Animal Farm

Animal Farm earns a 2. (I explained my book ratings last month.) I may be a little light on comments as I know Darr will be reading it in the future. I had no idea what to expect from this book. I figured there would be some political theorizing or a message on humanity since it was written by the author (i.e., George Orwell) of 1984, a book that receives a rating of 1 even though I haven’t read it since establishing the ratings system. And I got some of what I was expecting but the fact that the characters in the book are a bunch of talking animals was a surprisingly effective creative road to travel down. Orwell’s message, as I interpret it, is that we are no better than animals and animals are no better than us. <insert fond memories of writing my senior thesis paper here> The book starts off harshly with cruel farmer Jones (a.k.a. the evil human) mistreating his farm animals to the extent that they meet secretly, rise up, and overthrow - turning the Manor Farm into the Animal Farm. The utopian society resulting from said actions slowly deteriorates as a hierarchy is established and power corrupts those at the top. When the refrain of “Four legs good, two legs bad” turns to “Four legs bad, two legs good” and the pigs come out of the farmhouse walking upright on their hind legs, things come full circle. Perhaps the answer is to put a woman in charge? (Hillary 2008!) :)