So I decided to re-read ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell this week. I have read this book probably about 3-4 times in the past, but I don’t think that I’ve read it since I was in high school. (Side note: I first read it in eighth grade and then even wrote a paper in ninth, analyzing the book in relation to Communism.)
I had forgotten how short the novel actually is. I did a rough calculation and figured that the book was about 39,000 words. That’s it. That’s like the length of a middle school book.
Part of me was wondering if that was normal back in 1946. But then a part of me was wondering if this was originally supposed to be a short story. At any rate, Orwell managed to pack quite a punch in such a short length (which gave me something to think about when it comes to my own writing).
Speaking of ‘back in the day’, my ANIMAL FARM copy was originally my dad’s book that he picked up when he was a kid back in the 60s. It’s sort of difficult to see in the picture below, but the price tag in the upper right hand corner amuses me.
Do you see that? The book cost 95 cents. Less than a dollar!
It’s an antique! (I’m just kidding. Sort of.)
Anyway…
Despite me not reading this book in a few years, it still fills me with disgust and disbelief at how the pigs (mainly Napoleon, but Squealer certainly helped tremendously) managed to manipulate the animals. And how the other animals went on believing it anyway.
And Boxer’s ultimate demise still tears away at me (no spoilers!).
The most gut-wrenching chapter of them all (and there are only ten chapters) was clearly the last one. As I was reading it, I kept thinking, “No. That did not just happen.”
Looking back from reading this book when I was thirteen (which was not a required reading, by the way; a friend was reading it in her class and recommended it), I think this was really the first novel where it didn’t have some sort of happy ending. Everything just got worse and worse until the animals were right back where they started initially.
It frustrated me back then. Nowadays, when I find myself writing stories, I notice that I typically include some sort of mix; some characters get “happy” endings, but others in the same story don’t.
And I wonder if that is the result of me shedding my child-like thinking while I was growing up, beginning to view the world where some things just aren’t fair.
…How’d I get on the topic of childhood psychology from ANIMAL FARM?
Whatever. Just read the book. It’s a classic.
P.S. I’m sorry for the excess use of parentheses that I included in this post.
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