to see my students’ reactions.

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