Book Review

Animal Farm through the Lens of an Apolitical, Common Reader

“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

Adil Alam
The Writer’s Block: On Writing Well
5 min readSep 28, 2023

--

Photo by Shraddha Agrawal on Unsplash

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

My first experience with the Orwellian classic was in 2018. At the time, I was only looking to expand my library from Goosebumps and Diary of a Wimpy Kid to actual novels (it was a transitory stage, don’t blame the little youth).

I wasn’t aware of its political or satirical nature. I didn’t make the connection between Old Major and Karl Marxx, Napoleon and Stalin, or Snowball and Leon Trotsky, ’cause frankly, I didn’t care.

I was always a history buff, so I had a general understanding of recent chronological events, but I picked up Animal Farm because the cover looked cool, and its short length was viable since I could use it as a stepping stone to larger reads.

Five years later, I decided to revisit it with a newer understanding of its allegorical nature. Mind you, I still don’t care about its references; the resentment against communism that George Orwell channeled to drive his work is simply not relevant in our times, but it may still have repercussions that have trickled down.

--

--

Adil Alam
The Writer’s Block: On Writing Well

I am a Top-Rated Writer and Editor on Upwork. I also run The Writer's Block Publication✒️