Animal farm, By George Orwell, 1944
1
Old Major, a boar, had a strange dream and wished to communicate it to other animals.
Before long the other animals began to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their different fashions.
Boxer, cart-horse. A white stripe down his nose gave him a somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact, he was not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous powers of work.
Clover, cart-horse. A mare approaching middle life, who had never quite got her figure back after her fourth foal.
Muriel, the white goat.
Benjamin, the donkey. The oldest animal on the farm, and the worst tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark. … He would sooner have had no tail and no flies.
Before long the other animals began to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their different fashions.
Boxer, cart-horse. A white stripe down his nose gave him a somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact, he was not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous powers of work.
Clover, cart-horse. A mare approaching middle life, who had never quite got her figure back after her fourth foal.
Muriel, the white goat.
Benjamin, the donkey. The oldest animal on the farm, and the worst tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark. … He would sooner have had no tail and no flies.
Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever.
2
The work of teaching and organizing the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally recognized as being the cleverest of the animals.
Snowball, a pig. Quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character.
Napoleon, a pig, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way.
Squealer, a porker. a brilliant talker. when he was arguing some difficult point, he had a way of skipping from side to side, and whisking his tail. Others said he could turn black into white.
These three elaborated old Major’s teachings into a complete system of thought and name it Animalism.
Mollie, the while mare, asked the stupidest question of all,
Snowball, a pig. Quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character.
Napoleon, a pig, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way.
Squealer, a porker. a brilliant talker. when he was arguing some difficult point, he had a way of skipping from side to side, and whisking his tail. Others said he could turn black into white.
These three elaborated old Major’s teachings into a complete system of thought and name it Animalism.
Mollie, the while mare, asked the stupidest question of all,
will there still be sugar after the REbellion? And shall I still be allowed to wear ribbons in my mane?
The seven commandments:
- whatever .. is an enemy.
- whatever .. is a friend.
- No animal shall wear clothes.
- No animal shall sleep in a bed.
- No animal shall drink alcohol.
- No animal shall kill any other animal
- All animals are equal.
3
Boxer was the admiration of everybody. He had been a hard worker even in Jone’s time, but now he seemed more like 3 horses than one. … his answer to every problem, every setback, was “ I will work harder!”
But everyone worked according to his capacity.
But everyone worked according to his capacity.
- the hens and ducks saved 5 bushels of corn at the harvest by lathering up the stray grains.
- Mollie was not good at getting up in the morning, and had a way of leaving work early
- When there was work to be done the cat could never be found. reappear at meal time.
- The donkey seemed quite unchanged since the rebellion. He did his work in the same slow obstinate way as he done it in Jone’s time, never shirking and never volunteering for extra work either. About the Rebellion and its results he would express no opinion.
4
Benjamin was the only animal who did not side with either faction.
windmill or no windmill, life would go on as it had always gone on — that is , badly.
…
What changed as the story went on?
- No animal shall sleep in a bed (with a sheet).
- No animal shall drink alcohol (to excess)
- No animal shall kill any other animal (without reason)
- All animals are equal (some animals are more equal than others)
In the end, the human visitors are invited to the animal farm for business. They are surprised to learn that: The lower animals on Animal Fram did more work and received less food than any animals in the County.
My thought after reading
Overturning a dictator doesn’t neccesarily bring more freedom or welfare. It can be worse if a better ecosystem is not built from ground up.
While technologies are advancing so quickly with faster and faster iteration, the management of human society and human itself are so lagged behind. The different aspects of humanity are really existing in different virutal environment.
