Animal farm - Book review

Reflection: Animal farm

Great power brings great responsibility.

To achieve power or to do well may be difficult task but to live with that is mammoth task with high complexity.

I recalled a story, which I heard in my childhood days. There was prince, his father loved him very much and at appropriate time He sent him to “Gurukul” where all students stayed with guru at their Ashram. Guru charged no monetary fee but take ‘guru dakshina’. Here in this story Prince completed his education with great performance at last Guru called the prince and said – You completed your education nicely, it will shows path at every stage of your life. But one last lesson is still remained, your education have no meaning without this lesson. Prince was eager and requested to guru ji to teach that lesson soon. Guru ji ordered to jailed that prince in dark prison, there is a tough man also appointed to give hunter dose to delicate prince. Now prince amazed for what is happening. He filled with great dissatisfaction and anger with his guru ji.  After completed this course, prince went to his guru and exploded his anger. Why did such treatment with me, I was always obedient and grasp all lesson in well manner, but you gave me this punishment of my goodness. Guru ji explained – You are the future emperor of this kingdom, you have wisdom but you never get an idea of measurable life and hunger. Hunter punishment produce a sense in you, now you will aware to use your power and skipped to misuse it.

I recently read a book “Animal Farm “written by Gorge Orwell. He wrote in simple language and in effective manner. He chose a historic passages and told us with an interesting reference with animals.

He showed in this story ,how animals join together ,without man’s cruelty it never be happened .Always when adversity comes, society joins together ,or we can say society form to overcome fear and insecurity ,to share ourselves ,in short the basic creator of togetherness ,society is NEED.

This book is written in 1945, quite after the World War II. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian revolution of 1917 an then on into the Stalin era.

In this novel the animal revolt, renaming the farm “Animal farm”. They adopt seven commandment of Animalism, the most important of which is –“All animals are equal”. Animal learn to read and write. Food is plentiful and the farm runs smoothly. The pigs elevate themselves to position of leadership and set aside special food item, for the sake of their health. Napoleon has sold his most loyal and long-suffering worker for money to buy himself whisky. Year pass, and the pigs start to resemble humans, the seven commandments are abridged to a single phrase, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than other.”  

He abolishes the practice of the revolutionary tradition and restores the name “The Manor farm”.

 Animal Farm offers commentary on the development of class tyranny and the human tendency to maintain and reestablish class structures even in societies that allegedly stand for total equality. The novella illustrates how classes that are initially unified in the face of a common enemy, as the animals are against the humans, may become internally divided when that enemy is eliminated. The expulsion of Mr. Jones creates a power vacuum, and it is only so long before the next oppressor assumes totalitarian control. The natural division between intellectual and physical labour quickly comes to express itself as a new set of class divisions, with the “brain workers” (as the pigs claim to be) using their superior intelligence to manipulate society to their own benefit. Orwell never clarifies in Animal Farm whether this negative state of affairs constitutes an inherent aspect of society or merely an outcome contingent on the integrity of a society’s intelligentsia. In either case, the novella points to the force of this tendency toward class stratification in many communities and the threat that it poses to democracy and freedom.

There is something that everybody can extract from this book………The book is worthy of being read.