4/10/2005 12:34:00 PM|||Jonthon|||

During Relay for Life, I started reading George Orwell's "Animal Farm." I had never read it before, and was instantly enthralled. In the next 24 hours, I had read the entire book. Though I read 1984 long ago, I am thus inspired to read it again, and have now begun to do so. In the book, the animals are able to overtake their human parasites, and thus enjoy the fruits of their own labors. They develop 7 commandments which are not to be violated, and soon find that they have the expertise to perform all the functions of the farm more efficiently than the humans had done, even without opposable thumbs. However, over the course of the book, the pigs, which are agreed to be more intelligent and thus better suited for planning and lesser suited for purposes of labor, gradually re-subjugate the other animals. At one point, the two major parties of the pigs become deadlocked, and the pig more closely representing the dismissive attitude of the current administration calls in the dogs he has been surreptitiously training in the attack. From then on, the Farm becomes basically totalitarian. Interestingly enough, the new order of pigs eventually adopts the windmill that they absolutely despised, that which was being adopted by the other pig party. They then force the other animals to commence construction of the windmill while reducing their rations and spreading lies regarding other farms and the other party of pigs, which no longer voiced opposition to any plans. Nonetheless, those remains are later slaughtered, even though one of the original commandments was that no animal shall kill another animal. No voice of opposition can ever be raised because they are drowned out by the sheep, which continually bah "four legs good, two legs bad" (reminiscent of americans good, liberals and foreigners bad - I FUCKING HATE sheep). In the end, the pigs move into the humans' house (originally forbidden), start wearing clothing (originally considered traitorous), and even start walking on two legs (the epitome of evil). The commandments, which were slowly and secretively changed throughout the course of the book, are finally reduced to one, simple rule: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. The book ends with the pigs playing cards with their human neighbors, and a fight breaking out after a man and a pig simultaneously play the Ace of Spades. More people should read this book. Better yet, more people should read. Simpler still, some people should be killed before they are allowed to subjugate the rest of us.

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