Animal Farm : Annotated Edition

Description

Under

the feckless husbandry of Mr Jones, the Manor Farm has fallen into disrepair.

Pushed into hardship, the animals decide to stage a revolt, and, led by two

young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, they overthrow Mr Jones and drive him away

from the farm. In the subsequent struggle for power, it is Napoleon who

emerges as a victor: he renames the place “Animal Farm”, gets rid of his

enemies and, by the way he behaves – expecting to be glorifi ed above the

others and turning the screw on his fellow beasts in order to keep them

subjugated – begins to resemble more and more the former rulers of the farm,

the hated humans.

Written during the Second World War and published in 1945, this allegorical

novel is a carefully constructed critique of the Russian Revolution and a

sharp satire on the abuse of power. It remains unsurpassed both as a document

of its time and as a testament to the versatility and creative genius of

George Orwell.