Love this Book

I have such a smile on my face when I read this book - it is just so good. In my memory I thought of this book as being about the corruption of power. But, the pigs are bad from the very start - it wasn't after time like I thought. As soon as they got the first pail of milk they started taking advantage of the other animals. It was quite the slippery slope. That is when the other pigs should have spoken up - instead of tacitly agreeing to keep the milk for themselves or to not inquire deeper as to where the milk went.

I also find it interesting that the whole premise for the animal rebellion was flawed. Major says man is the only enemy the animals have and if you remove man, the cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever. Is Orwell pointing to the grass is always greener syndrome or maybe that we chase after too simplistic of solutions to our problems? Major also says no animal escapes the cruel knife at the end. But, Major in fact does. He dies a natural death and Jones actually buries him.

There also seems to be a frog in boiling waters vs. a frog in slowly heating water thing going on. There are lots of little signs and incidents, but the animals keep ignoring things and not probing into things, and those little things turn into bigger and bigger things until it's a too big of a problem to solve. And they wouldn't know how to approach it anyway, because they are so accustomed to doing nothing. It's easier to believe that everything is okay and/or that nothing can be done vs. trying to put your finger on the problem and implement a solution.

Boxer seems to be the most flawed in this area. Every time he is right on the cusp of figuring things out, he just tells himself Napoleon must be right and that he should work harder. His work is what is allowing Napoleon to keep control of things and keep the farm going. Also, Boxer is the one that would have the physical strength to outpower Napoleon. But he isn't rising to his full potential. Because he seems to have the ability to realize things are wrong, but is ignoring it, I feel Orwell is implying he is an accomplice to Napoleon, perhaps an unwilling one, but still an accomplice. So for Orwell, you can be a good person, as Boxer certainly is, but that is not enough when you have the power to stop evil around you and don't do so.