Who controls the past controls the future. ...

داستان فوق العاده، شخصیت پردازی عالی یک داستان کوتاه اما زنده
هزاربار هم خونده بشه کمه

It must be at least 20 years since I last read these two dystopian classics. Although, I'm certain my opinion of them wouldn't have diminished one iota if I were to read them today. In fact, I'm sure they would, even now, contain much relevance to the current political scene.
The ending of Animal Farm is particularly prescient: the abandoned and betrayed animals looking in through the windows of the farmhouse and being unable to tell the pigs from the humans. This from a novel written 10 years before the discovery of DNA, which revealed that, of all the farmyard animals, the most closely related to humans were.....the porkers.

Excelente libro, una visión al futuro de las vidas de cada uno de nosotros, el uso de un nuevo lenguaje y el lavado de cerebro.

Un libro que más que una novela, es cultural.

За "1984"
Отдавна не съм давала 5 звезди на чисто художествена литература, но книгата е прекрасна.
Започнах я с доза скептицизъм, тъй като очаквах да не ми хареса, точно защото е хвалена отвсякъде, а аз съм се научила да имам едно наум за такива книги.
Каква беше моята изненада, когато установих, че книгата е умна,с кратки изречения,носещи максимален ефект и гениален подбор на думи. Думите, те правят красота��а на тази книга. Авторът ги използва като инструменти, като една дума на едно място може да бъде чук, а на друго - фина отверка, която леко затяга вече достатъчно стегнатия железен обръч около главата ти.
Най-странното е, че накрая вече не ми беше толкова страшно, замислих се защо? Може би защото авторът не ни остави нищо, унищожи всякаква надежда. Ако беше запазил някаква малка човешка победа,нещо мининиатюрно, като малко чисто квадратче върху изцапаната покривка, крайният резултат на въздействие, поне за мен, щеше да бъде още по-чудовищен.
Ако искате да научите колко прави 2+2, какво е Бог и какво има в стая 101, непременно почетете книгата.

I love 1984, I love Animal Farm, and I love George Orwell. There is so much wisdom and depth to these two stories and there is so much that has been written or said about them, it would be a struggle to review them without subconsciously regurgitating all the good things I've heard. I just feel like both of these stories, and especially 1984 should be read by everyone. I believe it helps you appreciate what you got and to question everything you hear. I believe they are some of the most thought provoking stories ever written and they're also fun to read, which sometimes isn't the case for a lot of the literary books people tell you that you should read.

I recall once when my friend Winston (I actually have a friend named Winston, I'm not referring to the protagonist of 1984,) had to read 1984 and was kind of down about it because he heard it was just political satire or something and he presumed it would be dull. I told him that I really enjoyed it and I assumed he would too. And when he was finished with it, he came up to me and told me how when he finished-- he had tears streaming down his eyes from how much it had touched him and that he loved it.

And, even after having finished it for a 2nd time, I had tears welling up and my heart strings were being tugged and my love for these stories has only grown. These are the types of stories that turn people into readers. The endings for both of them are probably my two favorite endings of all time and I feel that would be a crime not to mention.

10/10

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


Joseph Stalin

In Animal Farm George Orwell reenacted the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, Major, Napoleon, Snowball, Jones, and Frederick incarnating Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Tsar Nicolas II and Hitler. But through the fable, Orwell critiques not only communism but also any corruption of power, leaders highlighting real or imagined threats to instill fear in followers and solidify power.


Leon Trotsky

As often repeated throughout history, people out of fear often would submit to the state’s unchecked power in exchange for security real or imagined. In the end, Napoleon exploited the animals just as Farmer Jones previously had and even emulated humans when he gave a dinner to neighboring farmers, who represented the leaders of other nations and would gladly play poker with the tyrant as long as they can benefit from the friendship.

Animal Farm is a lighthearted fable for a serious subject.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Under Big Brother’s omniscient eyes, Winston Smith tried to ignite his only freedom, the freedom to believe in “obvious” truths, but by the novel’s end, at the café Winston was unsure what two plus two would make, a sign that O’Brien had successfully reintegrated a “lost soul” and Winston had become like his friends and neighbors, unable to question and thus unable to revolt. What sends shivers down our spines is not the various tortures O’Brien performed, but after these tortures, Winston’s total capitulation¾mind, body, and soul¾to Big Brother. When the mind kowtows to external authority and ceases to reflect and question, then the individual had successfully metamorphosed into a machine.


Oceania Society

Winston, by editing previous documents to conform to Oceana’s present position, such as whether Eurasia is friend or foe, had helped the regime’s guardians, who like O’Brien believed “who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past,” mold the citizens’ minds. But Oceana, like other totalitarian regimes, also turned to the indispensable tool, fear, to chisel its citizens’ minds and hearts to its agenda’s shape and form. To stimulate fear and rouse its citizens to a common cause, it would when necessary create fathom enemies, either Eurasia or Eastasia, even though these totalitarian regimes also had similar ideologies, or rather, like Oceana, no ideologies.

Under 1984’s dystopian sky, Winston must bow, not only because of Big Brother’s overwhelming power and presence, but also because of Winston’s inability to form any ideologies. Even though he wanted to think freely, he lacked the training and thus the analytical mind to counter O’Brien’s offenses. In the end, his mind followed the path of least resistance.

Orwell’s 1984 is a dark apocalypse of sub-human society where homo-sapiens had replaced machines to operate an efficient hierarchy, an apocalypse which any people would usher wherever and whenever they ceased to question “intuitively obvious truths.”



George Orwell

برای بار چندم خوندمش و چقدر حرص خوردم... یاد خوکهای وطنی افتادم که با چه وعده وعیدهایی سر کار میان و بعد ، خیلی ظالمانه تر از خوکهای قبلی کار میکنن.... و از همه اینها رنج آورتر تحریف تاریخ و ارائه آمار و ارقام من دراوردیشونه که ادم حتی خودش هم باورش میشه نکنه اوضاع واقعا بهتر داره میشه و من دارم اشتباه فکر میکنم!!!!!

You Must Read Animal Farm. That's the brief version of my review.

Eric Arthur Blair, or George Orwell as the world knows him, is a genius at describing fear, terror, doubt, uncertainty, mischief, evil, and hopelessness. The writing is beyond exquisite, even if the topic is morose. Such a loss to the world that Mr. Orwell died when he was just 46 years old. The unwritten works that he never wrote, the works that would have enriched our world and weren't meant to be. In Animal Farm, much like 1984, Orwell goes where you just don't want him to go - painting a dark grim bleak picture that grows worse by the page, of precisely what happens when the evil minds take over the masses, and scheme lie after lie until the truth is so distorted one can't even trust one's own memory. A fantastic allegory to the horrific Russian revolution and the communist party, one that makes you want to open up real history book to remind yourself that yes, this actually happened not to imagery sheep and hens and horses and farm animals in a little work of fiction, this happened to millions of people and this is still happening.

Well, I am so SO so glad I read this book even though it was uncomfortable, disturbing and scary - not half as scary as 1984 but scary enough to never forget. But I'm also glad it's over. It was heavy reading and an interesting feeling between loving the writer, loving the writing but resenting the story because it brings to light the ugliest of all ugliness in the world and puts it on the spotlight.

My favorite lines - favorite is a funny sort of word to use for lines that make your blood run cold but here goes:
"All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.",
"No animal shall drink ... to excess.",
"Four legs good, two legs better."
“Comrades!' he cried. 'You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege?"
"Surely comrades, you don't want Jones back now do you?"
"The animals wished there were less figures and more food in their bellies."
And on and on and on. This book is a gem, Orwell was a gift, and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to read Animal Farm.

«Книжка зачарувала його, або, точніше, додала йому впевненості. Загалом, нічого нового він не дізнався, але якраз у тому й полягала частина її привабливості. У ній йшлося саме про те, що він би також висловив, якби зумів привести до ладу свої переплутані думки. Це був витвір розуму, схожого на його власний, але набагато могутнішого, систематичнішого, менш заляканого». Подобається перечитувати книжки, які вже читав у свідомому віці, щоб мати змогу порівняти на чому концентрувався тоді і зараз. Досвід війни перестає бути таким абстрактним, ти краще усвідомлюєш, що таке тоталітаризм коли твоя реальність стає схожою на книжку.

«Сьогодні байдуже, що думають народні маси. Їм можна надати інтелектуальну свободу, оскільки у них немає інтелекту». Справді, навіщо володіти інтелектом, якщо алгоритми соціальних мереж обирають за нас і формують наше мислення. Уже не потрібно Міністерства любові, щоб полюбити Старшого Брата, достатньо тік-току, який продає вестернам комунізм.

«Якщо ти дотримуєшся незначних правил, то можеш порушувати значні». В цьому є якась жорстока правда, дотримуючись якої партія зачищає тих, хто надто за або проти неї. Не даремно в камері разом з Вінстоном опиняється його доброчесний сусід, якого здала донька.

«Найраціональніше ставлення до війни демонструють підкорені народи спірних територій. Для них війна - це просто безперервне лихо, яке, немов морська хвиля, прокочується їхніми життями. Їм абсолютно байдуже, хто перемагає. Для них зміна влади означає лише те, що їм доведеться виконувати ту саму роботу, що й раніше, але для нових володарів, які ставитимуться до них так ��амо, як і попередні».

Можна дорікнути автору або навіть персонажу за мелодраматизм, віру в те, що хтось за нього змінить реальність, поки він кохатиметься та вестиме щоденник, але кожен з нас в чомусь діє ідентично. Здалась дивною дещо істерична післямова, яку можна назвати еталонним зразком дводумства. Ігнорування проблем в українському суспільстві та зміщення уваги дорівнює толеруванню російського. Як на мене, хибно трактувати книжку лише як критику союзу та росії, коли йдеться про зловживання владою та потребу в існуванні демократичного механізму який унеможливить це.

این کتابو به همه پیشنهاد میکنم بخونن

I’ve read only 1984 since I know Animal Farm by heart.
I am so happy that I read this book before in Polish because damn the words used here are difficult. I would love to give 5 stars, but I had such a big problems with following the plot… I love Orwell but sometimes he goes too deep into describing really boring things.
I got surprised by the plot twist again. I absolutely loved it. It’s so nice to read a book that surprises you even though you read it before:)