A satire story written in 1945 to symbolise communist party rule and how personality cult takes shape leading to autocratic rule.
A synopsis - Mr.Jones runs a farm with many animals where he treats them badly. One day the animals rebel, chase Mr.Jones out and take over the farm and live a happy life working all for themselves. The pigs being intelligent of the lot take over leadership of the farm and more particularly over a period of time by Napoleon (one of the pigs) who turns autocratic and is protected by his fierce dog force spreading fear among other animals. As days pass to years Napoleon take full control and all animals are worked as slaves and Napoleon becomes more ferocious than man in his cruelty to animals.
Even though it is now 75 years since publication of this book many points in the book is quite relevant even today. Some takeaways for today's corporate world from this book
Work Smart use your intellect - Working Hard without thinking is no good
A great character in the book is Boxer the horse who is a very strong animal and has an appetite for work. He works extra hours in the morning & also in the evening, at times all alone. When two times the wind mill gets destroyed he takes upon himself to re-build it. Though being a strong horse he fails to understand certain things. One he cannot be healthy always and run with the same energy all the time, second he always blindly believes his autocratic leader Napoleon and refuses to question his action and always says "Napoleon is always right". He continues to work hard and does not use his intellect leading to his health getting deteriorated and finally being sent to the slaughter house by the leader whom he believed so much.
What you hear and see is not the truth always - Use your judgement & act only when fully convinced
Squealer the pig is the number two after Napoleon and is the "Propaganda minister" of the farm. He is the communicator between the autocratic leader Napoleon (who seldom appears in public) and other animals in the farm. He is such a master communicator that he passes on all lies as true almost always ending the story with "you do not want Mr.Jones to be back don't you?". This scares the animals and they take word of Squealer to be true. Squealer also amends the seven commandments written on the wall time to time to suit the pigs cause in a clever manner knowing pretty well that rest of the animals have little memory power and do not know to read. Believing Squealer all animals in the farm over a period of time become slaves working with little food & rest. If the animals have checked the stories of Squealer right from the beginning the autocratic leader Napoleon would not have become very strong and lived up to the original commandment which read "all animals are equal" rather than the amended commandment which read "all animal are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"
Team work is a winner always
During two battles in the farm - "battle of the cowshed" and the "battle of the windmill" - it was the team work of animals charging together against the men with guns in their hands made victory possible for them. True there were some casualties among the animals in the battle but teamwork ultimately turned tide in their favour and animal's turned victorious in both the battles. Whatever may be the situation it is better to face it as a team which will bring more desired result than an individual action
When you have to Action - Action
Benjamin the donkey is a old & wise animal in the farm almost equal to the pigs in intellect. He is well aware of the actions of the pigs and dogs and also aware of the change in commandments done by Squealer. He is always skeptical about all events happening in the farm but not take any action or warn any animal. He is also a cynical animal taking care of himself and least bothered about group welfare. Though being aware of all events in the farm he never takes any action or induces anyone to take action, he remains a mute spectator (with some grumbling) and allows the pigs and dogs to take absolute control of the farm thereby making other animals including himself as a slave. Had he taken action, situation would have been different at the farm which he failed to do.
Overall a very good book to read by people of all ages. I enjoyed reading this book and was able to correlate very easily to day to day life. Must read book. I am planning to watch the Animal farm movie also soon
Super
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