Uptons_BJs t1_j12nrrp wrote on December 21, 2022 at 5:34 AM

So one of the big weaknesses of Animal Farm in my opinion is how specific the allegory is - It is almost a one to one relationship.

You know how often late night talk show hosts crack very specific jokes about the events de jour? Like if you didn't read the headlines that day you won't get the joke? That's Animal Farm, where almost everything in the story is a specific reference to events in the Soviet Union following the october revolution.

For instance, the executed animals' confessed guilt? That's a reference to the great purge, where the NKVD would routinely snatch up people and tortured them until they would confess to the most absurd shit.

And that's why I don't rate Animal Farm as highly as many others do here. It just isn't a timeless book, it is a very, very thin allegory with a ton of references to specific events and people. Hell, most teachers teaching the book start with a quick primer on the october revolution and who the people the various animals are a reference to are. Becuase you practically HAVE TO get the references to enjoy the book.

ChefButtes t1_j12tjh6 wrote on December 21, 2022 at 6:38 AM

I have read the book a few times and am not super educated on history, but am fairly familiar with the idea of a tyrannical government and I thought it was fairly obvious all that stuff was just propaganda.

SideEyeFeminism t1_j13b1kt wrote on December 21, 2022 at 10:33 AM

I enjoyed Animal Farm a lot, but that’s because it was my 8th grade History and Language Arts teacher’s tool to literally introduce us to the concept of political based allegory and as long as you give the prep of that type of rundown, it really is a very good Baby’s First Allegory.

JamJarre t1_j13slqz wrote on December 21, 2022 at 1:43 PM

I think the book is perfectly enjoyable as a parable without knowing specifically that it's about Stalin's rise to power.

oddfeett t1_j13kddp wrote on December 21, 2022 at 12:27 PM

The point of it is fairly obvious without any more than a passing knowledge of the events that transpired. But, given that it is supposed to be a critique of those real events, I don't see how it would really be a fault of the work that it corresponds with events transpiring as it was written and blah blah blah. Anyways I don't really care for Animal Farm either.

_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ t1_j13rqsc wrote on December 21, 2022 at 1:36 PM

Those specific events are taught in schools (often with this book), whereas the subject of most topical jokes are not.