Animal Farm

                   Admittedly, I only read Animal Farm because I watched The Hunt on Netflix. The movie referenced the book so many times that I had to know what it was all about and how it related. The movie was 10/10 by the way!

                  The book was also good! I don’t even know where to start. So, there were pigs. And there was a coup d’etat. They lived long enough to see themselves become the villains. In the end, there is this description where, from outside of the house, the farm animals can no longer tell who is human and who is a pig. The way it is written is very powerful, and I could vividly see the complete setting in my head and the impact that description had on the rest of the novel.

                  My perspective on this book was about power, control, and corruption. I desperately wanted the underdog to win, but it didn’t end like that. In fact, there were so many loose ends that I suppose Orwell wrote it like that intentionally. I compared myself a lot to Snowball throughout the novel. He just wanted what was best for the farm. He and Napoleon’s ideas were once aligned until Napoleon saw what power could look and feel like. Maybe he knew what it was like all along and had always been biding his time, but I incline that he just wasn’t that smart, constantly flying by the seat of his pants.

                  Napoleon helped answer a question that always seems to come up: “Why do we constantly recreate systems we initially wanted to destroy?” History is repeating itself because people really do get dizzy when they make it to the top. It isn’t anyone’s fault that when the oppressed group gets the chance to become the oppressor, they usually take it. And the cycle continues. How do we stop that? Equality? Equanimity?

Snowball didn’t stand a chance since Napoleon slowly acquired the strength to back him. No matter how rational Snowball’s ideas were, the animals just weren’t intelligent enough to make sense of the game that was really being played. All the animals knew were rules, and they knew that to follow them meant peace (for the most part).

How do you think this novel relates to current systems?

What does this story suggest about intelligence and power?

What do you think? What are your thoughts on The Animal Farm? Link here.