Intro
Talking animals, super short, and made for grown-ups? Get reading!
This political satire was written after George Orwell's own terrifying experiences with totalitarian governments. It's more cunning than a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University…
Quote
"Now, comrades, what is the meaning of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: this is the plain truth."
Analysis
A prophetic pig! He oinks the truth!
Old Major, who dies soon after proclaiming all of this, is an old boar who gives a rousing speech at the beginning of the novel. He gives a classic Marxist critique of capitalist exploitation: the humans (the farmer) own the means of production (the farm buildings and tools), while the animals slave away and only receive in return just enough to keep working. So far, so socialist.
Now, any old donkey could tell you that Animal Farm is about the evils of Stalinism. The cleverest animals manipulate all the other animals, and animal paradise quickly turns into animal hell. Revolution leads to tyranny; inaction leads to more suffering.
But Orwell was a Socialist, right? So, what's up? Well, for one thing, Socialists come in more flavors than ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. Stalinism is one thing, but a guy like Orwell was totally not a fan of exploitation.
What's a pig to do, then? Basically, it's Marx to the rescue, in the form of Old Major. A Marxist critic, like our favorite bearded boar here, would say that the novel itself has been exploited by our education system, which has used it for its own Cold War ends. Sure, Animal Farm is against Stalinism, but not all socialism is Stalinism. In fact, the novel seems to argue for a third way—not revolution, and not inaction, but instead slow change. Check it out for yourself if you don't believe us.