animal farm

[dolf]

no, not that animal farm. the one by george orwell.
how old were you when you read it? did it have an impact on you?

 

[ChinaBandit]

I found 1984 far more compelling.

 

[warrior queen]

I must be one of very few who did not enjoy Orwells books.
I found them incredibly depressing.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

All depression is, is your awareness of your impotence and the futility of change.

 

[Polarbear57]

I found 1984 far more compelling.

Did you talk about equal rights for almost everybody .................?

 

[dolf]

I found 1984 far more compelling.

1984 is a fantastic book but i think animal farm is rather special. it's not easy to explain so much complexity with such simplicity.
politics, human nature, corruption, honour, betrayal, unfairness... not so much explained as presented in such a way that a 12y/o child could figure out their own explanation.

 

[kbate]

I think I first read it when I was about twelve and was first exposed to social history classes.

I find it amusing that both the right and the left look to Animal Farm to find inspiration for their political schemes, and always through pointing out the negative of the other side (as there is little positive to say about any system in Animal Farm).

1984 is one of the most misinterpreted books in history. A favourite of every political hack.

 

[ChinaBandit]

1984 is an indictment of Stalinist Russia, nothing more and possibily less if one considers how much was ripped off from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Still, a reviting read for a 13 year old.

 

[trysail]

no, not that animal farm. the one by george orwell.
how old were you when you read it? did it have an impact on you?

I may have been in my teens.



Q: Did it have an impact on you?

A: Are you kidding? Is the Pope Catholic? It is a very powerful allegory.

Some pigs are more equal than other pigs.​

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm

 

[Lancecastor]

I thought it was stupid and weird at the time and haven't picked it up since.

There was a book about a boy rebuilding an MG TC that I liked much better.

 

[Recidiva]

I didn't like it because it provided no intelligence or hope or solutions.

Just a sermon.

 

[Recidiva]

Some pigs are more equal than other pigs.​

This is a powerful line. If the book had just been this line, I might have liked it more. But I had to plow through the rest of the book.

 

[Recidiva]

1984, Catcher in the Rye, Animal Farm....

All books that consist of dire warnings that are pretty alien to my brain.

The warnings seem like ghost stories told around campfires to five year olds but without the fun and without the s'mores.

I don't think they're complicated, I think they're just an author who feels beaten by the world wanting to share how they feel beaten.

I prefer stories about people who do not feel beaten and can take on a pack 'o pigs or a dumbass teenager or a social constraint with grace, humor and if necessary, a good knowledge of weaponry.

Which is why history is more interesting than this sort of restrictive and dire fiction. There's always someone willing to shoot a pig.

 

[kbate]

Which is why history is more interesting than this sort of restrictive and dire fiction. There's always someone willing to shoot a pig.

Golding ruined pig killing.

 

[Recidiva]

Golding ruined pig killing.

This is why I prefer stories like "Firefly"

Yes, there are suppressive governments and war and horrors. There are also people who are smart who oppose it, who create their own freedom where they can.

I want to know how to effectively be a smuggler, run guns and operate in a black market.

I do understand that all human experience, including failure and especially failure sometimes are valid expressions of art. I'm not saying the books shouldn't have been written.

I don't think they're accurate depictions of what happen to all humans, and there should be some compare and contrast in the mix, not just a dark rat maze I'm supposed to run through and then be bummed at the end for what a victim I am.

Golding almost ruined "Survivor" for me too. I assumed that's what you'd get. Humans are much more interesting, thankfully.

 

[dolf]

I may have been in my teens.

Q: Did it have an impact on you?

A: Are you kidding? Is the Pope Catholic? It is a very powerful allegory.

Some pigs are more equal than other pigs.​

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the law editing had a huge impact on me too.
i think everyone who reads that line can think of an example where the laws applied differently to different people. even as kids.

 

[Joeybagadonuts]

no, not that animal farm. the one by george orwell.
how old were you when you read it? did it have an impact on you?

I read it in high school and it is always relevant to what is going on in society.

Everyone is equal except for pigs who are more equal.

 

[CandiCame]

I was itty bitty the first time. Maybe... 5ish. I liked the girl pony who only learned to write her name and said all other education was stupid. I got pissed off when the other horse was sold. I had no idea at all that it was related to human society in any way.

Then I re-read it again in high school and I was like, "Holy shit, this book is about stuff!". Then I thought the lady horse was a dumbass, but for some reason, I still really liked her. And I found myself getting actually pissed at the pigs instead of just blindly accepting that that was what happened, like I had when I was little.

This is one of those books that it was a really good idea to reread. When I read it as a child, it just made me sad. But when I read it as a teenager, I realized that it was sadness with a purpose. And, by that time, I was better able to detach myself from books so I'm not, you know, crying because a horse goes off to become glue. And the whole, "Changing the rules thing" didn't 'make perfect sense' like it does when you're little. Because when you're little, you do that really frequently, because you're learning about the world. It makes sense to change the rules as you learn more. But as a teenager, I was able to see it as corruption rather then learning more about the world.

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

name droppers

 

[dolf]

trouser dropper

 

[blobfish]

I read it when I was about fourteen, and I think it did impact my current political beliefs. It's an amazingly simple and clever analogy for the time in which it was written. I also find it very symbolic that it was first published in the same week that the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.

As for the other Animal Farm, I think you and I are probably the only two people here that know what that is, dolf!

 

[dolf]

I read it when I was about fourteen, and I think it did impact my current political beliefs. It's an amazingly simple and clever analogy for the time in which it was written. I also find it very symbolic that it was first published in the same week that the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.

As for the other Animal Farm, I think you and I are probably the only two people here that know what that is, dolf!

but the difference is, i have only heard of it.

 

[blobfish]

but the difference is, i have only heard of it.

Oh, umm... me too...

 

[dolf]

*cough*

 

[blobfish]

*clear throat*