George Orwell Matters! discussion

This is a thread to discuss Animal Farm by George Orwell, which we are reading (or revisiting!) as a group during April.

The title page of the book reads "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story!" This book, of course, is anything but the short and sweet tale you might imagine when reading that phrase. It's a brilliant and thought-provoking political piece and also an irresistible page-turner that you may read or reread in a single sitting.

We hope you will drop in to share your thoughts on Animal Farm this month!



"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

This group read begins today! YAY!

I have just recorded a film of Animal Farm too - an animation. I personally think the book is one of the beat short novels ever, but have no idea about the film!

Hi Jean - is the animation the Disney one? I’ve only seen it once & many years ago. They changed the ending apparently.

Really? On consideration that's not surprising - but would turn it into something else completely, wouldn't it? 😟

No, the one I have on the hard drive is by John Halas and Joy Batchelor from 1954, 9 years after the book was written. Is it any good do you know, Graham? Or anyone?

Having just looked into this the 1954 animation wasn’t Disney but involved an animator from the Disney studios.

Fingers crossed then ... I hope I don't end up shouting at the screen! 😂

I was looking this up when Jean and Graham were talking about it.

Here's more about the animated version that was partially funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. It has a respectable but not amazing rating of 7.2 on IMDB.
"The cartoon that came in from the cold"
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2...

Also of interest -- it was Britain's second ever animated feature:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British...

Fascinating article online in the Guardian about the animation - The cartoon that came in from the cold - regarding CIA involvement in its making.

Graham wrote: "Fascinating article online in the Guardian about the animation - The cartoon that came in from the cold - regarding CIA involvement in its making."

It is, Graham!

Jean, be warned -- the Guardian article contains spoilers about the changes to the ending. If you want to be surprised by the film, hold off on reading the article!

Here's an Animal Farm-related treat. Have you come across or do you remember the George Harrison song "Piggies?" The Beatles recorded it on the White Album.

There's a verse that was dropped before the song was recorded that makes the connection to Orwell explicit:

Everywhere there’s lots of piggies
Playing piggy pranks
You can see them on their trotters
Down at the piggy banks
Paying piggy thanks
To thee, Pig Brother

More about the song (includes a link to a recording): https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/pi...

Thank for the warning Jennifer - and the info which I'm sure will be fascinating. The CIA? 😟 I guess they assumed it was about Communists ...

Oh yes! I saved up and bought the white album when it came out and can sing along with that song. Great allusion!

A number of people reading Animal Farm may know that Orwell had difficulty getting it published.

Orwell was sending the book out to publishers in 1944, in the midst of the blitz. In a letter to T.S. Eliot at Faber and Faber, he stated, "This MS has been blitzed which accounts for my delay in delivering it and its slightly crumpled condition, but it is not damaged in any way."
https://londonhistorians.wordpress.co...

Animal Farm was rejected by at least four publishers, with many, like Eliot, feeling it was too controversial at a time when Britain was allied with the Soviet Union against Germany. Eliot's rejection letter has been published: https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

"The manuscript also encountered more sinister forces. The respected publisher Jonathan Cape, reported to be initially keen on the manuscript, bowed out after consulting an “important official” at the Ministry of Information, who advised against publication. The official is presumed to be Peter Smollett (a.k.a. H.P Smolka, author of Forty thousand against the Arctic: Russia's polar empire ), who during the war headed the ministry’s Russian section, earning an OBE for his services to the Crown. He may also have served another master, for he was thought to be a Soviet agent and, according to a Russian spymaster, was controlled by the same man to whom such Soviet spies as Kim Philby reported. Smollett’s family has vigorously denied suggestions that he was a spy."
- Orwell Subverted: The CIA and the Filming of Animal Farm
https://www.psupress.org/books/titles...

In 1949, Orwell put Smollett's name on his famous list of literary and journalistic figures whom he viewed as “crypto-communists, fellow travellers or inclined that way.”
https://medium.com/@usefulstooges/smo...

The book was eventually published by Martin Secker & Warburg:
https://www.biblio.com/publisher/mart...

Thanks for that Jennifer. Very interesting. Ironic that he had so much trouble getting it published & then when it was finally published he found himself accused by some on the left of jumping on the Cold War bandwagon!

I agree, it's fascinating Jennifer, and thanks for the links to further reading 😊

Graham wrote: "Thanks for that Jennifer. Very interesting. Ironic that he had so much trouble getting it published & then when it was finally published he found himself accused by some on the left of jumping on t..."

Graham, your comment is right on target!

On a related note, Orwell is credited with originating the term "cold war" as a description of post WWII conditions! It appears in an essay published just two months after Animal Farm:

Nevertheless, looking at the world as a whole, the drift for many decades has been not towards anarchy but towards the reimposition of slavery. We may be heading not for general breakdown but for an epoch as horribly stable as the slave empires of antiquity. James Burnham’s theory has been much discussed, but few people have yet considered its ideological implications – that is, the kind of world-view, the kind of beliefs, and the social structure that would probably prevail in a state which was at once unconquerable and in a permanent state of “cold war” with its neighbours.
-- George Orwell, "You and the Atom Bomb," Tribune, 19 October 1945
READ IT: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-...

Here are two essays that trace the history of the term:
(view spoiler)[
- "George Orwell and the origin of the term ‘cold war’ "
https://blog.oup.com/2015/10/george-o...
"Seventy years after the publication of his essay, the dynamics George Orwell discussed in it are still recognizable in international relations today."

- "Cold War: The (Pre)History of a Term"
https://www.alliiertenmuseum.de/en/th...
"Orwell therefore anticipates with considerable insight and trepidation a world-order which, while ostensibly post-war, moves not towards peace but instead into a wholly new and uncertain period of indefinite standoff..."
(hide spoiler)]

Jennifer, I do remember the George Harrison song. Thank you for giving us its connection to Orwell.

Rosemarie wrote: "Jennifer, I do remember the George Harrison song. Thank you for giving us its connection to Orwell."

Thank you, Rosemarie!

I am enjoying revisiting this book. How about you?

I had forgotten the ridiculous "Beasts of England" song in Chapter 1. I am confident that as a teenager, I skipped right over it, as the joke, for me, went on for too long.

Coming back to the book, I found myself laughing out loud at, "it was a stirring tune, something between 'Clementine' and 'La Cucaracha'." This time, that line made me laugh out loud. I had never noticed that the relationship between those two songs.

There's a new and surprisingly good version of the song set to neither of those tunes, featuring two German musical groups, John Garner and Fiddler's Green:
LISTEN if you like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxrk0...

I've read this a few times already and some scenes have remained fixed in my mind. There are a lot of ideas packed in this seemingly simple little book.

Wow!
I listened to this over the weekend and was astounded. I'm going to return frequently.

That "fairy story" made me originally think of E.B. White's tales of animals; I was expecting a satirical, funny twist instead of the conniving and meanness. Even though I strongly suspected Orwell would take a dark turn, I was not anticipating how dark it became.

Rosemarie wrote: "I've read this a few times already and some scenes have remained fixed in my mind. There are a lot of ideas packed in this seemingly simple little book."

JenniferAustin wrote: "Rosemarie wrote: "Jennifer, I do remember the George Harrison song. Thank you for giving us its connection to Orwell."

Thank you, Rosemarie!"

Hello, Rosemarie. I am new to this book. The first time through was a dark fable for me, but I scribbled a few questions while listening.

"Are these characters based on actual historic people?"
"Were there propaganda strategies at play?"
"Is one of these characters an American?" (I'm from Kansas City, Missouri, in the Midwest.)

I'll be taking time bit by bit to revisit comments here and also to reread certain passages as I have ordered a copy from my public library.

JenniferAustin wrote: "Here's an Animal Farm-related treat. Have you come across or do you remember the George Harrison song "Piggies?" The Beatles recorded it on the White Album.

There's a verse that was..."

Thank you for this!

JenniferAustin wrote: "I was looking this up when Jean and Graham were talking about it.

Here's more about the animated version that was partially funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. It has a respectable but..."

Thank you!
I'll be reading this for more insight. One question I posed earlier was about the representation of Americans here (if they are represented), so I'll follow that thread as it appears.

Fascinating fact about Orwell coining the term Cold War, Jennifer. I thought this was right- I remember the essay but don’t have it to hand. Thanks for the links.

Jan, the characters are based on actual types of political philosophy.

Napoleon is based on Stalin, Snowball on Trotsky & Squealer is a sort of communist party hack. Oddly enough, there isn’t a character representing Lenin.

Just to add - Old Major is Marx. Perhaps a mixture of Marx & Lenin come to think of it. So perhaps Lenin is in the book after all.

If you are like me, the first few chapters of Animal Farm may have you wanting to review who was who in the Russian Revolution. Major characters in this book are allegorical representations of key figures in the Russian Revolution. Here's a quick review, in case that's helpful! I have used spoiler tags, so that you can read based on where you are in the story.

Mr. Jones, the drunken farmer we meet in the first sentence(view spoiler)[ is also notable in that he gives the animals "just so much food as will keep the breath in [their] bodies." He is based on Tsar Nicholas II, who according to many reports was a heavy drinker early in life. He was regarded as out-of-touch and uncaring, as Mr. Jones seems to be. (hide spoiler)]

Old Major appears in Chapter 1 (view spoiler)[and then dies. I think he represents Valdimir Lenin, at least in part. Lenin served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924. Under his administration, Russia became the Soviet Union, a one-party socialist state governed by the Communist Party. In Chapter 5, "The skull of old Major, now clean of flesh, had been disinterred from the orchard... After the hoisting of the flag, the animals were required to file past the skull in a reverent manner before entering the barn." It's impossible not to think of Lenin, as Lenin's remains were placed on view in the Mausoleum in the Red Square in 1924:
"Lenin Lab: the team keeping the first Soviet leader embalmed"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/201...

Old Major's character is also a reference to Karl Marx, father of communism and author of the Communist Manifesto. It was Marx's philosophies and theories that would later inspire Stalin to initiate the Russian Revolution. (hide spoiler)]

Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer appear in Chapter 2. Snowball appears to be based (view spoiler)[on Leon Trotsky. As chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, Trotsky played an important role in the October Revolution that overthrew the Provisional Government. He unsuccessfully struggled against Joseph Stalin for power in the Soviet Union. He was eventually assassinated and believed that it was by someone sent by Lenin. Compare all this to Snowball, who is expelled in Chapter 5, and thereafter painted by Napoleon as a villain. (hide spoiler)]

Napoleon is based (view spoiler)[on Joseph Stalin. Stalin was secretary general of the Communist party. Stalin’s ideas and practices quickly turned totalitarian. Opposition to Stalin was met with secret arrests, fake trials, forced labor camps, and mass executions. (hide spoiler)]

Squealer (view spoiler)[ serves as Napoleon's second-in-command and is the pig who spreads Napoleon’s propaganda among the other animals. Squealer may be based on Vyacheslav Molotov, who during the 1930s was Joseph Stalin's second-in-command. Stalin didn't like Molotov, and criticized his "shameful bureaucratism" (you might make a connection to "Squealer's lists of figures" in Chapter 9). Despite that, Molotov was a staunch defender of Stalin's policies. (hide spoiler)]

Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick show up in Chapter 4. Mr. Pilkington appears to be based (view spoiler)[ on Britain and the United States. Pilkington is an English surname, deriving from the place called "Pilkington" near Lancashire. Mr. Pilkington is a neighbor," characterized as an easy-going gentleman farmer." The British appeasement policy under Chamberlain and the U.S. desire for neutrality (the USA entered World War II only after many months of argument in Congress and among the general public) might both be evidence for seeing them as "easygoing." Gentlemanly is certainly an adjective we might use for Britain. Like Mr. Frederick, Mr. Pilkington was "thoroughly frightened by the rebellion on Animal Farm." He, too, began to spread terrible rumors about Animal Farm and refused to call it by name, using the term Manor Farm instead. The U.S. initially refused to recognize the Soviet Union. So I think both these countries are represented by the character of Mr. Pilkington. (hide spoiler)]

Mr. Frederick appears to be based (view spoiler)[ on Adolf Hitler. Frederick is a masculine name of German origin, means "peaceful ruler" (exactly how nobody would describe Hitler). He's a "tough, shrewd man, perpetually involved in lawsuits and with a name for driving hard bargains." Could "lawsuits and bargains" perhaps be a reference to the Munich Agreement, and Hitler very quickly reneging on his promises to respect the integrity of Czechoslovakia by invading Czechia?

Mr. Frederick and Mr. Pilkington "disliked each other so much that it was difficult for them to come to any agreement, even in defence of their own interests." That fits a description of Germany, on the one hand, and Britain and the U.S. on the other. (hide spoiler)]

Animal Farm was banned in the Soviet Union immediately after being published, as it was clearly understood as a critique.

If you want a quick review of the Russian Revolution, you might try this 15 minute Crash Course review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6KR4...

Graham wrote: "Just to add - Old Major is Marx. Perhaps a mixture of Marx & Lenin come to think of it. So perhaps Lenin is in the book after all."

Thank you! I had already posted my little guide by the time I saw your comments, Graham!

I think the internet has been a bit slow where I am, as I am in the path of eclipse totality. All kinds of online things are being very slow. (I can tell that a friend has sent pictures, but 4 hours later, I still cannot see them.) 🌑🌕

Anyway, I will leave my suggestions up as well as Graham's. Mine were a quick sketch, and I think people have written many papers about this. Feel free to chime in with other ideas! 🙂

Orwell was deliberately not prescriptive about who was who, and the book has an impact even if you know little to nothing about the Russian Revolution!

Some excellent discussion on this one here! Also excellent background information by Jennifer. I’ve read this twice but never as a 47 year old with grey whiskers. I have a chance to do that now so I think I’ll take it.

Chad wrote: "Some excellent discussion on this one here! Also excellent background information by Jennifer. I’ve read this twice but never as a 47 year old with grey whiskers. I have a chance to do that now so ..."

Fabulous! Let us know what you think!

I have certainly found it stands up to another read!

As a follow-up to the discussion about characters based on real-life figures from the Russian revolution, some people might be interested in this New Yorker article about the book The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia, "a study of the disappearance of the physical record of Trotsky and a number of other Russians who fell out of favor, and out of history, during the Stalin era."

The New Yorker published an article about it. It sounds fascinating. For me, it's worth a look at two pictures that appear after the first two paragraphs, before and after images of a photograph, from 1919, of a second-anniversary celebration of the October Revolution. In the second, Trotsky has been erased.
See it: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/pho...

So many interesting comments & links on here. I’m really enjoying reading them. I was struck by Jennifer’s remark that the book has an impact even if you know little or nothing about the Russian Revolution. This is what struck me when I reread it last week. It’s an example of a story which transcends its time & the reason it was written. Orwell wrote Animal Farm with a specific polemical purpose - ‘to expose the Soviet myth’ - from a democratic socialist point of view, not pro-capitalist. Most of the events in it have their parallels in Soviet history. But you certainly don’t have to know any of that to get the point. Just as I get the point of Candide without really understanding the background to it. For me personally Animal Farm speaks to our eternal desire for freedom & how it is betrayed by those who profess to lead us & also our own misplaced trust in leaders. But it has so much continuing relevance to our lives in all kinds of ways & whatever kind of society we happen to find ourselves living in.

Graham wrote: "So many interesting comments & links on here. I’m really enjoying reading them. I was struck by Jennifer’s remark that the book has an impact even if you know little or nothing about the Russian Re...
For me personally Animal Farm speaks to our eternal desire for freedom & how it is betrayed by those who profess to lead us & also our own misplaced trust in leaders. But it has so much continuing relevance to our lives in all kinds of ways & whatever kind of society we happen to find ourselves living in."

Graham, thank you! Your comment is a very clearly worded testimony to the power of this book.

For anyone else (like me) that had not read that statement by Orwell (‘to expose the Soviet myth’), Graham is quoting him. As far as I can tell, the quotation is originally from the 1947 Ukranian edition of Animal Farm:

And so for the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the Socialist movement.

On my return from Spain I thought of exposing the Soviet myth in a story that could be easily understood by almost anyone and which could be easily translated into other languages. However, the actual details of the story did not come to me for some time until one day (I was then living in a small village) I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge cart-horse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat.

I proceeded to analyse Marx's theory from the animals’ point of view.

-- Preface to Kolghosp Tvaryn, Orwell's Preface to the Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm, 1947
READ THE PREFACE HERE: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-...

I have seen another quotation from this (the part about the boy and the horse), and your comment sent me off to read the entire essay. I don't always read forewords and prefaces, but this one is fascinating. Orwell's essays are often excellent.


An image of that 1947 Ukranian edition. I found a great story about the translated title:
"When translating the title, instead of using the more immediate choice of ферма/farma [lit. farm], Igor Shevchenko (under the pseudonym Ivan Chernyatinskyy) instead decides on колго́сп/kolgosp, a term specifically denoting the large collective farms instituted by the Soviet Union."
https://www.manhattanrarebooks.com/pa...

Here are some thoughts on Chapter 1 of Animal Farm, for anyone just joining or doing a slow read-through. This is one of those books that pays off when you spend extra time thinking about it!
(view spoiler)[
In the third paragraph, Orwell introduces a huge array of animals.(“Before long the other animals began to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their different fashions. First came the three dogs…”) How did you feel about that? Did it feel a bit like Noah’s Ark?

* * *

The first spoken word in the book, the first word said by Major, is “Comrades.” That one word is an announcement! Per the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word has been “used from 1884 by socialists and communists as a prefix to a surname to avoid "Mister" and other such titles.” In western popular culture, the word has since been strongly associated with communism.

* * *

Major says that the lives of animals are “miserable, laborious, and short.” That, of course, echoes Thomas Hobbes, from Leviathan: “and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” What does that say about where this story will go?

Hobbes starts from an assumption of basic human folly, competitiveness, and depravity. "I put for a general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death." He asserts that power creates law: “Where there is no common power, there is no law.” In the view of Hobbes, "we should give our obedience to an unaccountable sovereign (a person or group empowered to decide every social and political issue). Otherwise what awaits us is a state of nature that closely resembles civil war – a situation of universal insecurity, where all have reason to fear violent death and where rewarding human cooperation is all but impossible.” This has sent me off to reread Hobbes! ( Here's a quick introduction: https://iep.utm.edu/hobmoral/ )

Please chime in with your thoughts!
* * *

“Beasts of England” is clearly a humorous take on “The Internationale,” the communist party anthem. Orwell’s describing the Major’s song as “a stirring tune, something between 'Clementine' and 'La Cucaracha'” seems apropos (and hilarious). The Internationale looks forward to a world where “The earth shall rise on new foundations, / We have been naught, we shall be all.” It’s the end of the world as we know it: “'Tis the final conflict, / Let each stand in his place. / The international working class / Shall be the human race.” Compare that to “Beasts of England:” “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.”

Here's a modern rewrite of The Internationale, sung by Billy Bragg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sh4k...

Orwell might also have been thinking of "La Marseillaise." In The Road to Wigan Pier (1936), Orwell stated, "The working-class Socialist, like the working-class Catholic, is weak on doctrine and can hardly open his mouth without uttering a heresy, but he has the heart of the matter in him. He does grasp the central fact that Socialism means the overthrow of tyranny, and the ‘Marseillaise’, if it were translated for his benefit, would appeal to him more deeply than any learned treatise on dialectical materialism."

The lyrics certainly have a similar feel:
"Arise, children of the Fatherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us stands tyranny
Her bloody standard has been raised..."
(hide spoiler)]

JenniferAustin wrote: "If you are like me, the first few chapters of Animal Farm may have you wanting to review who was who in the Russian Revolution. Major characters in this book are allegorical represent..."

Thank you!

Jan, you are most welcome!

And a big thank you to Graham, who also chimed in on the question of who's who, if you are thinking about who Orwell might have had in mind (even if you don't have to know to appreciate the book).

Is anyone doing a slow read or reread? Here are some initial thoughts on Chapter 2 of Animal Farm, for anyone just joining or doing a slow read-through.

(view spoiler)[
Mollie, the white mare, sounds beautiful and charming. Her first question is, "Will there still be sugar after the Rebellion?" Next comes, "And shall I still be allowed to wear ribbons in my mane?" Snowball says no the sugar, that it is not needed, and that the ribbons "are the badge of slavery." A dictionary definition of "bourgeois" is "(in Marxist contexts) the capitalist class who own most of society's wealth and means of production. 'the conflict of interest between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.' " Mollie's focus on ribbons and sugar (which may seem charming, silly or both!) make her an example of just this.

Moses, the tame raven, claims to know about "a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to which all animals went when they died." Karl Marx asserted that, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." Moses's claim of an afterlife, like hman religion, can be said to give animals something to look forwards to.

The reference to Boxer and Clover as "most faithful disciples" brings to mind the criticism of Marxism as a cult.

When the Rebellion is achieved, it happens because the drunken Mr. Jones and his men fail to feed the animals. After one of the cows breaks open the store-shed so that the animals can eat, "Mr. Jones woke up. The next moment he and his four men were in the store-shed with whips in their hands, lashing out in all directions." Food shortages and government corruption contributed to disillusionment with Czar Nicholas II and helped lead to the Russian Revolution.

Mrs. Jones slipped away from the farm without the animals noticing. Does this line up with the story of the Romanovs at all? It may be what Orwell thought easiest and most sensible. It may be a nod to the fate of Alexadra Romanov. The Soviets covered up the murders of Alexndra and the Romanov children, and there were for years rumors of survivors. So the event in Animal Farm isn't an outright contradiction of what Orwell would have known about the Romanovs.

The Seven Commandments are interesting, aren't they! It's an echo of the ten commandments, though Animalism is ostensible not a religion. The only overlap is a version of "thou shalt not kill." Aside from poking at the idea that Marxism and other -isms look suspiciously like religion in their everyday implementation, is there something from the contemporary discussion of communism that the delightfully skeptical Orwell is talking about? It might be a reference to The Principles of Communism by Friedrich Engels. Friedrich Engels was a German socialist philosopher and the closest collaborator of Karl Marx in the foundation of modern communism. Here's a copy, if you want to take a look:
https://open.oregonstate.education/so...

Did you laugh at the end of the chapter? "So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared." Food supply was a huge issue after the Russian Revolution: https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1917-2/...
(hide spoiler)]
What are your thoughts? Any favorite parts of this chapter?


Art by Daniel Montenegro in The Nation:
https://www.thenation.com/article/arc...

A thought from chapter 3...
Benjamin the donkey is a favorite of mine. He's such a dark and funny voice. In chapter 3, we are told, "Old Benjamin, the donkey, seemed quite unchanged since the Rebellion. He did his work in the same slow obstinate way as he had done it in Jones's time, never shirking and never volunteering for extra work either. About the Rebellion and its results he would express no opinion. When asked whether he was not happier now that Jones was gone, he would say only "Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey," and the others had to be content with this cryptic answer."

And later, "Benjamin could read as well as any pig, but never exercised his faculty. So far as he knew, he said, there was nothing worth reading."

Some people have argued that, "There is perhaps a touch of Orwell himself in this creature’s timeless scepticism.’ "

If you want to go further with that idea, this is a remarkably fun essay:
"Only Donkeys Survive Tyranny and Dictatorship: Was Benjamin George Orwell’s Alter Ego in Animal Farm?"
George Orwell Studies, Volume 1 No. 1 (2016)
http://www.abramis.co.uk/george-orwel...

I’ll get at this one next week for my reread. So many excellent thoughts, questions and links to ponder. Thank you Jennifer! You really make me want to dive in. I’ll be sure to share my thoughts.

Chad wrote: "I’ll get at this one next week for my reread. So many excellent thoughts, questions and links to ponder. Thank you Jennifer! You really make me want to dive in. I’ll be sure to share my thoughts."

Thank you for those kind words, Chad! 🙂

I love Benjamin too! 😊

And I echo Chad's words - you really are finding some great extras for us, thanks Jennifer. Whenever I see you have posted here, I'm always intrigued!

I started Animal Farm this morning on the train and it all immediately came back to me. What a great little novel. I echo the sentiments of one or two or three previous commenters that you need not know anything about the Russian revolution to completely understand what Orwell is doing here. The story easily applies to any large group of people establishing any form of government after a revolution. I am like you, Jennifer. I looked up who all the characters are meant to represent within the first few chapters and my memory ended up being pretty solid. I do have a limited knowledge of the Russian revolution but I don’t find myself thinking along those lines. I’m just nodding and smiling and recognizing human nature told in an amazingly simple way. I got about half way through today and will finish tomorrow.

Chad wrote: "I started Animal Farm this morning on the train and it all immediately came back to me. What a great little novel. I echo the sentiments of one or two or three previous commenters that you need not know anything about the Russian revolution to completely understand what Orwell is doing here. The story easily applies to any large group of people establishing any form of government after a revolution....I’m just nodding and smiling and recognizing human nature told in an amazingly simple way..."

Oh, Chad, I so agree on these points! Orwell has such a clear view of human nature!

I completely agree with you about Benjamin, Jennifer and Jean. I feel like he is the one who may fully understand the situation and where it is all going to end up but that he has tried to communicate his wisdom in the past and none of the other animals ever listened. I think he may be smart enough to understand the situation and also smart enough to know that he isn’t smarter than a pig. I get the sense that he has maybe even lived through a similar situation before. Because “donkeys live a long time”. This may have broken him and made him Benjamin.
Edit: I see that Jennifer posted a link to an essay above that may travel along similar lines. I’ll read it once I finish my read of the novel. But I do love Benjamin. How can you be in your late 40s and not love Benjamin?

Chad wrote: "I completely agree with you about Benjamin, Jennifer and Jean. I feel like he is the one who may fully understand the situation and where it is all going to end up but that he has tried to communicate his wisdom in the past and none of the other animals ever listened. I think he may be smart enough to understand the situation and also smart enough to know that he isn’t smarter than a pig..."

Chad, your comment sent me off to look back through Animal Farm with an eye to Benjamin's part in the story.

When I first read this book as a teenager, the importance of Benjamin didn't particularly hit me. Now (being, like you, of an age to notice), I find that he is central to the story. His perspective and his comments (or refusal to comment) are critical at every key moment in the saga.

Benjamin is the brains and the quiet heart of the story. Each time that he speaks and each time that he remains silent, it is critical to the story. He's introduced as the oldest animal, the worst tempered, the one that never laughs, and as devoted to Boxer. Benjamin's silently flicking his tail to keep the flies off Boxer in Chapter IX, after Boxer's health fails, makes me tear up.

I find it interesting that the animals that are fluent readers are the pigs and Benjamin. Though Benjamin never laughs, his comments are arguably the funniest things in the book. For example: "Benjamin could read as well as any pig, but never exercised his faculty. So far as he knew, he said, there was nothing worth reading."

I do wonder if Orwell had read A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh? Benjamin has a bit of Eeyore about him. Mostly, I think it has to do with authors trying to write about donkeys, who are in fact long-lived, quietly very sociable, and very smart. Still, Winnie the Pooh had been around for 20 years, so perhaps? (That essay I linked to drops this idea, too.)

Anyway, I am here for the Benjamin fan club!

Any other final thoughts from those who have read or re-read Animal Farm recently?

Thanks to everyone who dropped by!

And if anyone is up for an Orwell-adjacent read, consider joining the May read of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It's a book that preceded and inspired Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and, directly or indirectly, George Orwell's 1984. Many here may have read it already, but perhaps not all?

JenniferAustin wrote: "I do wonder if Orwell had read A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh? Benjamin has a bit of Eeyore about him. ..."

I think that's very perceptive, as English people then would definitely be familiar with the Pooh stories from their childhood, even more perhaps than they are now (with Disney's version taking the place a little).

Thank Jennifer for all your sterling work here, providing the group with an enjoyable experience and also a valuable resource for any future readers of Animal Farm.

I'm late to the party but I'm going to read this book during the month of May. I'm particularly interested in it as I've recently read Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago which delves deeply into Stalin's barbarism which eventually came out of the revolution. Solzhenitsyn did not have the view that it was simply a wrong system or leadership that didn't work and if only a proper political system was installed everything would be okay ...... he said that basically any system would eventually fail if man did not recognize the small corner of evil inside himself and that every man/person has to fight against that evil instead targeting people or countries or political systems. Very rarely do I see anyone doing what he said, which is probably why we continually see such discord and hate and strife in the world. In any case, I'm so interested to read about Orwell's view of the situation.

I would highly recommend Solzhenitsyn's work, as it gives such a interesting (yet bleak) look into Stalin's (and Lenin's) Russia but also shows so many ways in which we are going wrong today. IMO, it should be a must read for everyone. So valuable. But you might prefer the abridged version .... normally I don't do abridgements but this book is loooooong (3 huge volumes) and the goal is to finish, not spend ten years of your life on it, lol!

Thank you, Jennifer for all the hard work you've done to make the read insightful and to encourage us to read deeply. It's much appreciated! 🙏

Cleo wrote: "I'm late to the party but I'm going to read this book during the month of May. I'm particularly interested in it as I've recently read Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago which del..."

Cleo, I am so glad this will be a helpful/fun discussion for you! Feel free to comment when you get to the book, and we can chat more!

I read an abridgement of The Gulag Archipelago years ago, and plan to re-read it at some point. (Want to lead a read of that some time? Something to think about?)

Oh, and here's a book that you might be interested in:
George Orwell and Russia by Masha Karp.


I came across mention of that book in an essay on the Orwell Society website:
"A Solzhenitsyn without a Gulag"
https://orwellsociety.com/a-solzhenit...

Per that essay, Karp's book mentions We, which I (and maybe a few others?) will be reading in May: "In her discussion of Zamyatin’s We (1919-20) Karp prefers to focus on the key differences, rather than the frequently-discussed ‘borrowings’ or similarities to Nineteen Eighty-Four. "