ANIMAL FARM: AN EYE OPENER

The political speech today has refined in such a way that information is twisted to alter the perception of reality and adjusted to the advantages of who is in charge. George Orwell’s Animal Farm gives us an insight into this conspiracy theory and compels us to think more about the world we’re living in.

An anti-utopian satire published in 1945, this book is a political allegory based on the occurrences of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution and the betrayal of the cause by Joseph Stalin. It also aims to compare characters, events and elements for the same. The story shows the accurate example of how the toxic idea of a cheap socialism undertook and led to the origin of a Dictatorial Communism. It has to be remembered that George Orwell was a democratic Socialist and fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War.

He was wounded and was asked to flee for his life. His experience of the war was to have the most significant impact on his political thoughts and his later works. He couldn’t get a publisher to print this book for 5 years largely because of the fear that the book might upset the alliance between Britain, U.S., and The Soviet Union. The book involves a group of barnyard animals and narrates the story of a revolt on a farm against their exploitative human masters and setting up a society based on their own Seven Commandments of Animalism. Eventually, the human oppressors are replaced by two legged oppressors, the animals’ intelligent and power-driven commanders, the Pigs form a dictatorship even more oppressive than that of their human masters, they subvert the revolution with a slogan of “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

The fascinating thing about this brilliant piece of art is that it conveys the message through a simplistic form of forceful writing, to the point, thought provoking and gives the reader only the impression which the author wanted. Orwell’s message of how knowledge and thoughtlessness is equally destructive for a society is apparent, teaching us to question and look at things in a much more critical manner. The fact that the whole process of greed and superiority taking over is so evident makes the book even more intriguing. Symbolism is highly used in the book to make complex issues more accessible, (just like in children’s books). This is clearly because the author wanted to alert the masses. The allegory is thick enough to understand and the wit used is razor sharp.

Even after years of this book, Animal Farm still brings insight on dissemination of misinformation through propaganda, It comments on the political structures of countries around the globe and the blind obedience by the citizens’ of corrupt leadership, declaring their support towards utmost criminality of the people in power. It makes you ponder over the thought of how a revolution can be as disastrous as a corrupt government if led by ignorance and greed and how educating the masses is crucial to change the political situation of a place. Overall, this book has the power to alter and change the perspective of the reader’s perceptions about politics.

Malaika Mumtaz Khan is a student pursuing English Literature from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Edited by: Varda Ahmad

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of The Jamia Review or its members.