Reading Report: Animal Farm by George Orwell

animal farm-george orwell
READING REPORT name: Tesse de Boer form: 4th date: October 24, 2011

|Title: | Animal Farm |
|Author: |George Orwell |
|Publisher |Secker and Warburg |
|Year of publication |1945 |
|Number of pages |111 |

1. Type of literary work:

Novel

2. Genre of the novel*:

Fantasy novel
Historical novel Political Fable

*more than one genre can be ticked.

3. Setting of the story What is (are) the place(s) of action: Maror/Animal farm

Indications (where in the novel can you find evidence of the setting(s)): The title of the book. All the important events happen at de farm like the Rebellion, the battle of the cowshed etc.

4. Time a. what is the time (period) of action: The beginning of the 20th century, from 1917 till the 1920's/1930's .

Indications(where in the story can you find evidence of the time of action): The story begins with the Rebellion, which is the Russian Revolution (1917) and ends when Napolean (Stalin) gets the absolute power, which was around 1925. However, there isn't a direct indication in the story.

b. what is the timespan of the story (= how much time elapses between the beginning and the end of the story): approximately 8 or 9 years. Indications (where in the story can you find evidence of the timespan)
At the start of the tale Clover is a middle aged mare (page 6) , in the end she is two years past the retirement age (page 94) , which is 12, so she is 14 years old. Assuming a 'middle aged' horse is 5 or 6 years old, the time span must be 8 to 9 years.

c. how is the story told: chronologically chronologically with flashbacks chronologically with anticipations not chronologically

5. Point of view:
1st person narrative
3rd person narrative omniscient narrative (= alwetend verteller)

6. Characters a. who is/are the main character(s) and give a brief description: 1. Napoleon : He is a ruthless, sneaky but very clever boar. Together with Snowball he leads the Rebellion. He takes over control and exiles Snowball. He is a dictator and stands for Stalin. 2. Snowball : Also a boar. He is tactical, a good talker, the architect of the windmill and cares for the education and the lives of the other animals. Gets expelled by Napoleon. He stands for Trotski. 3. Old Major : He is the father of the Rebellion. He was a old and wise boar, who had his own opinion on the way humans treated the animals. His ideas are later inverted into the seven commandments and Animalism. Stands for Karl Marx or Lenin. b. who are the minor characters: 1. Squeeler: He is the propaganda machine. A brilliant talker. The animals say he can turn black into white. He is loyal to Napoleon.
Boxer : A hard working horse, who isn't clever. His 2 mantras are: 'I'll work harder' and 'Napoleon is always right'. He gets betrayed in the end by Napoleon, who sends him to the butcher after he gets injured.
Clover: a motherly stout mare, who takes care of the others. She's a hard worker and even quite smart. She is one of the few animals who question Napoleon's decisions.

Explanation of the title:
Animal farm is what the Manor farm gets called after the revolution. It is where the story takes place.

What is the theme according to you and give arguments for your answer:
This fable is about the Russian Revolution. The exile of Mr. Jones (the tsaar), the civil war afterwards between Napoleon (Stalin) and Snowball (Trotski) and the principles of Animalism, which are quite like the Communism. The author, who is British, also criticises the inhabitants of the Sovjet Union, because of their stupidity.

9. Give a brief summary: N.B. in your summary you should refer to at least 2 (if necessary more) passages in the story which you consider to be decisive for the development of the plot (=verhaallijn). (give the number of the pages on which these passages occur or make copies of these pages and add them to your reading report)

The story describes the history of the Russian Revolution in 1917, but in another time and with other characters. There are many parallels between these two events. Mr. Jones, the drunken, inefficient owner of Manor Farm, was one day expelled from his property by the starving, rebellious farm-animals. They start to manage the farm by themselves under the leadership of the pigs. The revolution is the final result of a system of thoughts named "Animalism". (see page 7,8,9. The speech of Old Major) After the take-over, the pigs made up "The Seven Commandments" (page 21), based on Animalism. Every animal had to live by these rules. Thanks to the organising abilities of the pigs the farm is prosperous. Most animals are very content with the results of the revolution, although they have to work harder than before.

The leaders of the farm are the brilliant Snowball and the persevering Napoleon. But soon rivalry arises between them. At an election to decide which of them is the real leader Snowball gets driven away by the dogs that Napoleon had secretly trained.(see page 43).
Napoleon starts to terrorise the farm-animals with the help of the dogs and Squealer, his smooth spokesman. (see page 64). Under his command the Seven Commandments are changed again and again to the benefit of the ruling pigs. Whenever anything goes wrong, Napoleon puts the guild on Snowball.
Napoleon gets quite friendly with the human masters of the neighbouring farms, who had come to terms with the existence of Animal farm. 

The only hope and pride remaining to the animals is that they are the only farm ran by animals. That makes the shock even bigger when one day the pigs act so human like, that there is no difference to tell between them and the humans.

(source: http://www.scholieren.com/boekverslagen/5206 )

10 Evaluation Answer the following questions and give arguments for you opinion:

What did you think of the story? Did you like or dislike it and why?
I like the special way the author tried to tell a story. Instead of writing a complicated book on the political events in Russia, he has written a entertaining novel which seems innocent, but also criticises the leaders of communistic Russia. That is why I like the story. But the sometimes wordy way of writing get annoying in the end. And the end itself is, in my opinion, unsatisfying. Because it is just so predictable and ,unlike the story, a bit unimaginative.

b. Were the characters convincing? If so, what makes them, if not, why not?
Yes, I think the characters are very convincing. The author gives great descriptions of their characteristics and their actions, which make them convincing.

c. Did the story move you in any way? If so, how, if not, why not?
No, I don't think so. Probably because I didn't like the style of the author. The idea is very good and so is the message, but I found the way it was written pretty boring. d. Would you recommend the book to your friends?
No, probably not. The theme is interesting, but as I said before, I just don't like the style.