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There are animals that talk and a pig at the center of the story. But when you read Animal
Farm, don't expect another Charlotte's Web. This book is pure allegory.
On a farm in England, overworked, underappreciated animals dream of a Revolution. They yearn
to be free of human control and to live in an animal society in which everyone is equal.
Well, a Revolution these animals get, but equality? Not so much. That's because Animal
Farm was George Orwell's not-so-subtle critique of what went on during the Russian Revolution.
In the book, as in real life, idealism quickly gives way to class stratification. In other
words, some of the oppressed become oppressors themselves.
Equality is traded in for a ruling class and a working class.
And let's not forget the brainwashing.
Because the animals on the farm—just like the citizens of Russia—are strongly encouraged
to believe that they have it better than before.
So strongly, in fact, that they start to believe it—when, in reality, their labor is harder,
their pay is worse, and their lives are ever so much more miserable.
Did I mention that this book doesn't have a happy ending? But I guess that's what happens
when you're reading about the hypocrisy of tyranny.