Animal Farm by George Orwell

George Orwell

Animal Farm

The Author:

George Orwell (1903-1950 ), whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair, was born in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, India. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair was a civil servant for the British colonial government. In 1904 he moved with his mother and sister to England and was educated at Eton. He began to write at an early age, and was even published in college periodicals, but he did not enjoy school.

Orwell failed to win a university scholarship and without the opportunity to continue his education he went to Burma and served in the administration of the Indian Imperial Police from 1922 to 1927, when he resigned in part due to his growing dislike of British imperialism, a dislike he vocalized in his essays Shooting an Elephant (1950), and A Hanging (1931).

When Orwell returned to Europe he was in poor financial condition. For the next two years he lived in Paris and then came to England as a school - teacher. Later he worked in a bookshop and decided to become a professional writer. Starting in 1930 Orwell became a regular contributor to the New Adelphi, and in 1933 he assumed the name "George Orwell" by which he would become famous. For his first novel he used his recent experience with poverty as inspiration and wrote Down and Out in Paris and London (1933). While teaching in a private school he published his second major work, Burmese Days (1934). Two years later Orwell married Eileen O'Shaugnessy.

During the1930s Orwell had adopted the views of a socialist and traveled to Spain 1937 to report on their civil war. He took the side of the United Workers Marxist Party militia and fought alongside them, which earned him a wound in the neck. It was this war that made him hate communism in favour of the English brand of socialism. Orwell wrote a book on Spain, Homage to Catalonia, which was published in 1938.

During the second World War Orwell served as a sergeant in the Home Guard and also worked as a journalist for the BBC, Observer and Tribune, where he was literary editor from 1943 to 1945. It was in the winter 1943 / 44 that he wrote Animal Farm, and when the war was over he moved to Scotland.

It was Animal Farm that made finally Orwell prosperous. His other world wide success was Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949, which Orwell said was written "to alter other people's idea of the kind of society they should strive after." Sadly Orwell never lived to see how successful it would become as book and in television and film adaptions.

Eileen O'Shaugnessy, Orwell's wife died in 1945 and in 1949 he remarried to a woman named Sonia Brownell. Orwell's second marriage was short-lived however, as he died from tuberculosis in London on January 21, 1950.

Summary :

The story is told by an all-knowing narrator in the third person and takes place on a farm somewhere in England. The owner of the farm is Mr. Jones. The action of this novel starts when the oldest pig on the farm, Old Major, calls all animals to a secret meeting in the big barn. He had a dream of a revolution against the cruel Mr Jones in the previous night and wanted to tell them about. Three days later Major dies, but his dream gives the more intelligent animals a new outlook on life. The pigs, the most intelligent animals on the farm, instruct the other ones. During the period of preparation two pigs distinguish themselves as leaders, Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon is big, and although he isn't a good speaker, he can assert himself. Snowball is a better speaker, he is active and full of ideas. Together with another pig, Squealer, an excellent speaker, they work out the theory of "Animalism".

When Mr Jones comes home drunk some months later in the evening, he forgets to feed the animals. The rebellion starts. The animals break out of the barns and run to the house, to get the food. When Mr Jones awakes he takes out his gun, but it is too late for him; all the animals fall over him and drive him off the farm. The animals destroy all whips, nose rings, reins, and all other instruments that have been used to suppress them. The same day the animals celebrate their victory with an extra ration of food. The pigs make up the seven commandments, and they write them above the door of the big barn.

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings is a friend.

3. No animal shall wear clothes.

4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

6. No animal shall kill another animal.

7. All animals are equal.

The animals also agree that no animal shall ever enter the farmhouse, and that no animal shall have contact with humans. This commandments are summarised in the simple phrase: "Four legs good, two legs bad". But Mr. Jones comes back some times later with some other men to get back his farm. The animals fight bravely, and defend the farm.

After some time Snowball presents his idea to build a windmill, to produce electricity for the other animals. But Napoleon, his rival from the days of the struggle against Mr. Jones, calls nine strong dogs. The dogs drive Snowball from the farm, and Napoleon explains that Snowball was in fact co-operating with Mr Jones. The animals then start building the windmill, and as time passes the working-time goes up, whereas the food rations decline. Although the "common" animals have not enough food, the pigs grow fatter and fatter. The pigs even say that they need more food, for they are managing the whole farm. Some time later, the pigs explain to the other animals that they have to trade with the neighbouring farms. The common animals are very upset, because since the revolution there has been a resolution that no animal shall trade with a human. But the pigs ensure them that there never has been such a resolution, and that this was an evil lie of Snowball. A little later the pigs move to the farmhouse. The other animals remember that there is a commandment that forbids sleeping in beds, and so they go to the big barn to look at the commandments. When they arrive there they can't believe their eyes, the fourth commandment has been changed to: "No animal shall sleep in bed with sheets". And the other commandments have also been changed: "No animal shall kill another animal without reason", and "No animal shall drink alcohol in excess". Some months later