The Book Challenge: Animal Farm

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am setting out to tackle the greatest novels of all time. Certainly, all of the lists I've been researching are arbitrary and subject to the "give and take" that must come with compiling a list of that nature, but with all of this free time and my itch for some brain exercise, I decided I would find a list of books that I seem to agree with and read!

First book on the agenda? George Orwell's Animal Farm. Already a huge fan of 1984, it seemed only natural that I should start with Orwell. Plus, with the novel being under 100 pages, it would get the ball rolling on my personal challenge. I finished the book last night and I found that I actually really enjoyed it. The ending killed me -- I won't spoil it, just generally reference it -- because I had so much hope for Animal Farm despite all of their struggles the whole time and I know that the animals did too.

I think that one of the things I liked most about Animal Farm was the fact that it was an allegory tackling such an ominous, yet politically important topic: Joseph Stalin and the pre-WWII era. I felt as though I could essentially watch Russia's struggle articulated by a very non-threatening group of adorable animals, which, because of animals and their already innocent nature, only further emphasized the injustices and oppression they were experiencing. I couldn't help but come to adore Boxer the horse and his unwavering devotion to Animal Farm, just as much as I loathed Napoleon and his puppet, Squealer.

The simplicity of the story paints a very vivid and alarming picture of Orwell's views on Stalin and Russa at the time, but that sense of clarity of the farm's potential fate only made me wonder why I was the only one that could see it -- and why the animals weren't doing anything to stop it from happening. Of course, I assume that this is exactly the kind of reaction that Orwell attempted to provoke in his readers as well as a sense of awareness of the dangers of that sort of oppression and its ability to blind a population. Animal Farm is a great read for anyone, but especially for those who are intrigued by the WWII era, political philosophy, or who just want to read a fantastic book that just happens to fit into your back pocket.

If you read the book and love it, you can wear the classic on your sleeve -- literally.
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