Now comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strenth; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth. "But it is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because of this land of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell upon it? No, comrades, a thousand time no! The soil of England is fertile, its climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundanceto an enormously greater number of animals than now inhabit it. This single farm of ours would support a dozen horses, twenty cows, hundreds of sheep and all of them living in a comfort and a dignity that are now almost beyond our imagining. Why then do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings. There, comrades is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word. Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene and the route cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever. "Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs,he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our labour tills the soil, our dung fetilises it, and yet there is not one of us that owns more than his bare skin. You cows that I see before me, how many thousands of gallons of milk have you given during this last year? And what has happened to that milk which should have been breeding up sturdy calves? Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. And you hens, how many eggs have you laid in this last yeay, how many of those eggs have hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to market. Just an excerpt I typed up... I'm currently reading this. ~ George
A very good book. I read it in 7th grade, and I actually saw the animal rights message before I saw the political allegory. A few years ago, a live-action version of Animal Farm was produced, and the pro-animal message was even stronger. I'll never forget the scene where the farm animals march into the vacated human house and look at the suede couch..."Animals die, so humans can have a nice place to sit!!"
I don't know if anyone else but you noticed, but it seems like a vegetarian book, even though Geoge Orwell is not?
I've read the book, and really liked it. Wasn't really tuned into animal rights at the time so missed that a bit, but with hindsight it is apparent. I remeber there is a scene when they enter the house, find a leg of ham and give it a funeral.
Def. one of the best books of all time! However I originally read it for the political zeal and now find it hard to recognise it as anything else... but does anyone know if George Orwell felt particularly strongly about animal rights? I know he had the whole human rights thing pretty well down
I never read the book. But I watched the movie. Man that was scary, I didn't like it back then (10yrs old), but now I do. It's got a great moral in it. ALL MEAT LOVERS SHOULD WATCH IT! Man, wonder how much it would change the world if they did.
My whole class studied animal farm, complete with movie watching. Don't think any made the connection (we were 16 at the time) You need to be open to such material and understand it's message, otherwise it's just another movie. My family have seen Babe, Chicken run, Finding Nemo; and it never put them off meat.
It actually isn't supposed to be a vegetarian book, it was meant to be a political commentary on how even when government's are overthrown, eventually someone else will always take power. It was strictly a political piece (To me), but if you believe it has an animal rights message I can see where you are coming from. Peace and Love, Dan
"I am a nice shark. Not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food."
I think it's good for a lot of things. Animal Rights for the first part. Then politics and government... etc.. however you view it. It still has lots of inside meaning and morals than major messages behind it.
Wouldn't a lot of people here be against the fact they use animals in movies? And how they use Animals to entertain Humans instead of letting them be free? Peace and Love, Dan
I know it was just political commentary, but what was really happening, the hoarse being sent to the glue factory, etc. seemed to take the vegetarian side.
There is a live action version (that's the one I saw) And yes as a rule I dislike animals being used in entertainment. Unless they are really well cared for and love their job. I think most of the scenes in the movie were shot with animatronics (sp) (from the company that made the muppets)
