In class yesterday, we discussed Orwellian naming of the USA PATRIOT Act. This reminded me of one of George Orwell's books, "Animal Farm". As a child, I would watch an animated cartoon version, dubbed in Hebrew. A few years ago I read the book.
As I mentioned in my "Praise Obama!" post, my dad was born in the Soviet Union and, as such, knows a lot of the history of how the communist entity came to be. When analyzing both the book and movie, I realized just how analogous "Animal Farm" is to the Soviet Union's history. Both began with the overthrow of a tyrant (czar/farmer) and eventually, through many other analogies, suffer, under the rule of an oppresive dominant class, far worse than they did under the original tyrant. Orwell's brilliance is incredible.
"Animal Farm was written in 1945, a time when ideals of workers' rule were still popular among many in Europe. Making no direct reference to the Soviet Union, Orwell shows exactly how every system of the kind the Soviet Union attempted to institute will fail. I sincerely hope that those who have read "Animal Farm" understood how its story can be applied to all nations and states. This leaves me with one question: do others understand "Animal Farm" the way I do? Do you think it is truly a representation of all communist systems' doom?
George Orwell - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell
Orwellian - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwellian
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment