Review a Classic Political Satire Novel - Animal Farm

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”

What a strong satire the book is! Hahaha. I did not expect that this book would be so much fun and amazing to read at all! Okay as written on the title, this is “Animal Farm” by Geroge Orwell (his real name is Eric Arthur Blair). The original version of it is in English, but along the time, it has been translated into many languages and versions as well. Regarding to Gramedia Blog, it says that the title of the book could be changing in following the translation itself. In Bahasa Indonesia version, it was translated by Bakdi Soemanto and published by Penerbit Bintang. But I read the e-book version which was disseminated by Mizan Digital Public.

It is one of his famous books and is still being read by people nowadays. There was a saying spread over the internet that talked about how through this novel, Orwell attempted to satirize the Russian revolution, but I cannot find any short of Orwell’s own perspective regarding it. Regardless of that, the book with 10 chapter and 144 pages itself has a lot of things and values that were still relevant up to now. Orwell puts animals to completed his allegory novel.

The story was begun in the Manor Farm, owned by a man named Mr. Jones. There were a lot of animals living in the Manor Farm, pigs were described as the most brilliant than other animals which brought the pigs to be a leader of the group. Also, there were chickens, horses, mouses, cats, dogs, cows, and donkey. They were living in the same and usual habit before the old major which is the oldest pig in the farm told to the whole animals in a gathering room about his mind of revolution. The old major said that the life they were living is not fair at all, since animals need to work and produce more than they think they deserved and benefit from. And, all animals agree that they need no any masters, all they need is the independence.

Three days later, the old major died, before the revolution even started. His mandate automatically carried on by other pigs in the Manor Farm, there were 3 candidates appeared they were Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer. A few months later, the revolution had just happened, Mr. and Ms. Jones, and their employees run away due to the attack by animals. And here is the begining of animalism. As a part of the revolution, the three of pigs started in crearing seven commandments that dictate the principle of animalism. These were painted on the side of the barn, so everyone can see it clearly (even though just some of the animals who can read. one of them is Benjamin, a donkey). 

Napoleon started his government with a lie, and he kept lying about many things. He began to break the commandments for various reasons. He was no longer living in the barn but in Mr. Jones's rooms. He had a dog-watch that he raised to protect him and other pigs as well. He drank and ate with cutlery in the kitchen. He raised and treated piglets better than other animal children. He broke all the rules until the last and the worst thing he did was add Commandment No. 7, written as 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'

I believe that the novel is very worth your time. Also, it is not a challenging read, with only 144 pages. I identify Orwell as a classic author, but his writing is easy to read, with not many parables like most classic authors. A big thanks to Bakdi Soekamto for translating it into a very smooth translation!

After reading the book, I concluded that there are two main messages we can learn from it:

1.      Centered power tends to corrupt and abuse.

      It can be seen how, at first, all animals attempted to be free from the oppression of humans (Mr. Jones). But, in the end, under animal rule (Napoleon, a pig), they were oppressed even more than Mr. Jones did. This was a result of centralized power in one person. Separating power can minimize the possibility of corruption and abuse.

2.      Belief and Unity.

The power of belief is quite impressive within the story. Animals, who have nothing compared to human beings with the ability to manage everything, including farming, can be defeated by animals because they have faith in their belief in living a better life by freeing themselves from humans.

Additionally, in terms of power comparison, humans should have been victorious. However, since all animals united to struggle for their dream, animals could defeat people by kicking them out of their own house twice, until the people never returned. And animals achieved their most desired desire, freedom from people.

Btw, there is a quote from the book that struck me hard. Here it is:

“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.” (Animal Farm, Chapter 1, Page 6) 

hehe, get ur snack and, happy reading all.

See ya! Ciao!