Allotey Godwin

ANIMAL FARM
TITLE : ANIMAL FARM
AUTHOR : GEORGE ORWELL
DATES PUBLISHED : 17TH AUGUST 1943 - 1944
REVIEWER : ALLOTEY GODWIN AKWEITEH
DATE : JANUARY 19,2009


summary
Animal farm by George Orwell, ironically recounts the events that took place before, during and following to Russian Revolution. He describes the major leaders using animation. The pigs who were the leaders made 7 laws to govern them after wining power from Mr. Jones.they are:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.


It was later changed to one pre-eminent one: "FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD"

In the opening pages, Orwell gave accont of how the manor farm was governed; by Mr. Jones,and his crew.
The animals never thaght of any thing like that until Old Major told them his dream about the farm some years to come. This meeting was held at the big barn after getting the information about the meeting.they sung the “beast of England”.

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken to my joyful tidings
Of the golden future time.
Soon or late the day is coming,
Tyrant Man shall be o’erthrown,
And the fruitful fields of England
Shall be trod by beasts alone.

Rings shall vanish from our noses,
And the harness from our back,
Bit and spur shall rust forever,
Cruel whips no more shall crack.

Riches more than mind can picture,
Wheat and barley, oats and hay,
Clover, beans, and mangel-wurzels
Shall be ours upon that day.

Bright will shine the fields of England,
Purer shall its waters be,
Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes
On the day that sets us free.

For that day we all must labour,
Though we die before it break;
Cows and horses, geese and turkeys,
All must toil for freedom’s sake.

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken well and spread my tidings
Of the golden future time.

Few days later, old major’s passed away in his sleep.
his dream came to pass and they were free from the hands of their advarsaries.
The “beast of Engand” became their daily anthem, they sung it until they became weary.

The book recounts pigs became automatic leaders, because they were highly educated and were automatically mandated to govern.
We were made to believe that the name of the barn was changed from manor farm to ANIMAL FARM and made a flag that will be a part of their symbols along side their anthem.
We were also told that Mr. Jones came another time to secure back the animal farm but to no avail because he was outnumbered by the animals.

Napoloen and Snowball, a pigs, jointly handled the affairs of the farm but Snowball was more convincing as compared to Napoleon. Napoleon used force to convey his message because he was unable to pursuade the animals but snowball was a genius because all the animals liked him for the way he delivers his messages to the understanding of every animal.

Snowball short lived in the farm because, he was overthrowned by Napoleon, with the help of the dogs he took from their parents. That was all we heard about him but we were made to believe he champoined the destruction of the windmill.

Napoleon, instead of governing according to the four legs good two legs bad, he later on changed it to reflect his dubios and evil ways;
"ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS"

The book under review, Animal Farm is a satirical work. It is so because, the author used humour to criticize a weakness or defect of something. The satirist makes whatever he is criticizing look ridiculous by a variety of methods, often through irony or other types of biting humour.
With this, Goerge was able to criticize the Russian Revolution by using the animation, so the thing would look indirect rather than direct.
Though it was difficult to find a pulblisher during the world war ii, he was satisfied because he had succeded in criticizing the revolutionist without offending anyone.

The drive behind the Animal Farm book by Orwell was to criticize and attack intensely the target subject, who were the society that was created in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and the leaders involved in it. George Orwell succeded in this because of the satire and irony and allegory technique he deployed in his work.



LIFE HISTORY OF ORWELL
Goergw Orwell as popularly known was born on June 25, 1903 at Miothari in India by a British civil servant. He was born into a family that had to struggle from hand to mouth. It wasn’t easy but he was able to enduret it.
Orwell was brought to England as a toddler where he spent the rest fo his life: education, shelter clothing. He joined the British colony and later resigned to be a writer.
He became a journalist and wrote his first book which was DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON, which describes his life and what he had been through.

In the 20th century he wrote a famous book; ANIMAL FARM, a fable about events during and following the Russian Revolution.
He had trouble finding a poblisher during World War ii, three months later in 1950, January 21, he finally died of tuberculosis.



Setting the Animal Farm to Ghana, suits completely like it was written for it.
Ghana was colonized by the Europeans as compared to Mr. Jones, his family and crew who were more or less governing the affairs of the manor farm, day in and day out.
The conolonial masters exploited our resources,use some, sold some and saved the rest to be transported to their native country.
They used bilateral trade to exploit us and our resources.
Mr. Jones gave the animals a small portion of the ration and inreturn they render their services by working on the farm. Such animal like the hen did not do any work but gave their eggs and meat in return.

After the independence of Ghana from the colonial masters in March 6, 1957, the name Gold Coast was changed to Ghana.
Mrs Theodosia Okoh designed the national flag and Philip Gbeho composed the national anthem which was sunged on the independence day.

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah became the leader of the country, he was able to develop the country but he short lived because he wanted to become a Napoleon.
He made laws such as the Prevention Detention Art(PDA) that would cripple any opposition party and anyone who financed it. He imprisoned anyone who was found guilty as charged. He turned Ghana into a one party state.

He was ovethrown in february 21,1966 when we went on a peace mission to Hanoi. He died peacefully and was his body was brought and buried in Ghana.

Animal farm in the times of the old was noted to be autocratic with a concrete example of the P(NDC) regime, led by Flt. Lt. J.J Rawlings, when he came to govern through the power of the gun and had to kill his rivals and made policies that would keep him above everyone. His opposers who were unable to stay had to go on exile just as Snowball went in the book.
However, in recent times, Ghana has taken another form of “Aniaml Farm”.
Instead of being autocrats directly, they do it indirectly and they never get noticed as in the olden days.






CRITICISM
The book takes place on the Manor Farm in the 1940s to 1950s The book never states the exact time period, Snowball provides an important link between the pigs and the other animals


STYLE
Orwell’s style allows people of any age to read the book. She realizes that the pigs are being manipulative, but she lacks the courage to oppose them.


CHARACTERS


Mr Jones - Mr Jones is a farmer, and the owner of Manor Farm.
Mr. Pilkington - Owner of Foxwood
Mr. Frederick - Owner of Pinchfield
Mr. Whymper - A solicitor living in Willingdon. Acted as an intermediary between Animal Farm and the outside world in matters of trade.

PIGS
Napoleon
Squealer PROPAGANDA SECRETARY
Snowball
Old Major - The father of 'Animalism'.

HORSES
Boxer - Boxer represents the working class. Boxer is portrayed as being a dedicated worker, but as possessing a less-than-average intelligence. His personal motto was, "I will work harder!" The novel describes the horses as being the pig's "most faithful disciples" and that they "absorbed everything that they were told [by the pigs], and passed it on to the other animals by simple arguments". the oldest animal on the farm,
Clover - Boxer's female counterpart.
Mollie - Mollie seems to be some sort of representation of Russia's upper classes
Dogs - The dogs represent the military/police. Later in the book, these pups (now fully grown - and fully trained) protect Napoleon from a second potential revolution, and help to enforce his decrees
Jessie, Bluebell, Pincher - The only three dogs that are mentioned by name. They do not have a very active role in the novel. All three are mentioned as being present at old major's meeting, but Pincher is never mentioned again (except in the 'epilogue', when it is mentioned that all three dogs are dead) - Jesse and Bluebell are the mothers of the 'pups' which serve as Napoleon's bodyguards (and I assume Pincher is the father). Jesse and Bluebell also participate in the 'Battle of the Windmill'.


Birds - The primary motto of Animalism is "Four legs good, two legs bad". Moses - The raven Moses symbolizes the Russian Orthodox Church. In the beginning of the novel, Moses was Mr. Jones's 'pet'. Moses fled the farm shortly after the revolution, but eventually returned. Moses never did any work. All he did was sit around telling stories - primarily of "Sugar Candy Mountain", a paradise where animals lived on after they have died. At first Napoleon tried to get rid of Moses. But eventually Moses was allowed to stay on the farm and was even given a small ration of 'beer'.Hens – Napoleon SAID 'surrender their eggs'. 9 hens died during the incident. Three young Black Minorca pullets - The leaders of the hen's 'resistance'. Cockerels - Serve as an alarm clock for Boxer. Napoleon had a black cockerel who marched in front of him and acted as a kind of trumpeter (He would let out a loud "cock-a-doodle-doo" before Napoleon spoke.) Pigeons - The pigeons, who
fly out each day to spread the word about 'animalism' to the other farms in Willingdon, Ducks - They are generally only mentioned in conjunction with the hens, and, just like the hens, are portrayed as being less intelligent than the other animals.


Old Benjamin, the donkey - " Benjamin could read as well as any pig, but never exercised his faculty. OLD MANMuriel, the white goat - Literate. (Old Ladies?)The Cat - Voted on both sides of the 'rat-comrade' question.Rats & Rabbits - The rats and rabbits are the wild animals that live on the farm. The seem to represent beggars, thieves and gypsies..Cows - The cows are another animal that is scarcely mentioned in the book, so they too are difficult to pin down. All that is said about them is that during the revolution "One of the cows broke in the door of the store-shed with her horn and all the animals began to help themselves from the bins. Sheep - The sheep represent the masses at large. "Four legs good, two legs bad! Four legs good, two legs ba-a-a-a-d!" SYCOPHANT

Animalism - CommunismHoof & Horn - Hammer and SickleAnimal Committees - (Soviet Committees). "Egg Production Committee for the hens, the Clean Tails League for the cows, the Wild Comrades' Re-education Committee (the object of this was to tame the rats and rabbits), the Whiter Wool Movement for the sheep,"Windmill - The windmill is a symbol 'Milk' - Shortly after the revolution, the pigs are forced to decide what to do with the 'milk' (a reference to some sort of commodity). The animals assume that the pigs will distribute it equally among the masses, and are shocked when they discover that the pigs have decided to keep it for themselves.'Apples' - The pigs decided to keep the apples as well.


The Animal Revolt - The Russian Revolution. Pigeons sent to incite other rebellions - Cummunist InternetionaleDestruction of the Windmill - This destruction is symbolic for the failure of the Five Year Plan. In the Book, Selling of the wood to Frederick - Nazi-Soviet pactBattle of the Windmill - Battle of Stalingrad - German Invasion of Russia During WWII