Animal farm- BOOK REVIEW

Animal Farm, one of the most recommended books I have come across and after reading I know why. This one absolutely exceeded my high expectations.

Plot:
The story is an allegory to the Russian revolution.
The story is about how animals feel that they are ill-treated by humans, a certain Mr. Jones (representing the Tsar of Russia) on a farm. Animals overthrow him based on the ideas of a pig, Old Major (Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin) and change the name Manor Farm to Animal farm. They make a list of rules, seven commandments.

The story is about how these seven commandments change over the time. Are they happy? Or they are just given an illusion of happiness. What happens when the lines between implicit trust and blind faith becomes hazy? How ultimately the evils of power and privileges don’t even spare the animals, how do you expect humans to be moral then? How we start fighting something and in the meantime turn into the same thing we were up against. To be betrayed by your own kinds, the ones you had pinned your hopes on, is worse.

 The two leaders (pigs), Snowball and Napoleon symbolize Leo Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. While you sympathize with all the animals, your heart goes out for Boxer, the horse. Benjamin, the donkey is another character that holds relevance especially in today's time. Intelligent he is, but chooses to ignore and continues to live safely denying that he understands. You can empathize with him as today every intelligent common person lives that way. Intelligence is not a good gift in these times. While the donkey, ironically, symbolizes the clever common man, the sheep represents the ignorant masses.

Of course you hate Napoleon, but the anger is more towards Squealer (representing Russian media). Doing wrong is evil but manipulating and justifying it as right is even a bigger evil. Media, are you listening?? Guess, who I loved the best, Muriel, the white goat and the cat, the two characters with shades of grey. All white (good) is a little unreal.

Although the take is on Communism, it’s applicable to most ideologies in some or the other way.  This is the first dystopian story that I have read and I am still reeling under the side-effects. The author very wisely chose animals and wrote it as an allegory because it would have been impossible to see human beings so kind, faithful and naive. This is the closest I can come to pitying human race (me included). This is one of those classics that will hold relevance at all times, unless the world turns into an imaginary utopian reality.