Animal Farm Book Review Essay

The novella that I read for summer reading was Animal Farm. I chose to read this book because of great reviews from both adults and peers. It was written by George Orwell and was first published in 1975. Because Orwell was an adherent of socialism, Animal Farm is a satire showing the rise and fall of Soviet Communism through animals on a farm. The animals overthrow the unkind farmer, Mr. Jones and establish their own community and government that mirrors a communist society. When reading animal farm you can either view it as no more than animals eradicating their farmer and attempting to live a life without the humans or you can see it from a more intellectual point of view and realize that those animals represent people and that the

When you see that Mr. Jones is Tsar Nicholas II and how he eventually gets caught up in alcohol and ends up abandoning his duties on the farm. A quote from page 15 shows how he let his responsibilities go, eventually making it even easier for the animals to overthrow him, “Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring.” This sentence really shows that he certainly is not up to his job anymore. This helps you realize that Mr. Jones actually just represents Tsar Nicholas II. They both ended up unable to rule over others. When the realization sinks in whom all of the animals represent, it helps you understand and even learn how a communist government, more specifically the one of the Soviet Union really worked and the importance of all of the people in the time