'Our lives are miserable, laborious and short'The animals of Manor Farm are fed up with their short boring lives but don't know how to change things. So when old pig Major holds a meeting in the barn, speaking of free futures and long happy lives, the animals are over-joyed. Together the animals manage to over throw their drunk master, Mr Jones, and it looks like their free future is very close. However, when old major dies peacefully in his sleep one night, things start to change on the farm. Two of the cleverest pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, decide to take control of the newly named 'Animal Farm', taking care of food rations and harvest. Everything goes well at first until the pigs announce that any milk produced by the cows or apples from the trees will be taken to the pig's study. From then on both pigs become more and more powerful but Napoleon decides he wants to rule on his own. Snowball is chased out of the farm by a pack of blood thirsty dogs that napoleon has secretly been raising. The other animals are shocked but Napoleon's servant Squealer tells them that snowball had been betraying them the whole time. Could this be true? Squealer tells them that their lives will be better now that the trator Snowball is gone and the animals are relieved. But they don't know that under dictator Napoleon's rule their lives could once again become miserable, labourious and short, filled with horrors caused by the greediness of the pigs. Could it be the worshipped Napoleon that is the real trator out of all the animals.
Animal Farm was writen by George Orwell and published in 1945. It is a political fable set in a farmyard but based on Stalin's betrayal of the Russian Revolution, Stalin being Napoleon. It is a novel which is bound to make you realise how violent and inhuman people can be when greediness and power takes over them. Animal Farm is also sure to bring you to tears at some points, i recommend this book to any one over the age of 13- i don't think anyone younger would understand some parts of the book- and to anyone that likes a book where you have to bring together different points to make sense of the whole thing.
I would give this book 4/5 (5 being highest)
