From the Bookshelf of The Insecure Writer's Support Group Book Club…

Animal Farm

George Orwell

Start date: October 1, 2020

Finish date: November 30, 2020

Why we're reading this: Voted on by our members as a good example of symbolism. Discussion Fun Day will be November 18th.
[close] Voted on by our members as a good example of symbolism. Discussion Fun Day will be November 18th.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Oct 17, 2018 Raimey Gallant rated it liked it

Interesting as an allegory for how Stalin came to be, annoying in how, because of its simplicity, anti-communist factions have been able to use the story as a cautionary tale against all forms of communism (and arguably all forms of revolution), even those that might seek to implement safeguards against what went wrong with the Russian experiment. So: accessible way to learn about one event in history; dangerous as a tool to prevent revolution.

6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 27, 2020 Ronel Janse van Vuuren rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-that-should-have-a-trigger-wa, speculative-fiction, classics, animals

I first read (and studied) this book at fifteen and enjoyed it as much now as I did then.

About language: as a teenager, the language didn’t bother me much as I always expected to learn new words that I had to look up in a dictionary as I read. Now, however, I can say that a lot of the “big” words are absolutely unnecessary and “ordinary” words would have done the story more justice (unless we’re using the language as a part of symbolism in the same sense as most of the animals couldn’t read and I first read (and studied) this book at fifteen and enjoyed it as much now as I did then.

About language: as a teenager, the language didn’t bother me much as I always expected to learn new words that I had to look up in a dictionary as I read. Now, however, I can say that a lot of the “big” words are absolutely unnecessary and “ordinary” words would have done the story more justice (unless we’re using the language as a part of symbolism in the same sense as most of the animals couldn’t read and the pigs used language to confuse and subdue them).

I’m not going to go into the seven commandments and how they changed over time, or “Four legs good, Two legs bad”/ “Four legs good, Two legs BETTER” or even “All animals are equal”/ “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”. All great tools to further the symbolism of the story.

I’ll even skip past Boxer – the life and death of a steadfast horse – and Mollie (who arguably had a better life after she left).

The task of this book club discussion is to look at symbolism in the book.
The “Beasts of England” song is a symbol of what they long for.
The skull of old Major is a symbol of what the old boar had prophesised/dreamed and shared with them.
The green flag with the white hoof and horn is a symbol of the Rebellion.
One-by-one, these symbols are altered beyond recognition (just as the seven commandments on the side of the barn) showing how the pigs (and dogs under their command) go from being part of the animals on Animal Farm to being the masters of the farm they yet again rename.

The entire book is, of course, the story of Socialism in Russia (which you can look up online and read about in study guides of “Animal Farm”).

And then there is the windmill. Probably the most important device used in this story regarding symbolism. At first, despite their hard work, the windmill crumbles in a storm. They disregard everything – all the hard work they have to do on the farm with the added work of rebuilding the windmill – and return to building it even thicker (walls) and stronger than before. It didn’t matter to them that they were hungry (the crops weren’t doing well) or exhausted (working longer hours than ever before and much harder): they did this for themselves and not for a human master.

Even when the windmill is completed, they start work on another one. Not death, not age, not anything will stand in their way. And when only one commandment is left on the side of the barn and there is virtually no distinction between humans and pigs? The book leaves you with this disquieting view of what the future of these animals will be.

...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 21, 2020 Naughty rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Animal Farm is a brilliantly written satire of the formation of the Soviet Union. Through his use of talking animals, George Orwell shows that communism is an ideology that looks good in theory but does not benefit the majority in practice.
When the Communist party overthrew the Russian aristocracy, the common person wound up trading one set of tyrants for another. The Russian nobility (the humans) were ignorant of just how badly the lower classes were suffering and how dissatisfied the people w ...more

Like · see review

Sep 11, 2017 Gene Desrochers rated it it was amazing

Great novel. Captures the thinking that leads to our destruction. Group think continues. Amazing how well Orwell captured the dangers of government in so many different ways.

Like · see review