Animal farm is the first book I choose to read among the list of BBC Top 100 Novels. The book has aroused strong reaction and became famous since the date it was published. It reveals human reality by telling animals』 story in funny but extremely ironic way.
The story begins with a meeting held in one night by the animals in farm. Because of the great dissatisfaction of their owner, animals decide to have a revolution, chasing away the farmers and realize the equality among animals. They make definitions about 「friends」 and 「enemy」， elect the leader- an old pig, who died soon after the meeting and is taken place by two other pigs named 「Snowball」 and 「Napoleon」， and enacted Seven Commandments. The days at the beginning are harmonious. But soon there』s a split between two leaders- Snowball is declared enemy of the revolution. What』s worse, leader pigs abuse their powers and gain benefits for themselves, becoming exploiters as human.
It seems ridiculous for animals to have a revolution and for pigs to govern the farm. But when we put it into human』s society, the story makes sense. In fact it reflects on the revolution happened in Soviet in 20th century. Animalism is similar to Socialism, which emphasizes equality a lot, but actually inequality at all. Extreme equality is tend to get into an embarrassing situation like 「All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.」 Napoleon is also the reflection of Soviet』s leader Si Dalin, who was famous for his arbitrariness and toughness in the history and expelled Trotsky （Snowball reflects on Trotsky）。
The revolution of animals is based on being treated unfairly by human. Because their enthusiasm and hatred, they success at the beginning. However, they do not know how to remain a steady regime. The key of keeping a regime is to set restrictions to the power. In other words, to legislate. The responsibility and rights of both government and citizens should be showed obviously in the law.
Another opinion I have learnt from the book is that, we ought to be tough when tracing our goals. And we shouldn』t give up to our desires. In the book, in the end pigs become something very like human who they were against at first. And in reality, if we don』t keep a clear mind to control our desires and remember what kind of people we want to be, we will be lost and become people that we used to hate.
To make a conclusion, George Orwell makes the reveal of politics and humanity in a vivid and simple story, from which readers think much about the history and society.