George Orwell – BookBunnies

Last week while talking about Flowers for Algernon, Marshmallow and Sprinkles touched upon a book by George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, first published in 1949. This week, Marshmallow thought it might be a good idea if they picked up this book on its own and chatted a bit about it together.

Marshmallow reviews Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. — Marshmallow reviews *Nineteen Eighty-Four* by George Orwell.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow let us start with a quick recap of the book.

Marshmallow: Okay. Winston Smith, the main character of the book, lives in this weird futuristic world. The year is 1984, but even though 1984 is a long time ago for us today, it was a long time in the future when the book was written. The world Smith lives in is controlled by a government, run by the Party, which has several departments with contradictory names. For example there is the Ministry of Peace which deals with war. The Ministry of Truth deals with information and basically propaganda and the brainwashing of the population. And there is a Ministry of Love and a Ministry of Plenty.

S: I remember the Ministry of Truth and the Ministry of Peace, but I did not remember the Ministry of Plenty and the Ministry of Love. What do they do?

M: Ministry of Plenty deals with economic affairs, and the Ministry of Love deals with law and order.

S: Oh, yes, now I remember the Ministry of Love, of course. It involves the citizens’ love of Big Brother.

M: Yes, it seems that is the main goal of all punishment. It is creepy; everywhere the people are reminded that the Big Brother is watching them.

S: That phrase has now taken on a life of its own; people use the Big Brother to talk about government surveillance, and sometimes even corporate surveillance.

M: Yes, you even have a poster that says “Big Brother Is Watching You” in your office.

S: I think it is a good reminder. Even though we are not living in Winston Smith’s world of Oceania, I think it is always a good idea to remember that everything you do can be tracked, especially these days, especially if you are doing anything online.

M: Sounds a bit paranoid, no?

S: Well, I don’t really mean it quite that way. I mean it is always a good idea to think about what bread crumbs you leave for people out there. And it can always be worse, of course. There are many places in the world today, and there have been many societies throughout the world in all its history, where saying things and doing things that the governing people did not approve of would be met with harsh retaliation. We are quite lucky that we are not living in such a system, but it is always good to keep in mind what could have been or what could eventually come to happen.

M: I guess that is why George Orwell wrote this book, right? To warn us?

S: I think so. He was very concerned about the rise of the totalitarian Soviet regime and wanted to describe what could be its ultimate end point.

Marshmallow is reading Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. — Marshmallow is reading *Nineteen Eighty-Four* by George Orwell.

M: In that way, this book does relate to Orwell’s other book that I reviewed for the blog, Animal Farm. That book, too, was a warning in some ways.

S: I agree. But would you want to open that up a bit?

M: That book was about how power corrupts and how governments can fail to represent their constituents’ needs when they are overtaken by ambitious individuals who manipulate the public to their own advantage. Here, too, power shows up. The Party is very much interested in staying in power. In fact that is part of Winston Smith’s job. At the beginning of the book, he is working at the Ministry of Truth and his job is to change the history and the complete record of things when the Party decides to support an alternative interpretation of the facts or sometimes even alternative facts.

S: That phrase has become quite famous these days too. Right?

M: That’s true! But I am also intrigued by the Party. We don’t ever really know what the Party is. And it is not even clear if there is a rebellious faction or if there is any other country out there, or anything else, any other possibility for the people in this world.

S: The Party’s rule is so complete, isn’t it? When I read this book for the first time, I was flabbergasted by the very end. It shook me, and I could not get over it for a while. I guess the total in totalitarian is real.

M: The thing that really got to me is that everything all goes back to the Party, even the illegal activities seem to be led and facilitated and controlled and crushed by the Party as the Party finds fit. It is so weird.

S: No way out. That is how I felt.

M: Yes, it was pretty hopeless. The overwhelming feeling I got was that if you find yourself in this situation, there is no way of getting out.

S: I guess Orwell wanted to warn us that such a future could happen, and once it did, there would be no way out, so we’d better not get ourselves to that point.

M: Makes sense to me.

S: So having read two of his most famous books, which of Orwell’s two books do you like more?

M: I still like Animal Farm more. I especially liked the fable nature of it. It seems to be about these farm animals, but it is so clearly about humans! And it also showed how even though the animals had good intentions at the beginning, they slowly went astray, in small steps. You could see the development, and it was very depressing, too, but you could see the steps that led them astray and you could see the end result would be pretty terrible. Having read Nineteen Eighty-Four, I think it is basically the end result of Animal Farm.

S: It is also a lot shorter and perhaps a bit easier, right? So would you recommend other bunnies to read either of the books?

M: I think both of them are books everyone should read. They are both heavy, but they point to very important issues. So I’d say to all bunnies that they should read both of the books. Not to depress yourself, but to start seeing possibilities and to try and avoid them. There is some sexual relation stuff in Nineteen Eighty-Four, as we spoke about in my review of Flowers for Algernon (though not as much as there was in that book), so perhaps Animal Farm is more appropriate for younger bunnies. And as you say, that book is shorter than this one, so it would be easier to read for that reason, too.

S: I tend to agree with you Marshmallow. I think we have said enough for one review today. As we wrap it up, tell us how you would rate this book.

M: I’d rate it 95%. Very good book, left me quite disturbed in the end.

S: And what else would you like to say to our readers?

M: Stay tuned for more amazing reviews from the book bunnies!

Marshmallow rates *Nineteen Eighty-Four* by George Orwell 95%.

Marshmallow found a copy of George Orwell’s classic Animal Farm during her summer break and chose it for her first review of August 2019.

Marshmallow reviews Animal Farm by George Orwell. — Marshmallow reviews *Animal Farm* by George Orwell.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books that are about animals that act and talk like humans, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): The animals on Manor Farm gather to listen to the last speech made by Major, an old boar who is about to die. Major says in his speech that man is the real enemy and that if they overthrow the farmer then they can be free. He says that man does not produce anything like milk and eggs, but humans are still the top of the food chain. Three nights later Major passes away.

Soon after, three pigs named Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer start a rebellion against humans, like Major said. They succeed and eventually overthrow the farmer Jones and his wife. The farmer runs away and leaves the farm to the animals. The animals rename the farm Animal Farm. But Jones does not want to give away the farm. He goes back to the farm to regain the farm. The humans lose and the animals remain the owners of the farm for the time being.

Before the fight, the animals establish a kind of law called The Seven Commandments.

The Seven Commandments
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

These rules will eventually change and change for the worst.

Marshmallow is pointing to the original seven commandments in George Orwell's Animal Farm. — Marshmallow is pointing to the original seven commandments in George Orwell’s *Animal Farm*.

Animal Farm is a happy place until the leaders start getting corrupted by greed for power and eventually turn against each other. Snowball proposes that they build a windmill to get electricity. Napoleon is against the idea. The two comrades turn against each other. Napoleon trains a few dogs to use as bodyguards and he frightens Snowball away with them. Then he eventually says that he had agreed with the windmill plan the whole time and that he was really just pretending to disagree. Napoleon also says that it turns out the Snowball was allies with the evil farmer Jones. They start to build the windmill. Once they finish the windmill, after a lot of tiresome work, the windmill breaks and Snowball is blamed for the destruction of the windmill.

This is only page 47; the book has 95 pages total. A lot more happens but I think this is enough to give you a taste of what is to come.

Marshmallow’s review: This book is an allegory about how people treat each other when they have too much power. It reminded me of Aesop’s fables where the main characters are animals acting like humans. But this is a much more political story than The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

“It is the history of a revolution that went wrong—and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine.”
wrote Orwell in the original blurb for the first edition of Animal Farm in 1945.
from the back cover.

As in fables you learn lessons from the story. It seems that pretty much anybody can be corrupted by power. Of course, the silence and cooperation of the farm animals who are all scared of being the next victim of Napoleon’s dogs allow his corruption to grow.

This book is quite pessimistic and does not have a happy end. But maybe we can learn from it some things. All in all I appreciated reading it and will likely read it again.

Marshmallow’s rating: 95%

Marshmallow rates George Orwell's Animal Farm 95%. — Marshmallow rates George Orwell’s *Animal Farm* 95%.