View Poll Results: "Animal Farm" by George Orwell: Final verdict

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  • * A bookworm's nightmare!

    0 0%
  • ** Take a nap instead!

    1 3.45%
  • *** Finished but no reason to skip meals.

    3 10.34%
  • **** Don't forget to unplug the phone for this one!

    16 55.17%
  • ***** A bookworm's bibliophilic dream!

    9 31.03%
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Thread: Animal Farm by George Orwell

  1. #1

    Animal Farm by George Orwell

    I read George Orwell's Animal farm yesterday and I believe its a fantastic novel. He got in trouble for writing that novel because there is a hidden meaning behind it which is obvious, but you really have to do some research about the novel to really understand that hidden meaning. It discusses socialism and all that jazz. My grandmother just passed out on the bed and I've never heard a sound like that. Shes okay though. I love Orwell's writing style. I believe he is a brilliant man and a brilliant writer. Not all brilliant men are brilliant writers. You need style and talent and in Orwell's case guts. I know Wikipedia has a lot of information about the novel and it talks about all the different characters and who they are in real life. I'm not a history buff and I'm not very interested in that though I should be. I could pretend I was, but then I would be fake and a fake is on the same level as a rat.

    It is similar to 1984 in a few ways. Its controversial and honest. I enjoyed it very much and I hope you will too. If not there are very many novels out there so don't get your hopes up. Sometimes you have to dig through a lot of trash to find the gems, but once you find them, they stick with you.

  2. #2
    Registered User EddieZ's Avatar
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    i just finished reading 1984. i think 1984 is a very bleak but timeless political satire and a chilling portrayal of a totalitarian society. This society faces all the harsh realities of post war rationing. i believe that the description of the housing and Ministries echoed Eastern Europe prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. i was surprised how relevant it is as a commentary on current society rather than just a dystopian vision of the future. This made the book even more compelling. i really enjoyed it, and think Orwell is really amazing!!! ^_^

  3. #3
    Registered User AmericanEagle's Avatar
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    I read this novel in English class and really liked it.

  4. #4
    somewhere else Helga's Avatar
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    I love Animal Farm. how disgusting the people is and the laws the animals set. the only thing I didn't like was that pigs were made to be the 'bad' ones. but I do think I understand why, the only animals on a farm that have no purpose except to be eaten by the humans. they are my favourite animals, so cute. I really enjoy Orwell's books.
    I hope death is joyful, and I hope I'll never return -Frida Khalo

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  5. #5
    Home Remarkable's Avatar
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    Why did he have guts? Orwell lived in a free society, he spoke of another reality which did not affect his life personally. Of course he is a great man for thinking of it, for putting it down on paper and for inspiring people but he was not taking a risk, he was just seizing an opportunity.
    You forget that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence: and the kingdom of heaven is like a woman.
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  6. #6
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    Orwell had to write this allegory because he was unable to get a work critical of the Soviet Union after WW2. The Russians had played a huge part in the defeat of the Nazis, and were courted by the West for their part. Orwell recognised the nature of the Soviet Union under Stalin, and as a Socialist was concerned about the damage to Socialist values being wreaked. The damage was done - you still read comparisons to Stalin in right wing newspapers about parties on the left. It wasn't quite as free as you make out.

  7. #7
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    Worth reading, but nowhere near as good as 1984. The "talking animal" theme gets a bit old, and it's a very limited stage (the farm is hardly Airstrip 1!) I've read all his other novels. Be warned, they aren't very good!

  8. #8
    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    I like the style of George Orwell and I have read two of books-Animal Farm and !984.

    Both are written to satire politics and particularly totalitarianism. Animal Farm has a double meaning. Children can enjoy the story and so do the intellectual with its hidden meaning.

    Of course he is a timeless writer and will shine for ever as a great literary figure in world literature.

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

  9. #9
    Vincit Qui Se Vincit Virgil's Avatar
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    Rather simple if you ask me. 1984 by far the greater work.
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    My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/

  10. #10
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    Some of his essays are rather good. I read this with my creative writing class a while ago, and they didn't realise he had written it in the last 50 years. They did recognise and agree with a number of his assertions.

    http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/...nglish/e_polit

  11. #11
    Registered User gbrekken's Avatar
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    Orwell

    Read both ANIMAL FARM and 1984. Must say that after the first, the second one didn't really need to be written, though it is a more fleshed out extension of the first

  12. #12
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gbrekken View Post
    Read both ANIMAL FARM and 1984. Must say that after the first, the second one didn't really need to be written, though it is a more fleshed out extension of the first
    I think both had important things to say. Animal Farm as a critiqe of the so-called Socialist Russian State, whilst 1984 has some tremendous ideas to explore. Just the term Big Brother has been a useful addition to the language.

  13. #13
    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paulclem View Post
    I think both had important things to say. Animal Farm as a critiqe of the so-called Socialist Russian State, whilst 1984 has some tremendous ideas to explore. Just the term Big Brother has been a useful addition to the language.
    I prefer Animal Farm since it is so simple and yet pregnant with great meaning.

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

  14. #14
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by blazeofglory View Post
    I prefer Animal Farm since it is so simple and yet pregnant with great meaning.
    It's a great book but simpler in that Orwell is using it as an allegory for the Russian State. 1984 I feel is superior becaue of the new ideas he explores.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ihavebrownhaira View Post
    . You need style and talent and in Orwell's case guts.
    Orwell certainly had guts. It is difficult not to revere the man. He truly lived what he preached: living like a tramp, toiling in northern mines, taking a bullet in the throat during the Spanish Civil War, even remaining in Britain when invasion seemed likely in 1940, though he must have been aware his name was high on the Nazi's execution list. He turned his back both on his privileged upbringing (Eton etc) and on fellow left wing writers who made excuses for Stalin. A true 20th century hero- unlike that boasting liar and poseur Hemingway.

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