Animal Farm: 75th Anniversary Edition (Signet Classics)

I can’t believe it took me this long to read this masterpiece. Towards the end my stomach was in knots - I was hoping, desperately hoping, the animals would not go the route they so clearly were going. The writing was on the wall but I still gasped when the pigs were seen walking upright. I still gasped when the sheep bleated four legs good, two legs better. Incredible novel. Especially in today’s times. It just shows how easy it is to be conditioned to accept things. Slow and steady gaslighting can eventually lead you to being on the opposite side of what you thought you were fighting for. I think this novel calls for us all to stop, step back and look around us just to make sure that we aren’t sitting in a simmering pot. 4.5 stars

This book was required reading when I was in middle school but I definitely appreciate it more as an adult. The more things change the more they stay the same. The creativity of using different animals to portrait different types of citizens in an oppressive regime was uncanny and unique. This book is one of my favorite satirical pieces.

It’s been so long since I have read *Animal Farm*, and reading it again has me questioning whether I ever read it in English or just in Portuguese. Considering how clear of language Orwell uses, the level of irony and satire in the text is astounding. There are so many references and allusions. It is even better having read it with a background in political science. It made it that much richer to analyize the political symbolism, co-optation, and democratic posturing. The last two chapters are heartbreaking, and, like the postword explains, lack a certain level of hopefulness. However, regimes fall. They always do. No regime is ever enduring, and Clover’s survival along with Benjamin’s could be a sign that there is potential for future generations. My lingering questions are: - Does Orwell write Moses to represent the Russian Orthodox Church? - Does Orwell have Squealer represent an actual historical figure? - What would Orwell think of today’s political landscape? My lingering thoughts are: - The discussion of class differences as a common struggle harken back to Orwell’s childhood in England. - By situating the book in England and on a farm, Orwell is positioning the book in a reality his Western audience will be able to understand. - It’s interesting that people think this book is anti-communist/socialist when it is very clearly a specific critique against Stalinist Russia and totalitarianism. My epiphanies are: - Orwell has Boxer die to show the dangers of blind loyalty and the unforgivingness of the regime. He also has Boxer die for whisky to show the selling out of the working class and the political ideals of the revolution by the new ruling class. - The dialogue between the farmers and the pigs is Orwell’s response to his experience in Facist Spain and a democratic Europe that obsessed over Stalinist Russia.

Extremely well done! Simple narrative but profound meaning.

Oh the allegory and history lesson on what happens under communism....at first everyone is equal but over time, inevitably, some become more equal than others...