Resumo de Animal Farm - Orwell, George

It is hard to believe that any novel totalling less than 100 hundred pages can skilfully examine the political turmoil of a nation or have major literary significance, yet both of these are achieved by one book; George Orwell?s classic, Animal Farm.
Animal Farm is one of the most powerful and well known allegories ever written. Orwell manages to condense the whole Soviet struggle into a relatable tale of farm animals rising up against one oppressive tyrant only to find themselves under another. It is a tale that proves those two stated truths: power corrupts and every revolution leads to the recreation of a new ruling class.
One night after the drunken farmer has gone to bed the animals of Manor Farm gather to hear the Marxist ideals of the prize winning boar, the old Major. He tells them that, ?Man is the only creature that consumes without producing? and that no, ?animal in England is free?. He then urges them to get rid of man, for only then can their lives reach their natural span. He tells them that one day there will be a rebellion and though he does not know when it will come; he knows that they must never give up the struggle, for one day justice will prevail. He then leaves them will a song and the message, ?All men are enemies. All animals are comrades?.
A short while later the Major dies and the most intelligent animals on the farm prepare for the rebellion. The pigs plan and plot and three contenders emerge, Snowball, his nemesis Napoleon and the toadying Squealer. Of these three the leader is Snowball and under his guidance the animals drive away the cruel farmer and set up a new utopia named Animal Farm.
Snowball writes a set of seven commandments on the wall of the barn. ?No animal shall wear clothes?, ?No animal shall drink alcohol?, ?No animal shall kill another animal? and ?All animals are equal?. For the stupider creatures these are boiled down into the mantra ?Four legs good, Two legs bad?, which is bleated over and over again.
The animals spend the summer gathering in the harvest and see the rewards of their work but already not everything is good. The milk and apples are taken away for the pigs and more worryingly, comrade Napoleon raises the puppies orphaned by the rebellion to obey only him. The seeds of destruction are already sewn.

Soon the animals are fighting off the attentions of the other farmers who try to restore the natural order, but through the bravery and leadership of Snowball the animals win through. A bright future beckons.

But soon, Napoleon and Snowball clash over plans to built a windmill, to provide electricity to the farm, and Napoleon?s dogs drive Snowball away. History is then rewritten and when Napoleon decides to build the windmill after all he starts a new maxim; ?Napoleon is always right?.
Then the pigs move into the farmhouse. When the animals complain, the commandment on the wall that reads, ?no animal shall sleep in a bed? suddenly has the words, ?with sheets? added and the pigs justify their actions by saying that they need more luxury because of their higher brain power.
From there the pigs become even more corrupt and the animals? lives become even harder. All dissent is crushed and the pigs begin to kill.
The ultimate betrayal comes when Boxer, the carthorse whose strength was crucial in the victory against the farmer, is taken away to knacker?s yard. The pigs of course lie and tell the animals that he died at the vet?s but the animals notice that they have money for whiskey afterwards.

The years pass and soon there are few animals left who remember the idealistic glory of the rebellion. The commandments are erased and replaced with a single sentence, ?All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others?.
The pigs learn to walk on two legs and raid the farmer?s wardrobes. The mantra changes to, ?Four legs good two legs better?.
The previous name of the farm is restored and the farmers are invited to dinner with the pigs. At the same time the animals work to death for nothing and the ideals of the old Major are forgotten.
The beauty of Animal Farm is the time at which it was written. First published in 1945 it is the product of the brief era when the Soviets were allies not enemies.United in the struggle against the Facists, Communism was embraced under the reasoning that my enemy?s enemy is my friend.
The whole troubled history is brought to life and having read Animal Farm it is almost impossible to watch the footage of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin without thinking of the most chilling last line in the history of literature.
?The creatures outside looked from pig to man and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which.?

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