Animal Farm in bbc book list, the top 100

Jul 31, 2009 Smiley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

When I first saw this cover in some bookshops some 50 years ago, I didn't like it and wondered why. One of the reasons, I thought, was that it portrayed such an unthinkable, cunning and cruel world of animal politics. I first read this "fairy tale" during my first college years then as an external reading for an English course. It's my first George Orwell encounter and, while reading this short political satire, I was amazed and simply enjoyed reading his unique and formidable writing style. I k ...more

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Nov 03, 2017 Smiley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Since I read this fairy tale novel by George Orwell twice; first, during my college years as a required external reading in an English literature course half a century ago and, second, for my enjoyment some ten years ago, I decided to reread this seemingly amusing animal rebellion for power over the owner of Manor Farm, Mr Jones. After its first publication in 1945, innumerable critics and reviewers have long written and posted their ideas, opinions, reviews, etc. based on their views, interpret Since I read this fairy tale novel by George Orwell twice; first, during my college years as a required external reading in an English literature course half a century ago and, second, for my enjoyment some ten years ago, I decided to reread this seemingly amusing animal rebellion for power over the owner of Manor Farm, Mr Jones. After its first publication in 1945, innumerable critics and reviewers have long written and posted their ideas, opinions, reviews, etc. based on their views, interpretation and understanding. However, I think Orwell might have primarily written this famous short fiction to amuse himself and his readers in that his animals can talk and do things like human beings; this first notion reminds us of children's tales, and more than that, we can't help being amused with their politics-like measures as we can see that these animals can marvelously think, wisely plan and ruthlessly take action by usurping absolute power from Mr Jones. Has it been regarded as a political satire to some world leaders in the Cold War since then? I think we should better read for such information on this site:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_...

For this rereading, I wondered if there was anything new that I might have overlooked in my previous explorations. Of course, I still found some but I'd quote only three sentences having the words/slogan in question and explain why, you may guess first what's the point in each extract.

Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character. (p. 9)
And from then on he adopted the maxim, 'Napoleon is always right,' in addition to his private motto of 'I will work harder.' (p. 37)
How these were to be procured no one was able to imagine. (p. 41)

My first point is concerned with 'depth of character' which I have never found in his novels, it simply notifies me that one's character has depth; therefore, the other one's character may have shallowness. This, I think, would infer more or less one's integrity. Second, it's about the newly-coined maxim presumably transformed from a proverb 'Might is right.' Finally, I don't recall reading and knowing the meaning of 'procured', that is, I simply skipped this word and guessed it in the context.

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