Animal Farm by Orwell George

Animal Farm: A Fair Story is a satire of an ideological revolution corrupted by absolute power.

Summary Of The Book

The oppressed, mistreated animals of Manor Farm launch a revolution, driving out the human farmer, and begin to run the farm themselves. They create a code called Animalism, in which they outline seven main commandments, the principal of which is, all animals are equal and decide to live by this code.

The idea for the revolution in Animal Farm: A Fair Story began when the old prize winning boar, Old Major, gathers the farm animals together and tells them of his dream of a place in which animal live in peace and harmony, free of the oppression of humans.

When Old Major dies, two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, decide to make the old pig’s dream a reality. They succeed with the help of the other animals in the farm. A period of peace and happiness follows.

But, this period does not last. Snowball wants to educate all the animals and wants their participation in running the farm. Napoleon does not agree. When Snowball decides to build a windmill to generate electricity for the farm, and gives a speech about it, Napoleon puts his own plans into action.

He has secretly trained a group of attack dogs, dogs that he took in when they were little puppies, ostensibly to ‘educate them’. He now uses them to chase off Snowball and assumes all the powers for himself and his supporters. The pigs now become a special, privileged class.

With the help of a sidekick, Squealer, who acts as Napoleon’s mouthpiece and propagandist, Napoleon slowly manages to convince all the animals that everything he is doing is for their own good. Squealer is good at his job, and the animals in Animal Farm: A Fair Story believe him, despite their own appalling living conditions.

Gradually, the code of Animalism is thrown aside, every rule broken. A new order emerges, but not the one that the old boar, Old Major, envisioned.

About George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair, more widely known as George Orwell, was a British writer.

Other books by George Orwell are 1984 Nineteen Eighty Four, Burmese Days, A Clergyman's Daughter, and Coming Up for Air.

He wrote fiction and non-fiction. His writing expressed his distaste for despotism and totalitarian regimes, as well as his support for democratic socialism.

George Orwell was born in 1903 in India. A year later, his mother Ida Blair moved back to England with her children. Orwell initially studied at a Catholic Convent, but later moved to a boarding school, Cyprian’s School. He went to Eton on a scholarship, but did not complete his studies. He joined the Imperial Police and was posted in Burma. He later returned to Europe, and lived in Paris and London, before finally settling down in England. His book, Down and Out in Paris and London, was published under the pen name of George Orwell. In 1945 came Animal Farm, which made him world famous, and his reputation as a great writer was sealed with the publication of Nineteen Eighty Four in 1949, shortly before his death.