Animal Farm by George Orwell

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Book Report^[b]

Animal Farm^[c]

完成日期：2013年11月^[e]

Animal Farm by George Orwell^[f]

Animal Farm was written in 1944 by George Orwell; the copy I read was a Mass Market paperback reprint, published in London in 1980.^[g]

George Orwell（1903-1950），English novelist, essayist, and critic famous for his novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-four (1949), was born in Bengal, into the class of sahibs. In 1944 Orwell finished Animal Farm, a political fable based on the story of the Russian Revolution and its betrayal by Joseph Stalin, is regarded as his masterpiece.^[h]

    This Brilliant novel is set in 20th century in a quiet and remote county in England. Differs from those ordinary novels which mainly deals with romantic affairs between male and female, the leading characters in this fable-like story are animals. It is a story about rebellion and revolution of animals within Manor Farm.

    The Manor Farm is successful and prosperous under the management of Mr. and ^[i]Mrs. Jone. Like any other farms nearby, life there is peaceful and smooth. But one night, a majestic-looking pig----Major, which is regarded as the most highly-respected and wise creature in the farm, assembles all other animals together for a meeting. In the eloquent speech Major delivered in the meeting, he directly conceals the fact that all farm-raised animals are living in both blessed ignorance and misery since they all under the exploitation and slavery of human-beings. After brainwashed his "comrades", Major suggests them to plot a rebellion and then outthrow those rulers----human.

    Three nights after the address, Major the pig dies peacefully, but all his "comrades" determined to fulfill Major's goal, which is to expel human the dictator and to build up an ideal farm where all animals stand on an equal footing, meanwhile, free from bully and exploitation. And the mission of rebellion turns out to be a piece of cake since it is lead by two "cleverest" boars----Snowball and Napoleon.

    On a midsummer's Saturday night, without any precaution, all the animals in Manor Farm freak out: Cows break the doors of sheds. Horses and sheep dash around. All the other creatures help themselves from bins. The uprising is officially broke out. Since the animals are obviously outnumbered than the man, the rebellion had been successfully carried through only after a few minutes. Mr. and Mrs. Jone are screaming and yelling when they are finding their way to escape. After they left, all animals are absorbing in triumph.

    When the enthusiasm of victory went off, Napoleon and Snowball, together with other pigs in the farm, issue the Seven Commandents to safeguard the precious outcome. They command all animals in the farm must strictly follow those seven regulations. When all those trifles, including changing the farm's name from "Manor Farm" into "Animal Farm", were settled, they begin with their "ideal life".

    In the very beginning, business within the Animal Farm is running smoothly. In spite of some members occasionally loafed on their job, all animals work in collaboration everyday. Foods and resources are allocated equally. General assembly, where every farm member is entitled to express their opinion, is held to fairly discuss urgent issues weekly. However, Snowball and Napoleon, those two compatriots in old days, now are quarreled frequently. Gradually the interior conflicts between Snowball and Napoleon become worsen and certainly this landmine will explode eventually.

    One day, during a fierce row with Snowball as usual, Napoleon surprisingly releases three vicious dogs to attack Snowball. Out of fear, Snowball runs for life and finally jumps out of the fences, leaves the Animal Farm behind him. Napoleon thus declares Snowball's expulsion.

    After Snowball has been expelled, Napoleon became the leader of the Animal Farm. He also changed the original regulations. For example, domestic affairs are now settled by a newly formed Committee, in which all the members are pigs, rather than by the General Assembly anymore. Napoleon, moreover, entitles all those pigs in the Farm with certain privilege such as less workload, more rations daily. He even maps out an iron discipline that all plans set by the committee must be fulfilled in due course at any cost, no matter how unrealistic they might seem. And it turns out that the committee really decided to achieve an impracticable goal----to build a windmill in the Farm.

    The design of building a windmill is to reduce the labor in farm. The ambitious plan is proved difficult at the outset. Animals are facing loads of obstacles, such as to fetch rocks in proper size, to operate human-sized machines, to purchase cement, and so forth. Fortunately, thanks to Napoleon's brilliant mind, he comes out with various approaches, including making deals with Frederick the nearby farm owner for cement, which is a violation of the Seven Commandments, to solve these problems. Under Napoleon's iron discipline, with grave devotion and effort made by other members, a 12-feet foundation had been erected by the end of the autumn. Everyone is content and proud of himself or herself. But the triumph is blown overnight.

    There came a winter night when the gale was so violent. When the animals woke up next morning, they found the most heart-breaking scene: Due to the tough gale, the half-built windmill collapsed into ruins. In this very moment, Napoleon, instead of blaming the bad weather and express comforts and condolences to all his comrades, accused that all these is sabotaged by Snowball. Such groundless allegation irritates other animals. Some hens and sheep plot to rebel against Napoleon. But a few days later, Napoleon surprisingly gathers all members in barn and then presents his audience those "traitors" he has caught. After the confession of each "criminal", Napoleon made an order, all those guilty members were slaughtered right in front of other animals.