i just finished animal farm and honestly, i’m in awe. it’s a novella, but the weight it carries is immense. what makes it brilliant is not just its storytelling but also the historical pretext behind it. it is not merely a fable about animals, it’s a direct allegory of the russian revolution and the rise of stalinism (which i found out after actually finishing the book).
old major, the boar, embodies marx and lenin, the thinkers who dreamt of revolution, who sowed the seeds of a world free of exploitation. but then, napoleon, the pig, takes charge, representing stalin, ruthless and cunning, consolidating all power for himself. snowball, the idealist, the trotsky figure, is exiled and erased from memory. and boxer, the loyal horse, represents the working class, the ones who believe, who give their entire strength to the system, who trust authority blindly with “i will work harder” and “napoleon is always right.” yet, in the end, their devotion is betrayed. they are not valued, not even in death, they’re exploited until their last breath and then sold off, just like boxer is.
clover, the maternal horse, is equally heartbreaking, she stands for the women of the working class. she knows something is wrong but cannot articulate it, cannot resist it. then there’s moses, the raven, who represents religion. napoleon does not suppress him. why? because religion, promising a “sugarcandy mountain,” is convenient for rulers. it pacifies the people, keeps them in line, makes them endure suffering in the hope of another world. and squealer, the propaganda machine or media, is always ready to twist the truth, rewrite the commandments, convince the animals that their eyes deceive them.
this is why animal farm is not just about stalin’s russia. it’s about the pattern of history itself. every revolution begins with promises of equality and liberation, but power corrodes. those who rise to the top inevitably secure privilege for themselves, and the ideals of the revolution collapse into oppression once more. the most devastating line in the book captures this eternal cycle, "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
and that is why animal farm is evergreen. it doesn’t belong to the 1940s alone, it belongs to every age. even today, whether you look at global politics or closer home, you see the same patterns. propaganda, rewriting history, exploitation of the working class, religion being used as a political tool, and the dangerous comfort of obedience. orwell warns us that revolutions do not end in utopias, rather, they often end in new hierarchies. true equality, remains elusive.
what makes this novella so powerful is also its simplicity. written like a fable, yet it slices open the darkest truths of human society. and that bitter truth is hard to swallow. the dream of “all animals are equal” will always collapse into “some are more equal than others.” maybe that’s the human condition itself.
old major, the boar, embodies marx and lenin, the thinkers who dreamt of revolution, who sowed the seeds of a world free of exploitation. but then, napoleon, the pig, takes charge, representing stalin, ruthless and cunning, consolidating all power for himself. snowball, the idealist, the trotsky figure, is exiled and erased from memory. and boxer, the loyal horse, represents the working class, the ones who believe, who give their entire strength to the system, who trust authority blindly with “i will work harder” and “napoleon is always right.” yet, in the end, their devotion is betrayed. they are not valued, not even in death, they’re exploited until their last breath and then sold off, just like boxer is.
clover, the maternal horse, is equally heartbreaking, she stands for the women of the working class. she knows something is wrong but cannot articulate it, cannot resist it. then there’s moses, the raven, who represents religion. napoleon does not suppress him. why? because religion, promising a “sugarcandy mountain,” is convenient for rulers. it pacifies the people, keeps them in line, makes them endure suffering in the hope of another world. and squealer, the propaganda machine or media, is always ready to twist the truth, rewrite the commandments, convince the animals that their eyes deceive them.
this is why animal farm is not just about stalin’s russia. it’s about the pattern of history itself. every revolution begins with promises of equality and liberation, but power corrodes. those who rise to the top inevitably secure privilege for themselves, and the ideals of the revolution collapse into oppression once more. the most devastating line in the book captures this eternal cycle, "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
and that is why animal farm is evergreen. it doesn’t belong to the 1940s alone, it belongs to every age. even today, whether you look at global politics or closer home, you see the same patterns. propaganda, rewriting history, exploitation of the working class, religion being used as a political tool, and the dangerous comfort of obedience. orwell warns us that revolutions do not end in utopias, rather, they often end in new hierarchies. true equality, remains elusive.
what makes this novella so powerful is also its simplicity. written like a fable, yet it slices open the darkest truths of human society. and that bitter truth is hard to swallow. the dream of “all animals are equal” will always collapse into “some are more equal than others.” maybe that’s the human condition itself.
❤8
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bro i need someone like toshi in my life
😭11
i don’t even know what is going on in this college anymore. the atmosphere is so utterly non-academic that it feels like no one here is genuinely inclined towards studying. and i keep asking myself that why have these people even taken this course, this holy course? i imagined literature would be a space of depth, rigor, and thought. instead, i find myself on the verge of tears in the middle of lectures. when the teacher asks if anyone has doubts, the questions raised are so childishly simple that they sound like something from nursery school. and the level of foolery that follows is beyond imagination. it is exhausting. the reading sessions are even worse. when people are asked to read aloud, their accents and pronunciations are so unbearably bad that i feel as if my own diction will collapse just by sitting in the room. what makes it worse is that the teachers don’t even correct them. and the phd scholars, those who are supposed to guide us, carry the same flaws. their pronunciation is poor, their interpretations are often wrong, and yet they deliver it with confidence. everyone else nods along, as if in agreement, while i am silently screaming, what is even going on?
and here lies the real frustration. this is not what studying literature was supposed to be. i had imagined something else entirely, a different level of discourse. instead, i am stuck in classrooms where english is butchered daily. my own fear now is that if i keep studying in this environment, my english too will be butchered. sometimes, in those moments, i feel like laughing at the absurdity, crying out of despair, or even crushing my skull out of sheer frustration. because what i had envisioned and what i am receiving are worlds apart. i wish i had a better college, a better circle of people, a place where peers actually know what we are doing here. i crave that intellectual company, but here, i am only left with disappointment.
and here lies the real frustration. this is not what studying literature was supposed to be. i had imagined something else entirely, a different level of discourse. instead, i am stuck in classrooms where english is butchered daily. my own fear now is that if i keep studying in this environment, my english too will be butchered. sometimes, in those moments, i feel like laughing at the absurdity, crying out of despair, or even crushing my skull out of sheer frustration. because what i had envisioned and what i am receiving are worlds apart. i wish i had a better college, a better circle of people, a place where peers actually know what we are doing here. i crave that intellectual company, but here, i am only left with disappointment.
😭14❤3👍1