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Animal Farm / 1984
This edition features George Orwell’s best-known novels—1984 and Animal Farm—with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.
In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith joins a secret revolutionary organisation called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.
Animal Farm is Orwell’s classic satire of the Russian Revolution - an account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones’s Manor Farm into Animal Farm - a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. But are they? AUTHOR: George Orwell (1903-1950) was born in India and served with the Imperial Police in Burma before joining the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell was the author of six novels as well as numerous essays and nonfiction works.
In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith joins a secret revolutionary organisation called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.
Animal Farm is Orwell’s classic satire of the Russian Revolution - an account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones’s Manor Farm into Animal Farm - a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. But are they? AUTHOR: George Orwell (1903-1950) was born in India and served with the Imperial Police in Burma before joining the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell was the author of six novels as well as numerous essays and nonfiction works.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
About the author
George Orwell
1,215 books44.3k followersEric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language, and a belief in democratic socialism.
In addition to his literary career Orwell served as a police officer with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma from 1922-1927 and fought with the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1937. Orwell was severely wounded when he was shot through his throat. Later the organization that he had joined when he joined the Republican cause, The Workers Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), was painted by the pro-Soviet Communists as a Trotskyist organization (Trotsky was Joseph Stalin's enemy) and disbanded. Orwell and his wife were accused of "rabid Trotskyism" and tried in absentia in Barcelona, along with other leaders of the POUM, in 1938. However by then they had escaped from Spain and returned to England.
Between 1941 and 1943, Orwell worked on propaganda for the BBC. In 1943, he became literary editor of the Tribune, a weekly left-wing magazine. He was a prolific polemical journalist, article writer, literary critic, reviewer, poet, and writer of fiction, and, considered perhaps the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture.
Orwell is best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (published in 1949) and the satirical novella Animal Farm (1945) — they have together sold more copies than any two books by any other twentieth-century author. His 1938 book Homage to Catalonia, an account of his experiences as a volunteer on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, together with numerous essays on politics, literature, language, and culture, have been widely acclaimed.
Orwell's influence on contemporary culture, popular and political, continues decades after his death. Several of his neologisms, along with the term "Orwellian" — now a byword for any oppressive or manipulative social phenomenon opposed to a free society — have entered the vernacular.
In addition to his literary career Orwell served as a police officer with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma from 1922-1927 and fought with the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1937. Orwell was severely wounded when he was shot through his throat. Later the organization that he had joined when he joined the Republican cause, The Workers Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), was painted by the pro-Soviet Communists as a Trotskyist organization (Trotsky was Joseph Stalin's enemy) and disbanded. Orwell and his wife were accused of "rabid Trotskyism" and tried in absentia in Barcelona, along with other leaders of the POUM, in 1938. However by then they had escaped from Spain and returned to England.
Between 1941 and 1943, Orwell worked on propaganda for the BBC. In 1943, he became literary editor of the Tribune, a weekly left-wing magazine. He was a prolific polemical journalist, article writer, literary critic, reviewer, poet, and writer of fiction, and, considered perhaps the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture.
Orwell is best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (published in 1949) and the satirical novella Animal Farm (1945) — they have together sold more copies than any two books by any other twentieth-century author. His 1938 book Homage to Catalonia, an account of his experiences as a volunteer on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, together with numerous essays on politics, literature, language, and culture, have been widely acclaimed.
Orwell's influence on contemporary culture, popular and political, continues decades after his death. Several of his neologisms, along with the term "Orwellian" — now a byword for any oppressive or manipulative social phenomenon opposed to a free society — have entered the vernacular.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,006 reviews
May 30, 2011
I read Animal Farm once a decade. It is a quick read that constantly reminds me that I need to keep the blinders off and not take everything for granted.
I have a strange desire for bacon for some reason.
I have a strange desire for bacon for some reason.
March 19, 2016
These are Orwell's most famous books. Both are dystopian tales of the dangers of a totalitarian government.
Similarities between the books:
The government knows best.
The intelligentsia seize power.
The naive proletariat are oppressed and kept ignorant.
The government bends or breaks its own rules for its benefit.
The government uses propaganda to keep the proletariat in check.
The government rewrites history to prove that it's correct and that life is better with the government than it was before the government's rise to power.
Both books have pessimistic endings.
Here are my reviews of the books:
Animal Farm
1984
The SparkNotes for both books are very good: Animal Farm and 1984.
Similarities between the books:
The government knows best.
The intelligentsia seize power.
The naive proletariat are oppressed and kept ignorant.
The government bends or breaks its own rules for its benefit.
The government uses propaganda to keep the proletariat in check.
The government rewrites history to prove that it's correct and that life is better with the government than it was before the government's rise to power.
Both books have pessimistic endings.
Here are my reviews of the books:
Animal Farm
1984
The SparkNotes for both books are very good: Animal Farm and 1984.
June 4, 2019
Two of my favorites books of all the time.
June 7, 2023
Doua romane clasice. Exista unele romane care vor ramane intodeauna de actualitate.
December 18, 2022
Animal Farm
Much like 1984, Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Animal Farm is disquietingly morose and prophetic. In fact, if you substitute Hillary for "Snowball" and Donald for "Napoleon," it reads like the Daily News.
Update 24 Jan 2021: when I wrote this years ago I was unaware how injurious it might be to compare the actions of a sitting American president to those of an Orwellian pig. Now, after four years of president Donald J Trump, I feel I owe an apology—to the Orwellian pig.
_________________________________
1984
So wonderfully written yet totally bleak and disconcerting. I don't think Orwell's Oceania is beyond the realm of possibility. In fact, many aspects are already disturbingly familiar.
Much like 1984, Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Animal Farm is disquietingly morose and prophetic. In fact, if you substitute Hillary for "Snowball" and Donald for "Napoleon," it reads like the Daily News.
Update 24 Jan 2021: when I wrote this years ago I was unaware how injurious it might be to compare the actions of a sitting American president to those of an Orwellian pig. Now, after four years of president Donald J Trump, I feel I owe an apology—to the Orwellian pig.
_________________________________
1984
So wonderfully written yet totally bleak and disconcerting. I don't think Orwell's Oceania is beyond the realm of possibility. In fact, many aspects are already disturbingly familiar.
February 17, 2022
2020-09-22 (This review is of 1984 only, at least for now.)
"the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."
This is the defining import of this book to me. The slogans were not only repeated many times in the book, but what they represented was carefully explained many times and ways. Orwell's masterpiece did a fantastic job of showing how corruption of the language (in "Newspeak" words were supposed to mean the exact opposite of what they originally and truly meant) was key to the horror of the total state and every citizen's being controlled by "the party" of "Big Brother."
I first read this book about 50 years ago, when I was in High School. It made a very big impression on me. I learned much about it and from it. Over the years I have been referred to it or myself referred to it literally hundreds of times. Fortunately, it is a classic and still well read. It has so much to offer. It is so prescient in so many ways.
But probably because there were major errors, confusions, an almost total pessimism and lack of any good understanding of what a free society is really based on, that too many people just did not quite get or lost sight of the good and important parts. Our society today is so overrun by the very things that Orwell so graphically warned us about, that I urge you in the strongest terms to read this book (or again, like me, if necessary).
Take the three slogans highlighted above. Orwell calls them part of the "Doublethink" he explains was the crucial strategy of the party/Big Brother to get people to eliminate any real critical thinking and be able to just parrot back anything the party wanted them to believe. The book goes into example after example. But let me suggest a few that are happening in our society today
(and for the last 150 years or so), to show you how important Orwell's concept is:
Progressive = those who believe in progress, right? Well, in fact, NO. It means the OPPOSITE to the people who claim that title. "Progressives" for the last 140+ years have believed in and acted on the idea that slavery = freedom, that more government control of our lives somehow equals more freedom. Their program is to slowly, piece by piece (or faster, if they come clean and admit to being Marxists, Bolsheviks, Khmer Rouge, Chavistas, Juche, etc. etc.) put government in control of our lives by taxing, regulating, regimenting - controlling us.
Liberal = those who believe in liberty, right? Well, in fact, for most of them, NO, except in a few select areas. People who have taken over this word in the US (not everywhere in the world, where it actually does still mean pro-liberty policies, to a bit greater extent), want less liberty and more government taxes, schools, controls, regulations, etc. Very similarly to how "progressive" was corrupted the same way - liberal really now means partial slave or at least anti-liberty, in most key areas. They just delude themselves when they think they are getting more liberty with their policies. They always conveniently forget that taxes are compulsory, regulations put you in jail if you don't follow them, that you have less of your freedom the more the government takes from you or tells you what to do.
Antifa = those who are Anti-Fascist, and actually fight fascists, right? Well, in fact NO. They are the ones who act most like the fascists of the 1930s and 40s - using violence to achieve their goals. Not caring about civilized behavior at all. Starting or expanding riots. Disrupting peaceful meetings, so audiences cannot hear speakers, but only the chants/shouting of the "protesters." Guess why I put that word in quotations? Bet you can. Does the term "mostly peaceful" ring a bell? Another lie and type of doublespeak of the mainstream media. Sure, most of the "protesters" may well be "peaceful," for a time. But when they allow and actually support (even if passively) the violent rioters, arsonists, looters, etc. they should be called accomplices, NOT protesters at that point.
So, I have tried to give you just a small taste of how super-relevant Orwell's classic is today. There are so many parts I could highlight to show this. But I trust you get it. Treat yourself - you will not regret it.
So I want to move on to just a little on 1984's deficits and where you can and should go AFTER reading or rereading 1984. First is a great biography of Orwell: "Orwell Your Orwell" by David Ramsay Steele. It is simply indispensable in explaining Orwell 's milieu and his thinking on this and all his other key writings, and life. Orwell's pessimism and pro-socialist confusions (in 1984 and elsewhere) as well as brilliant insights are explained in that book. Don't miss it.
But in addition to Steele's bio of Orwell, one really needs to read at least some key works of Ludwig Mises to understand not just where Orwell went wrong, but the positive case for a better world, a free, peaceful and abundant world and the system of human social cooperation that makes it possible - free markets, otherwise known as capitalism, if you have a clear understanding of that term. To start, I would pick his "Liberalism" (in the original/classical sense). And next I would go to his fairly long, but totally worth it, "Socialism" to eviscerate that scourge of the mind and of the real physical world.
Feel free to check out any of my Goodreads reviews of these books.
Addenda:
Perhaps listing some more gems of doublethink terms from 1984's Newspeak might be enticing:
Ministry of Truth - Where the main character Winston works changing the historical record to suit the current party/Big Brother needs. Gee, any connection here to what Youtube, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are doing with dissenting opinion from the mainstream government orthodoxy these days?
Memory Hole - where the past evidence is put and taken to be burned - and sooooo close to what is happening today.
Ministry of Love - where the torture of citizens is performed - especially in "Room 101." Think Lubyanka Prison.
Ministry of Peace - war making part of the government
And how about a few passages I loved that seem so appropriate today:
"He was a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms—one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the Thought Police, the stability of the Party depended."
"so vicious was the boy’s demeanor, that it was not altogether a game.... He spun round just in time to see Mrs. Parsons dragging her son back into the doorway while the boy pocketed a catapult [slingshot]. “Goldstein!” bellowed the boy as the door closed on him. But what most struck Winston was the look of helpless fright on the woman’s grayish face....Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages..." Any parallels with today's society?
"and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it. The songs, the processions, the banners, the hiking, the drilling with dummy rifles, the yelling of slogans, the worship of Big Brother—it was all a sort of glorious game to them. All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which the Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak—“child hero” was the phrase generally used—had overheard some compromising remark and denounced his parents to the Thought Police."
Think: Hitler youth, Red Guards, young pioneers, communist youth, present day eco groups, SJW groups ...
"Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like ‘freedom is slavery’ when the concept of freedom has been abolished?" Note: it is freedom that is abolished, not slavery!
"In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” Note: Anther key point (think PC speak for "orthodoxy") that is happening now too.
“There is a word in Newspeak,” said Syme. “I don’t know whether you know it: duckspeak, to quack like a duck. It is one of those interesting words that have two contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it is abuse; applied to someone you agree with, it is praise.” Unquestionably Syme will be vaporized, Winston thought again. He thought it with a kind of sadness, although well knowing that Syme despised him and slightly disliked him, and was fully capable of denouncing him as a thought-criminal if he saw any reason for doing so. There was something subtly wrong with Syme. There was something that he lacked: discretion, aloofness, a sort of saving stupidity."
I could go on and on. this book has so much to give. But I bet you get the point.
"the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."
This is the defining import of this book to me. The slogans were not only repeated many times in the book, but what they represented was carefully explained many times and ways. Orwell's masterpiece did a fantastic job of showing how corruption of the language (in "Newspeak" words were supposed to mean the exact opposite of what they originally and truly meant) was key to the horror of the total state and every citizen's being controlled by "the party" of "Big Brother."
I first read this book about 50 years ago, when I was in High School. It made a very big impression on me. I learned much about it and from it. Over the years I have been referred to it or myself referred to it literally hundreds of times. Fortunately, it is a classic and still well read. It has so much to offer. It is so prescient in so many ways.
But probably because there were major errors, confusions, an almost total pessimism and lack of any good understanding of what a free society is really based on, that too many people just did not quite get or lost sight of the good and important parts. Our society today is so overrun by the very things that Orwell so graphically warned us about, that I urge you in the strongest terms to read this book (or again, like me, if necessary).
Take the three slogans highlighted above. Orwell calls them part of the "Doublethink" he explains was the crucial strategy of the party/Big Brother to get people to eliminate any real critical thinking and be able to just parrot back anything the party wanted them to believe. The book goes into example after example. But let me suggest a few that are happening in our society today
(and for the last 150 years or so), to show you how important Orwell's concept is:
Progressive = those who believe in progress, right? Well, in fact, NO. It means the OPPOSITE to the people who claim that title. "Progressives" for the last 140+ years have believed in and acted on the idea that slavery = freedom, that more government control of our lives somehow equals more freedom. Their program is to slowly, piece by piece (or faster, if they come clean and admit to being Marxists, Bolsheviks, Khmer Rouge, Chavistas, Juche, etc. etc.) put government in control of our lives by taxing, regulating, regimenting - controlling us.
Liberal = those who believe in liberty, right? Well, in fact, for most of them, NO, except in a few select areas. People who have taken over this word in the US (not everywhere in the world, where it actually does still mean pro-liberty policies, to a bit greater extent), want less liberty and more government taxes, schools, controls, regulations, etc. Very similarly to how "progressive" was corrupted the same way - liberal really now means partial slave or at least anti-liberty, in most key areas. They just delude themselves when they think they are getting more liberty with their policies. They always conveniently forget that taxes are compulsory, regulations put you in jail if you don't follow them, that you have less of your freedom the more the government takes from you or tells you what to do.
Antifa = those who are Anti-Fascist, and actually fight fascists, right? Well, in fact NO. They are the ones who act most like the fascists of the 1930s and 40s - using violence to achieve their goals. Not caring about civilized behavior at all. Starting or expanding riots. Disrupting peaceful meetings, so audiences cannot hear speakers, but only the chants/shouting of the "protesters." Guess why I put that word in quotations? Bet you can. Does the term "mostly peaceful" ring a bell? Another lie and type of doublespeak of the mainstream media. Sure, most of the "protesters" may well be "peaceful," for a time. But when they allow and actually support (even if passively) the violent rioters, arsonists, looters, etc. they should be called accomplices, NOT protesters at that point.
So, I have tried to give you just a small taste of how super-relevant Orwell's classic is today. There are so many parts I could highlight to show this. But I trust you get it. Treat yourself - you will not regret it.
So I want to move on to just a little on 1984's deficits and where you can and should go AFTER reading or rereading 1984. First is a great biography of Orwell: "Orwell Your Orwell" by David Ramsay Steele. It is simply indispensable in explaining Orwell 's milieu and his thinking on this and all his other key writings, and life. Orwell's pessimism and pro-socialist confusions (in 1984 and elsewhere) as well as brilliant insights are explained in that book. Don't miss it.
But in addition to Steele's bio of Orwell, one really needs to read at least some key works of Ludwig Mises to understand not just where Orwell went wrong, but the positive case for a better world, a free, peaceful and abundant world and the system of human social cooperation that makes it possible - free markets, otherwise known as capitalism, if you have a clear understanding of that term. To start, I would pick his "Liberalism" (in the original/classical sense). And next I would go to his fairly long, but totally worth it, "Socialism" to eviscerate that scourge of the mind and of the real physical world.
Feel free to check out any of my Goodreads reviews of these books.
Addenda:
Perhaps listing some more gems of doublethink terms from 1984's Newspeak might be enticing:
Ministry of Truth - Where the main character Winston works changing the historical record to suit the current party/Big Brother needs. Gee, any connection here to what Youtube, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are doing with dissenting opinion from the mainstream government orthodoxy these days?
Memory Hole - where the past evidence is put and taken to be burned - and sooooo close to what is happening today.
Ministry of Love - where the torture of citizens is performed - especially in "Room 101." Think Lubyanka Prison.
Ministry of Peace - war making part of the government
And how about a few passages I loved that seem so appropriate today:
"He was a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms—one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the Thought Police, the stability of the Party depended."
"so vicious was the boy’s demeanor, that it was not altogether a game.... He spun round just in time to see Mrs. Parsons dragging her son back into the doorway while the boy pocketed a catapult [slingshot]. “Goldstein!” bellowed the boy as the door closed on him. But what most struck Winston was the look of helpless fright on the woman’s grayish face....Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages..." Any parallels with today's society?
"and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it. The songs, the processions, the banners, the hiking, the drilling with dummy rifles, the yelling of slogans, the worship of Big Brother—it was all a sort of glorious game to them. All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which the Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak—“child hero” was the phrase generally used—had overheard some compromising remark and denounced his parents to the Thought Police."
Think: Hitler youth, Red Guards, young pioneers, communist youth, present day eco groups, SJW groups ...
"Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like ‘freedom is slavery’ when the concept of freedom has been abolished?" Note: it is freedom that is abolished, not slavery!
"In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” Note: Anther key point (think PC speak for "orthodoxy") that is happening now too.
“There is a word in Newspeak,” said Syme. “I don’t know whether you know it: duckspeak, to quack like a duck. It is one of those interesting words that have two contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it is abuse; applied to someone you agree with, it is praise.” Unquestionably Syme will be vaporized, Winston thought again. He thought it with a kind of sadness, although well knowing that Syme despised him and slightly disliked him, and was fully capable of denouncing him as a thought-criminal if he saw any reason for doing so. There was something subtly wrong with Syme. There was something that he lacked: discretion, aloofness, a sort of saving stupidity."
I could go on and on. this book has so much to give. But I bet you get the point.
January 23, 2014
За "1984"
Отдавна не съм давала 5 звезди на чисто художествена литература, но книгата е прекрасна.
Започнах я с доза скептицизъм, тъй като очаквах да не ми хареса, точно защото е хвалена отвсякъде, а аз съм се научила да имам едно наум за такива книги.
Каква беше моята изненада, когато установих, че книгата е умна,с кратки изречения,носещи максимален ефект и гениален подбор на думи. Думите, те правят красотата на тази книга. Авторът г�� използва като инструменти, като една дума на едно място може да бъде чук, а на друго - фина отверка, която леко затяга вече достатъчно стегнатия железен обръч около главата ти.
Най-странното е, че накрая вече не ми беше толкова страшно, замислих се защо? Може би защото авторът не ни остави нищо, унищожи всякаква надежда. Ако беше запазил някаква малка човешка победа,нещо мининиатюрно, като малко чисто квадратче върху изцапаната покривка, крайният резултат на въздействие, поне за мен, щеше да бъде още по-чудовищен.
Ако искате да научите колко прави 2+2, какво е Бог и какво има в стая 101, непременно почетете книгата.
Отдавна не съм давала 5 звезди на чисто художествена литература, но книгата е прекрасна.
Започнах я с доза скептицизъм, тъй като очаквах да не ми хареса, точно защото е хвалена отвсякъде, а аз съм се научила да имам едно наум за такива книги.
Каква беше моята изненада, когато установих, че книгата е умна,с кратки изречения,носещи максимален ефект и гениален подбор на думи. Думите, те правят красотата на тази книга. Авторът г�� използва като инструменти, като една дума на едно място може да бъде чук, а на друго - фина отверка, която леко затяга вече достатъчно стегнатия железен обръч около главата ти.
Най-странното е, че накрая вече не ми беше толкова страшно, замислих се защо? Може би защото авторът не ни остави нищо, унищожи всякаква надежда. Ако беше запазил някаква малка човешка победа,нещо мининиатюрно, като малко чисто квадратче върху изцапаната покривка, крайният резултат на въздействие, поне за мен, щеше да бъде още по-чудовищен.
Ако искате да научите колко прави 2+2, какво е Бог и какво има в стая 101, непременно почетете книгата.
February 2, 2020
Джордж Оруел, или Дж. Оракул? Това е въпросът.
1984:
Отвъд идеологическите изобличения, това е една книга за съставните части на човека и по-точно за извора на неговите мисли и желания. Доколко, как и защо те могат да се моделират, освободят, насочат, или пленят в определена поза. Това ми се струва най-точното опредление - пленяване на човешкото в една определена, форматирана поза.
Какво ли повече мога да добавя за книга, която някъде към 98,4% от вас са чели. Случайно, или не - това звучи и като изборен резултат на Партия. Чак сега си давам сметка, че в Океания няма избори, та явно не му е нужно на Големия Брат да отчита пълна изборна победа на всеки 4 г. Партията, за която говорим е преминала на друго ниво - тя определя езика, мислите, че дори и нагона. Битието дори не е под въпрос и трудно бихте посегнали към джин по същия начин някога повече. А бръснарското ножче е най-ценният предмет, ако трябва да продължа с упражнения по двумисъл. А, ако трябва да го кажем с думи прости - на новговор (ангсоц):
ВОЙНАТА Е МИР
СВОБОДАТА Е РОБСТВО
НЕВЕЖЕСТВОТО Е СИЛА
От тези трите, нито едно не може без другото. Те поддържат баланса в едно абсурдно общество, на което обаче някои елементи изглеждат плашещо познати. Да речем, че в по-голямата част от света сме отрекли тоталитаризма (вече ... все пак тя е писана във вихъра му) и няма да се спирам на явленията свързани с него. Да разгледаме само темата за НЕВЕЖЕСТВОТО - за мен тя е по-актуална днес, отколкото е била тогава. Това е силата, с която накрая пречупиха нашия герой. Това е ултимативната сила на Партията за контрол над масите и партпериферията. А откривате ли връзки с реалния свят? Нима не опростяваме речниците си. Нима не сме намалили буквите и нима целият свят не комуникира на най-опростения английски, така че всички да се разбират с малко думи. Ще дам един пример за въведена доброволно двумисъл - нима не използваме емоджита вместо поредица от думи. На края на 1984 има едно приложение, в което се обясняват принципите на измислянето на нов език, който да служи на партийните цели:
"Всяко съкращение беше победа, тъй като колкото по-малко беше изборът на думи, толкова по-малко беше изкушението да се опиташ да мислиш. Крайната цел бе членоразделната реч да идва от ларинкса, без изобщо да засяга мозъчните центрове."
Това в същия този новговор се нарича "паткореч" и в зависимост от контекста може да носи положителен, или отрицателен смисъл.
За "Фермата на животните" - тук:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Няма нищо по-логично от събирането на двете най-известни и тематично обвързани произведения на "Оракула" в една книга. Може би, аз бих разменил последователността и започнал с Фермата. Чел съм и двете в началото на двайсетте си и съм си обещал, че някои най-важни ще препрочитам поне веднъж на декада, та бях щастлив да я зърна на щанда на Фама при посещение до колега на тазгодишния коледен панаир на книгата. Много добре ми дойде, а и я нямах в библиотеката ми в София.
Една класика със стойността на Библия за жанра, за социалното инженерство и за най-основните човешки елементи на мисълта и желанията.
Освен това е интересна до степен постоянно да се чудиш какво ще стане с нашия герой. Да, може системата да е изградена непробиваема и да няма съмнения, че нещо може да я разклати, но тази - вътрешната битка всъщност е по-интересна от междуконтинентална, или гражданска война. Битката на ценностите.
За финал, може да напишете отдолу - колко прави 2+2=?
1984:
Отвъд идеологическите изобличения, това е една книга за съставните части на човека и по-точно за извора на неговите мисли и желания. Доколко, как и защо те могат да се моделират, освободят, насочат, или пленят в определена поза. Това ми се струва най-точното опредление - пленяване на човешкото в една определена, форматирана поза.
Какво ли повече мога да добавя за книга, която някъде към 98,4% от вас са чели. Случайно, или не - това звучи и като изборен резултат на Партия. Чак сега си давам сметка, че в Океания няма избори, та явно не му е нужно на Големия Брат да отчита пълна изборна победа на всеки 4 г. Партията, за която говорим е преминала на друго ниво - тя определя езика, мислите, че дори и нагона. Битието дори не е под въпрос и трудно бихте посегнали към джин по същия начин някога повече. А бръснарското ножче е най-ценният предмет, ако трябва да продължа с упражнения по двумисъл. А, ако трябва да го кажем с думи прости - на новговор (ангсоц):
ВОЙНАТА Е МИР
СВОБОДАТА Е РОБСТВО
НЕВЕЖЕСТВОТО Е СИЛА
От тези трите, нито едно не може без другото. Те поддържат баланса в едно абсурдно общество, на което обаче някои елементи изглеждат плашещо познати. Да речем, че в по-голямата част от света сме отрекли тоталитаризма (вече ... все пак тя е писана във вихъра му) и няма да се спирам на явленията свързани с него. Да разгледаме само темата за НЕВЕЖЕСТВОТО - за мен тя е по-актуална днес, отколкото е била тогава. Това е силата, с която накрая пречупиха нашия герой. Това е ултимативната сила на Партията за контрол над масите и партпериферията. А откривате ли връзки с реалния свят? Нима не опростяваме речниците си. Нима не сме намалили буквите и нима целият свят не комуникира на най-опростения английски, така че всички да се разбират с малко думи. Ще дам един пример за въведена доброволно двумисъл - нима не използваме емоджита вместо поредица от думи. На края на 1984 има едно приложение, в което се обясняват принципите на измислянето на нов език, който да служи на партийните цели:
"Всяко съкращение беше победа, тъй като колкото по-малко беше изборът на думи, толкова по-малко беше изкушението да се опиташ да мислиш. Крайната цел бе членоразделната реч да идва от ларинкса, без изобщо да засяга мозъчните центрове."
Това в същия този новговор се нарича "паткореч" и в зависимост от контекста може да носи положителен, или отрицателен смисъл.
За "Фермата на животните" - тук:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Няма нищо по-логично от събирането на двете най-известни и тематично обвързани произведения на "Оракула" в една книга. Може би, аз бих разменил последователността и започнал с Фермата. Чел съм и двете в началото на двайсетте си и съм си обещал, че някои най-важни ще препрочитам поне веднъж на декада, та бях щастлив да я зърна на щанда на Фама при посещение до колега на тазгодишния коледен панаир на книгата. Много добре ми дойде, а и я нямах в библиотеката ми в София.
Една класика със стойността на Библия за жанра, за социалното инженерство и за най-основните човешки елементи на мисълта и желанията.
Освен това е интересна до степен постоянно да се чудиш какво ще стане с нашия герой. Да, може системата да е изградена непробиваема и да няма съмнения, че нещо може да я разклати, но тази - вътрешната битка всъщност е по-интересна от междуконтинентална, или гражданска война. Битката на ценностите.
За финал, може да напишете отдолу - колко прави 2+2=?
February 6, 2022
University of Northampton have issued a trigger warning for Orwell's novel on the grounds that it contains 'explicit material' which some students may find 'offensive and upsetting'.
Read
October 21, 2011Celebrity Death Match tournament versus Macbeth.
In a galaxy that's this one and today only most people don't realize it because it scrolls on the screen in teeny tiny neon green letters with a sterile surgical instrumental backdrop. Or CNN. Once upon a time that's today. There was a MAN and a Big Brother and they were one and the same. What about the sisters?
"You could be big brother, you know. People always ask who the MAN is supposed to be. You're a man, aren't you? Although it has been some time since you were able to get it up... I do know you're keeping me down with your accepted level of mediocrity."
Macbeth was tired after a long day of omitting the thous and thys from the Dougie Howser's Dictionary. His wife reported his mouth breathing coworker and he was a shoo-in for the promotion of updating each and every one of Shakespeare's plays into a high school comedy for the ABC Big Brother telescreens. Why couldn't she let him be well enough alone? Why did they have to move up one more spot on the assembly line?
"I've enrolled you into the adopt a brother program. To be a Big Brother you must be a brother."
"But that's for perverts!"
It was useless to argue. The two minutes of hate was over and it wouldn't do to have a tiff with his wife that couldn't be passed off as mandatory aggression. Macbeth did not want to argue with his wife. To end it meant doing something.
The girl half of the Macbeth team had assigned herself another job. "It's not like I'm not working for us too, you know. I have to hit on that duffer Winston. Do you think that I like suggesting power behind the curtain to feeble men who cannot live with themselves as impotence personified?"
"Duffer is out of the accepted lingo, as is impotence. How about loser?" Offered the Macbeth with a penis. Lady Macbeth wanted Macbeth to think for himself, so long as he was thinking what she wanted him to think. Was that too much to ask? The use of if-you-don't-already-know-then-I-can't-tell-you worked wonders on the thoughtpolice. They were helpless against it.
"If no one knows who Big Brother really is then why can't it be you?"
"You is out of the dictionary. How about they?"
"That's my point! Who is they? Why can't they be me?"
Macbeth did not understand what his wife was saying. He had not the words to understand it. He had worked all day to take those words away from himself. Work and the telescreen. Who had room for anything else?
"Are you a man?"
Macbeth did not know.
"What do I want to be married to this man for? I don't know what I want and the thoughtpolice cannot tell me what that is. I know that."
What was that feeling? The sense of things that were already bad getting a lot worse. It happened more frequently than anything touching on how to dust off the twenty dollar words no one could afford anymore (after all, they were not on the rations list) to describe the other range of experience and emotions. Ambition? Voided out. Don't look to see the man behind the curtain.
"Um, honey, you left the telescreen on, didn't you?"
"No, they did."
Win: 1984
In a galaxy that's this one and today only most people don't realize it because it scrolls on the screen in teeny tiny neon green letters with a sterile surgical instrumental backdrop. Or CNN. Once upon a time that's today. There was a MAN and a Big Brother and they were one and the same. What about the sisters?
"You could be big brother, you know. People always ask who the MAN is supposed to be. You're a man, aren't you? Although it has been some time since you were able to get it up... I do know you're keeping me down with your accepted level of mediocrity."
Macbeth was tired after a long day of omitting the thous and thys from the Dougie Howser's Dictionary. His wife reported his mouth breathing coworker and he was a shoo-in for the promotion of updating each and every one of Shakespeare's plays into a high school comedy for the ABC Big Brother telescreens. Why couldn't she let him be well enough alone? Why did they have to move up one more spot on the assembly line?
"I've enrolled you into the adopt a brother program. To be a Big Brother you must be a brother."
"But that's for perverts!"
It was useless to argue. The two minutes of hate was over and it wouldn't do to have a tiff with his wife that couldn't be passed off as mandatory aggression. Macbeth did not want to argue with his wife. To end it meant doing something.
The girl half of the Macbeth team had assigned herself another job. "It's not like I'm not working for us too, you know. I have to hit on that duffer Winston. Do you think that I like suggesting power behind the curtain to feeble men who cannot live with themselves as impotence personified?"
"Duffer is out of the accepted lingo, as is impotence. How about loser?" Offered the Macbeth with a penis. Lady Macbeth wanted Macbeth to think for himself, so long as he was thinking what she wanted him to think. Was that too much to ask? The use of if-you-don't-already-know-then-I-can't-tell-you worked wonders on the thoughtpolice. They were helpless against it.
"If no one knows who Big Brother really is then why can't it be you?"
"You is out of the dictionary. How about they?"
"That's my point! Who is they? Why can't they be me?"
Macbeth did not understand what his wife was saying. He had not the words to understand it. He had worked all day to take those words away from himself. Work and the telescreen. Who had room for anything else?
"Are you a man?"
Macbeth did not know.
"What do I want to be married to this man for? I don't know what I want and the thoughtpolice cannot tell me what that is. I know that."
What was that feeling? The sense of things that were already bad getting a lot worse. It happened more frequently than anything touching on how to dust off the twenty dollar words no one could afford anymore (after all, they were not on the rations list) to describe the other range of experience and emotions. Ambition? Voided out. Don't look to see the man behind the curtain.
"Um, honey, you left the telescreen on, didn't you?"
"No, they did."
Win: 1984
August 20, 2020
4.5 rounded to 5 stars.
For individual reviews, follow the links below:
Animal Farm
1984
For individual reviews, follow the links below:
Animal Farm
1984
May 14, 2013
I love 1984, I love Animal Farm, and I love George Orwell. There is so much wisdom and depth to these two stories and there is so much that has been written or said about them, it would be a struggle to review them without subconsciously regurgitating all the good things I've heard. I just feel like both of these stories, and especially 1984 should be read by everyone. I believe it helps you appreciate what you got and to question everything you hear. I believe they are some of the most thought provoking stories ever written and they're also fun to read, which sometimes isn't the case for a lot of the literary books people tell you that you should read.
I recall once when my friend Winston (I actually have a friend named Winston, I'm not referring to the protagonist of 1984,) had to read 1984 and was kind of down about it because he heard it was just political satire or something and he presumed it would be dull. I told him that I really enjoyed it and I assumed he would too. And when he was finished with it, he came up to me and told me how when he finished-- he had tears streaming down his eyes from how much it had touched him and that he loved it.
And, even after having finished it for a 2nd time, I had tears welling up and my heart strings were being tugged and my love for these stories has only grown. These are the types of stories that turn people into readers. The endings for both of them are probably my two favorite endings of all time and I feel that would be a crime not to mention.
10/10
I recall once when my friend Winston (I actually have a friend named Winston, I'm not referring to the protagonist of 1984,) had to read 1984 and was kind of down about it because he heard it was just political satire or something and he presumed it would be dull. I told him that I really enjoyed it and I assumed he would too. And when he was finished with it, he came up to me and told me how when he finished-- he had tears streaming down his eyes from how much it had touched him and that he loved it.
And, even after having finished it for a 2nd time, I had tears welling up and my heart strings were being tugged and my love for these stories has only grown. These are the types of stories that turn people into readers. The endings for both of them are probably my two favorite endings of all time and I feel that would be a crime not to mention.
10/10
September 12, 2015
باكسر از حرف ت جلوتر نرفت. با سم بزرگش روي خاك الف ب پ ت را رسم ميكرد و بعد با گوش خوابيده به حروف خيره ميشد،گاهي كاكلش را تكان ميداد و با تمام نيرو سعي ميكرد حروف بعدي را به خاطر آورد ولي توفيق نمييافت.چند بار ج چ ح خ را هم ياد گرفت ولي هربار كه آنها را بهياد داشت متوجه ميش�� كه الف و ب و پ و ت را فراموش كرده است.بالاخره مصمم شد كه به همان چهار حرف اول قناعت كند..... ساير حيوانات مزرعه از حرف الف جلوتر نرفتند و همچنين كاشف به عمل آمد كه حيوانات كودن،مانند گوسفندان،مرغان و اردكها قادر به از بر كردن هفت فرمان نيستند....
قلعه ی حیوانات رو کاش تمام آدمهایی که توی هر جامعه ای زندگی میکنند، بخونند..... این کتاب، از ابتدا تا انتهایش، عجیب از جهل و نادانی مینالد...... کتاب سمبلیک جالبی بود...
قلعه ی حیوانات رو کاش تمام آدمهایی که توی هر جامعه ای زندگی میکنند، بخونند..... این کتاب، از ابتدا تا انتهایش، عجیب از جهل و نادانی مینالد...... کتاب سمبلیک جالبی بود...
May 21, 2019
Two classic books in one! I read both of these stories years ago and loved them.
December 26, 2020
Re-read.
brilliant. a must-read.
brilliant. a must-read.
November 30, 2015
“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
Joseph Stalin
In Animal Farm George Orwell reenacted the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, Major, Napoleon, Snowball, Jones, and Frederick incarnating Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Tsar Nicolas II and Hitler. But through the fable, Orwell critiques not only communism but also any corruption of power, leaders highlighting real or imagined threats to instill fear in followers and solidify power.
Leon Trotsky
As often repeated throughout history, people out of fear often would submit to the state’s unchecked power in exchange for security real or imagined. In the end, Napoleon exploited the animals just as Farmer Jones previously had and even emulated humans when he gave a dinner to neighboring farmers, who represented the leaders of other nations and would gladly play poker with the tyrant as long as they can benefit from the friendship.
Animal Farm is a lighthearted fable for a serious subject.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Under Big Brother’s omniscient eyes, Winston Smith tried to ignite his only freedom, the freedom to believe in “obvious” truths, but by the novel’s end, at the café Winston was unsure what two plus two would make, a sign that O’Brien had successfully reintegrated a “lost soul” and Winston had become like his friends and neighbors, unable to question and thus unable to revolt. What sends shivers down our spines is not the various tortures O’Brien performed, but after these tortures, Winston’s total capitulation¾mind, body, and soul¾to Big Brother. When the mind kowtows to external authority and ceases to reflect and question, then the individual had successfully metamorphosed into a machine.
Oceania Society
Winston, by editing previous documents to conform to Oceana’s present position, such as whether Eurasia is friend or foe, had helped the regime’s guardians, who like O’Brien believed “who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past,” mold the citizens’ minds. But Oceana, like other totalitarian regimes, also turned to the indispensable tool, fear, to chisel its citizens’ minds and hearts to its agenda’s shape and form. To stimulate fear and rouse its citizens to a common cause, it would when necessary create fathom enemies, either Eurasia or Eastasia, even though these totalitarian regimes also had similar ideologies, or rather, like Oceana, no ideologies.
Under 1984’s dystopian sky, Winston must bow, not only because of Big Brother’s overwhelming power and presence, but also because of Winston’s inability to form any ideologies. Even though he wanted to think freely, he lacked the training and thus the analytical mind to counter O’Brien’s offenses. In the end, his mind followed the path of least resistance.
Orwell’s 1984 is a dark apocalypse of sub-human society where homo-sapiens had replaced machines to operate an efficient hierarchy, an apocalypse which any people would usher wherever and whenever they ceased to question “intuitively obvious truths.”
George Orwell
Joseph Stalin
In Animal Farm George Orwell reenacted the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, Major, Napoleon, Snowball, Jones, and Frederick incarnating Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Tsar Nicolas II and Hitler. But through the fable, Orwell critiques not only communism but also any corruption of power, leaders highlighting real or imagined threats to instill fear in followers and solidify power.
Leon Trotsky
As often repeated throughout history, people out of fear often would submit to the state’s unchecked power in exchange for security real or imagined. In the end, Napoleon exploited the animals just as Farmer Jones previously had and even emulated humans when he gave a dinner to neighboring farmers, who represented the leaders of other nations and would gladly play poker with the tyrant as long as they can benefit from the friendship.
Animal Farm is a lighthearted fable for a serious subject.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Under Big Brother’s omniscient eyes, Winston Smith tried to ignite his only freedom, the freedom to believe in “obvious” truths, but by the novel’s end, at the café Winston was unsure what two plus two would make, a sign that O’Brien had successfully reintegrated a “lost soul” and Winston had become like his friends and neighbors, unable to question and thus unable to revolt. What sends shivers down our spines is not the various tortures O’Brien performed, but after these tortures, Winston’s total capitulation¾mind, body, and soul¾to Big Brother. When the mind kowtows to external authority and ceases to reflect and question, then the individual had successfully metamorphosed into a machine.
Oceania Society
Winston, by editing previous documents to conform to Oceana’s present position, such as whether Eurasia is friend or foe, had helped the regime’s guardians, who like O’Brien believed “who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past,” mold the citizens’ minds. But Oceana, like other totalitarian regimes, also turned to the indispensable tool, fear, to chisel its citizens’ minds and hearts to its agenda’s shape and form. To stimulate fear and rouse its citizens to a common cause, it would when necessary create fathom enemies, either Eurasia or Eastasia, even though these totalitarian regimes also had similar ideologies, or rather, like Oceana, no ideologies.
Under 1984’s dystopian sky, Winston must bow, not only because of Big Brother’s overwhelming power and presence, but also because of Winston’s inability to form any ideologies. Even though he wanted to think freely, he lacked the training and thus the analytical mind to counter O’Brien’s offenses. In the end, his mind followed the path of least resistance.
Orwell’s 1984 is a dark apocalypse of sub-human society where homo-sapiens had replaced machines to operate an efficient hierarchy, an apocalypse which any people would usher wherever and whenever they ceased to question “intuitively obvious truths.”
George Orwell
November 19, 2017
It is difficult to rate a novel which is incomplete. This version if Animal Farm and 1984 does not contain the full versions of either book. Animal Farm has only the first 10 chapters and ends abruptly on page 86. 1984 has only the first 3 sections and repeats itself.
This is more a sampling of Orwells Classics rather than a complete read.
If you want to read the full novel. Don't purchase this one
This is more a sampling of Orwells Classics rather than a complete read.
If you want to read the full novel. Don't purchase this one
April 6, 2017
Two of my favorite books! Meant to re-read 1984 with the student book club, but it got away from me. 1984 was one of my favorite required high school reads my senior year, and I LOVE to teach Animal Farm!
April 30, 2022
Animal Farm and 1984 are two exceptional novels, both of which I originally read as a young teenager, and have returned to several times. Need I say more?
June 26, 2017
‘There are no replacements for George Orwell, just as there are no replacements for a Bernard Shaw or a Mark Twain…he pricked, provoked and badgered lazy minds, delighted those who enjoyed watching an original intelligence at work.’
Time
Time
March 29, 2018
4,5 звезди за "1984" и 2,5 за "Фермата на животните"
Определено ще прочета "1984" поне още няколко пъти!
Определено ще прочета "1984" поне още няколко пъти!
April 20, 2023
"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
Animal Farm is a timeless classic that has captured the hearts and minds of readers around the world. The novel is a unique work of fiction that uses animals as characters to satirize the events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the early years of the Soviet Union. The novel is not only entertaining but also thought-provoking, making it a must-read for anyone interested in politics, history, and society.
What sets Animal Farm apart from other novels is the use of animals as characters. By using animals to represent human beings, Orwell is able to comment on the nature of power, corruption, and revolution in a way that is both humorous and poignant. Additionally, the novel is accessible to readers of all ages and backgrounds, making it a true classic.
Orwell was inspired to write Animal Farm based on his experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil War and his disillusionment with the Soviet Union. Animal Farm is for those in power who will always seek to maintain that power, even at the expense of others.
The novel shows how the pigs, who were once the oppressed animals, quickly become the oppressors once they gain power. This is a timeless theme that is relevant to any society, past or present.
Even though Animal Farm was written over 78 years ago, it is still relevant today. The novel is a cautionary tale about the dangers of authoritarianism and the need for accountability in leadership. This message is particularly relevant in today's world, where we have seen the rise of authoritarian leaders and the erosion of democratic values in many countries.
Rana Dil Nawaz.
https://ocdil.blog
Animal Farm is a timeless classic that has captured the hearts and minds of readers around the world. The novel is a unique work of fiction that uses animals as characters to satirize the events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the early years of the Soviet Union. The novel is not only entertaining but also thought-provoking, making it a must-read for anyone interested in politics, history, and society.
What sets Animal Farm apart from other novels is the use of animals as characters. By using animals to represent human beings, Orwell is able to comment on the nature of power, corruption, and revolution in a way that is both humorous and poignant. Additionally, the novel is accessible to readers of all ages and backgrounds, making it a true classic.
Orwell was inspired to write Animal Farm based on his experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil War and his disillusionment with the Soviet Union. Animal Farm is for those in power who will always seek to maintain that power, even at the expense of others.
The novel shows how the pigs, who were once the oppressed animals, quickly become the oppressors once they gain power. This is a timeless theme that is relevant to any society, past or present.
Even though Animal Farm was written over 78 years ago, it is still relevant today. The novel is a cautionary tale about the dangers of authoritarianism and the need for accountability in leadership. This message is particularly relevant in today's world, where we have seen the rise of authoritarian leaders and the erosion of democratic values in many countries.
Rana Dil Nawaz.
https://ocdil.blog
August 10, 2020
Re-read this gem last night. It never gets old. Truly another beautifully written classic
April 16, 2022
You Must Read Animal Farm. That's the brief version of my review.
Eric Arthur Blair, or George Orwell as the world knows him, is a genius at describing fear, terror, doubt, uncertainty, mischief, evil, and hopelessness. The writing is beyond exquisite, even if the topic is morose. Such a loss to the world that Mr. Orwell died when he was just 46 years old. The unwritten works that he never wrote, the works that would have enriched our world and weren't meant to be. In Animal Farm, much like 1984, Orwell goes where you just don't want him to go - painting a dark grim bleak picture that grows worse by the page, of precisely what happens when the evil minds take over the masses, and scheme lie after lie until the truth is so distorted one can't even trust one's own memory. A fantastic allegory to the horrific Russian revolution and the communist party, one that makes you want to open up real history book to remind yourself that yes, this actually happened not to imagery sheep and hens and horses and farm animals in a little work of fiction, this happened to millions of people and this is still happening.
Well, I am so SO so glad I read this book even though it was uncomfortable, disturbing and scary - not half as scary as 1984 but scary enough to never forget. But I'm also glad it's over. It was heavy reading and an interesting feeling between loving the writer, loving the writing but resenting the story because it brings to light the ugliest of all ugliness in the world and puts it on the spotlight.
My favorite lines - favorite is a funny sort of word to use for lines that make your blood run cold but here goes:
"All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.",
"No animal shall drink ... to excess.",
"Four legs good, two legs better."
“Comrades!' he cried. 'You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege?"
"Surely comrades, you don't want Jones back now do you?"
"The animals wished there were less figures and more food in their bellies."
And on and on and on. This book is a gem, Orwell was a gift, and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to read Animal Farm.
Eric Arthur Blair, or George Orwell as the world knows him, is a genius at describing fear, terror, doubt, uncertainty, mischief, evil, and hopelessness. The writing is beyond exquisite, even if the topic is morose. Such a loss to the world that Mr. Orwell died when he was just 46 years old. The unwritten works that he never wrote, the works that would have enriched our world and weren't meant to be. In Animal Farm, much like 1984, Orwell goes where you just don't want him to go - painting a dark grim bleak picture that grows worse by the page, of precisely what happens when the evil minds take over the masses, and scheme lie after lie until the truth is so distorted one can't even trust one's own memory. A fantastic allegory to the horrific Russian revolution and the communist party, one that makes you want to open up real history book to remind yourself that yes, this actually happened not to imagery sheep and hens and horses and farm animals in a little work of fiction, this happened to millions of people and this is still happening.
Well, I am so SO so glad I read this book even though it was uncomfortable, disturbing and scary - not half as scary as 1984 but scary enough to never forget. But I'm also glad it's over. It was heavy reading and an interesting feeling between loving the writer, loving the writing but resenting the story because it brings to light the ugliest of all ugliness in the world and puts it on the spotlight.
My favorite lines - favorite is a funny sort of word to use for lines that make your blood run cold but here goes:
"All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.",
"No animal shall drink ... to excess.",
"Four legs good, two legs better."
“Comrades!' he cried. 'You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege?"
"Surely comrades, you don't want Jones back now do you?"
"The animals wished there were less figures and more food in their bellies."
And on and on and on. This book is a gem, Orwell was a gift, and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to read Animal Farm.
June 17, 2019
If you read this book as a straight fiction then it’s a novel for children and I am sure they will enjoy it and of course they will start to hate the pigs (maybe that’s why we don’t see many cartoons or stories with pigs for children except Peppa pig which my grandkids love so much).
However if it’s a political story that represents a party that overthrows a government and takes over the country giving promises to the people and then in years to come changes those promises, then the writer had succeeded in proving the point. The book can be applied to any country as in my opinion any new comer wants to make himself lovable by the people, slowly making changes that benefit himself and maybe his party and forgets about the livelihood of the public. We can also apply the novel to revolutions, new comers to politics, whether religious or otherwise, and personal takeover of governments. When economy shows improvement then a human being will show his real self, he or she will think of maximum gains to oneself and forget about the others, ensuring that they will either be killed or imprisoned.
The story narrates our life since time memorial and I have to say that I had felt great pain after reading it.
I left the preface to the story to the end. It seems that the writer meant The Soviet Union!! What was interesting to me that I read the book on the way to Russia, and when I reached there I was discussing it with my Russian friend who said that the book was written about UK government. So there is a great misconception in the book that I am not going to indulge in.
Good book. I gave 3 stars because of my sad feeling and not because it’s a bad book.
However if it’s a political story that represents a party that overthrows a government and takes over the country giving promises to the people and then in years to come changes those promises, then the writer had succeeded in proving the point. The book can be applied to any country as in my opinion any new comer wants to make himself lovable by the people, slowly making changes that benefit himself and maybe his party and forgets about the livelihood of the public. We can also apply the novel to revolutions, new comers to politics, whether religious or otherwise, and personal takeover of governments. When economy shows improvement then a human being will show his real self, he or she will think of maximum gains to oneself and forget about the others, ensuring that they will either be killed or imprisoned.
The story narrates our life since time memorial and I have to say that I had felt great pain after reading it.
I left the preface to the story to the end. It seems that the writer meant The Soviet Union!! What was interesting to me that I read the book on the way to Russia, and when I reached there I was discussing it with my Russian friend who said that the book was written about UK government. So there is a great misconception in the book that I am not going to indulge in.
Good book. I gave 3 stars because of my sad feeling and not because it’s a bad book.
August 10, 2016
Aninal Farm was entertaining until I kept on finding the similarities with Venezuela. It was like the history of the last 15-20 years of the country told in the form of a fable and written decades earlier.
1984: this was worse than watching a horror movie (which I hate) because while in a movie I'm always aware it's fiction, the book kept on confusing me making me feel I was actually going through a factual piece. Only specific elements got me out of it. The biggest impressions happened while reading "The Book" in part 2 and feeling like I was reading history of the world. You realize we live in a scary and predictable world when it can get mixed up with a fiction book from more than half a century ago.
P.S. What a wonderful analysis of the language he makes in the Appendix describing Newspeak. The structure, the sounds, the meanings... it only makes me want to read more of everything and question, think, break rules, widen my vocabulary. Anything that takes me in the opposite direction of becoming an Ingsoc kind of...thinker?
1984: this was worse than watching a horror movie (which I hate) because while in a movie I'm always aware it's fiction, the book kept on confusing me making me feel I was actually going through a factual piece. Only specific elements got me out of it. The biggest impressions happened while reading "The Book" in part 2 and feeling like I was reading history of the world. You realize we live in a scary and predictable world when it can get mixed up with a fiction book from more than half a century ago.
P.S. What a wonderful analysis of the language he makes in the Appendix describing Newspeak. The structure, the sounds, the meanings... it only makes me want to read more of everything and question, think, break rules, widen my vocabulary. Anything that takes me in the opposite direction of becoming an Ingsoc kind of...thinker?
December 8, 2019
The Animal Castle novel has a simple, humorous language, and is very entertaining and engaging, yet is based on a symbolic and symbolic style. She takes it upon herself and expresses her personal emotion in this novel with complete honesty and courage. In the novel, the farm animal revolution symbolizes the workers' revolution and its fate against the capitalist system.
"All animals are equal, but some are more equal" ..."
"All animals are equal, but some are more equal" ..."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2020
Very clever book.
In this book, the hidden veil of Democracy vs Socialism is entirely explained through this wonderful analogy.
Someone recently stated that if one really lived by the principles of most of the New Testament, one's world view would be Socialism/Communism as explained by Marx. However, no one has ever truly tried to live in a world that is without a caste system.
In this book, the hidden veil of Democracy vs Socialism is entirely explained through this wonderful analogy.
Someone recently stated that if one really lived by the principles of most of the New Testament, one's world view would be Socialism/Communism as explained by Marx. However, no one has ever truly tried to live in a world that is without a caste system.
September 11, 2018
داستان فوق العاده، شخصیت پردازی عالی یک داستان کوتاه اما زنده
هزاربار هم خونده بشه کمه
هزاربار هم خونده بشه کمه
September 2, 2018
Orwellian has been introduced into the English language for good reason.
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