Week #26 – Animal Farm by George Orwell

Welcome to 2023!  On Mondays this year, let’s discuss and have fun with books. No I’m not writing book reviews. But this website is for writers, and writers like books right? So let’s have FUN with books!

Week #26 – Animal Farm by George Orwell, 1945

A political satire and allegory of communism, a group of farm animals rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals are equal, free, and happy. The rebellion is betrayed, and under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon the farm ends up worse than it was before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm

The initial 7 commandments:
1.    Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2.    Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3.    No animal shall wear clothes.
4.    No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5.    No animal shall drink alcohol.
6.    No animal shall kill any other animal.
7.    All animals are equal. 

At the end, the remaining commandment:

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Initially, the book was banned in the Soviet Union [until its collapse], Cuba, and China.

Animal Farm was made into a movie in 1954, with all the animals voiced by a single actor

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047834/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm_(1954_film)

It was also made into a TV movie in 1999, with the animals voiced by some very prominent actors

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204824/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm_(1999_film)

George Orwell [Eric Arthur Blair], a socialist, was best known for:
Animal Farm published in 1945 [communism]
1984 published in 1949 [capitalism]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell

The adjective "Orwellian" describes control by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, manipulation, and denial of truth. Several words and phrases from 1984 have entered the English language. "Thought Police" are those who suppress all dissenting opinion. "Big Brother" is a supreme dictator who watches everyone.

In "Politics and the English Language" (1946), Orwell wrote about the importance of precise and clear language. In that essay, Orwell provides six rules for writers:
1.    Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2.    Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3.    If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4.    Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5.    Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6.    Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell

George Orwell's birth place

 Have you read anything by George Orwell? Tell us in the comments!