George Orwell's Animal Farm has proven prophetic. Most of
us haven't read this book in decades. As a refresher, I shamelessly
copied the synopsis from the link provided below. You can learn
lessons as they're applied today in the context of Orwell's
work.
The farm animals who inhabit the Manor Farm are mistreated and
abused by Farmer Jones. The animals rebel, expel Jones, and take
over the farm, which they rename Animal Farm. Soon, however, the
pigs (who represent the party bosses) begin to take special
privileges for themselves, e.g. extra food. They enlist the farm's
dogs as enforcers to put down any dissent, and they teach the sheep
(rank and file) to speak the party line on demand. At first, this
is, "Four legs good, two legs bad"- animals (four legs) are good,
humans (exploiters) are bad.
As time passes, the Seven Commandments (Animal Farm's
Constitution) undergoes subtle changes as the pigs rewrite it to
suit their own agenda. When Boxer the horse (symbolizing
blue-collar labor, the "workers,") becomes too old to work, the
pigs sell him to the horse butcher, whom they tell the other
animals is really the veterinarian. The pigs eventually learn to
walk on two legs, thus imitating the animals' original exploiters,
and they teach the sheep to bleat, "Four legs good, two legs
better!" The Seven Commandments become one: "All animals are equal,
but some animals are more equal than others." The pigs rename
Animal Farm the Manor Farm- its original name- and invite the
neighboring human farmers, who symbolize the elite class against
whom the animals revolted, to admire the results: "...the lower
animals on Animal Farm did more work and received less food than
any animals in the county." As the story ends, the pigs become
indistinguishable from their human visitors.
George
Orwell's Animal Farm
Geocache satire in the spirit of "The Onion -
America's Finest News Source".
Maryland DNR Approved
