Animal Farm

1. What is the book about as a whole?

It's a fiction book that is a metaphor of society and politics. Orwell illustrates through the farm how the established order gets destroyed and re-established as natural progression

2. What is being said in detail, and how?

The book setup is about animals living on the farm - each animal has unique traits. The pigs are smart and natural leaders, the dogs are obedient and powerful (military), the horses are hard-workers and obedient, the sheep are easily manipulated by the pigs (the masses), the hens are not-so-hard workers but don't cause a ruckus.

The story then describes how the animals achieve freedom from their tyrannical human owner and how the events unfold. There is a great sense of pride of their liberty and what follows. A new order is established and each animal takes its role in the new hierarchy, with the pigs on top.

Without going into more details, the story is an allegory for how the system is all about perspective - the pig leaders slowly turn tyrannical and the focus shifts from fighting for liberty into fighting for personal power. The workers are initially content but slowly descend into their natural previous state of being taken advantage of.

3. Is the book true, in whole or part?

Orwell does a great job at making believable characters. Each animal has unique traits that are identifiable with humans; they are not born equal. And the progression of the events felt natural to me; given the characteristics of the animals. I only found the last bit where pigs were walking on hind legs and were equal with humans far-fetched.

4. What of it?

I can recommend the book as it's short and is considered a classic for a reason. I enjoyed reading it and I find that the comparison between humans and animal farm works wonders. I admire the writing style.