As part of our summer reading program I've asked my two oldest daughters to read a set of books and write short reviews of the books. This is my second daughter's review of "Animal Farm."
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This week I read Animal Farm by George Orwell.
It is an analogy of the Russian Revolution. The story is told through the eyes of animals that overthrow their drunken farmer.
The animals then make rules for the farm and all starts off well.
The pigs quickly rise to power. The two main pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, vie for control. Then Napoleon raises two litters of puppies and turns them into his private fighting force which he uses to chase Snowball off the farm.
After that things go down hill rapidly. By the end their society was far worse off then when the drunken farmer was in charge.
Early on in the book when they are forming laws one of the laws they make was “All animals are equal.” By the end of the book that law has changed to, “All animals are equal but some are more equal then others.”
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Henry speaking now: I like this book. It is short, but has some powerful messages. We've had a few discussions after my daughter read the book.
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6 comments:
interesting back story on this book. T.S. Eliot read the manuscript and rejected it, with the comment that he didn't understand the hostility to the pigs. According to T.S., they were the smartest of the animals, so why shouldn't they be in charge?
I, too, read Animal Farm recently, and my sons took it in a homeschool co-op class, and my daughter read it independently. Your blog looks great. I just linked to it from my website
www.newhomeschoolhelp.com
Robin Egerton
I have two of our students reading Animal Farm this summer. Great overview of the book!!
Awesome information about T.S. Eliot, Rob. Thanks! Another interesting this about this book is that the author was a Socialist. Now some say he gave up socialism by the time he died, but I have read contradicting reports. Either way, he wrote it after he was hunted down by his own party in Spain which had turned against itself in a similar manner of the pigs turning against the other animals.
How funny; I am planning to read this book with my kids in the fall. Great work by your daughter.
That is an interesting book, and your daughter's review was great.
My teens read it a couple of years ago, and I'd love to hear their thoughts now, and in future years. I think the book will become even more meaningful for them as they mature and go out on their own.
It's a great discussion book for our kids!
Rob - thanks for the back story. That is interesting. That represents exactly how some people feel. They ARE the smartest, so why shouldn't they tell the rest of us what to do.
Robin - thanks for the kind words.
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