Animal Farm by George Orwell (aka Eric Arthur Blair)

[Flareth]

I haven't read that. I think we were supposed to read it in 9th grade (It was either Animal Farm or 1984), but we didn't have enough time to. I believe i have it...I should pick it up.

 

[Zora of Termina]

So Marx was like "COMMUNISM HELLZ YEAH \o/"
And Engels was all "...yes dear."

One day I will draw a picture book of their epic adventures.

This would be an amazing picture book and I would buy the shit out of it.


More to the point, I... have not read this! Not even for school. Then again I never did favor Orwell's writing. so.

 

[Karkat Vantas]

When I read it (a while ago, admittedly), the scene didn't strike me as at all pornographic or anything? Doesn't Orwell just sort of mention how awesome Julia is and then there's a discrete fade? I mean yeah Winston and Julia spend a fair amount of time just chilling in bed later on but I don't think it's anything wrong.

I think nine-year-olds wouldn't really get all the points the story is making (considering even many adults can't) but the sexual content isn't anything to write home about. Though I don't know, maybe in the US vaguely mentioning sex in the general vicinity of a child is akin to rape.

"The more men you've had, the more I love you"?

In the US, from what I've observed, polygamy is serious business moreso than sex. (See: Monica Lewinsky) It's taboo to show sex in the media, yeah, but I see sluts everywhere in the city and you can't walk two blocks in Manhattan without seeing a taxi advertising the "Flashdancer's Gentlemen's Club".

Either way, it means that the closest you're ever getting to dystopian fiction in an American junior high class is The Giver.

Not like it makes a difference-- once you've read 1984, you've read pretty much every dystopian fiction book to come afterwards. Especially now; since the Hunger Games, YA has been steadily shifting towards dystopia, by which I mean rubbish with the basic message of "BIG BROTHER IS BAD!!!"

The best dystopian book of the last decade is by far MT Anderson's Feed... have any of you read it? It's really underrated imo. Uglies is also pretty good from what I've heard.

I c ould also go on for hours abouot dystopian fiction.

 

[opaltiger]

Not like it makes a difference-- once you've read 1984, you've read pretty much every dystopian fiction book to come afterwards.

Ignoring the fact that the best dystopian fiction predates Nineteen Eighty-Four, this is simply not true. The Handmaid's Tale? The Dispossessed, arguably? These books are not at all like Nineteen Eighty-Four.

 

[Karkat Vantas]

I'm not saying every book to come afterwards is like 1984, but it pretty much is the modern template for a dystopian fiction book.

 

[Minish]

I'm not saying every book to come afterwards is like 1984, but it pretty much is the modern template for a dystopian fiction book.

How is it? Would you say that Lord of the Rings is the modern template for a fantasy novel?

Anyway, I was forced to study Animal Farm years ago, and found it relatively interesting, I guess, but it was not a lot of fun to constantly analyse. I remember liking Snowball. :O

 

[mewtini]

You DO know that Snowball was also corrupted by power, right Cirrus? (We share b-days. March 28. Yahoo!)

 

[Autumn]

You DO know that Snowball was also corrupted by power, right Cirrus?

doesn't mean you can't like him. I liked Snowball too. :o

 

[Butterfree]

The great thing about fictional characters is that you can like them even when they're utterly unlikeable! :O

 

[mewtini]

I know that, Bachuru(o.O) and Polymetric. I'm just pointing out, he's not the good guy either. But he's cute. :D(I know I can use smilies, I just want to use this instead!)

 

[Minish]

You DO know that Snowball was also corrupted by power, right Cirrus? (We share b-days. March 28. Yahoo!)

The characters' corruption by power was the topic for about a hundred essays I did, so yes, I was aware. But as Butterchuru says, you don't have to just like the 'good guys'!

 

[mewtini]

The characters' corruption by power was the topic for about a hundred essays I did, so yes, I was aware. But as Butterchuru says, you don't have to just like the 'good guys'!

Oh, no, no, I like Snowball too. If I knew that you knew they both were corrupted, I wouldn't have said anything. I was just pointing out. Anyway, apparently I didn't see that you are like 17.

 

[Karkat Vantas]

How is it? Would you say that Lord of the Rings is the modern template for a fantasy novel?

Template was a bad choice of word... maybe theme would have been a beter word. Thematically, I think 99% of all dystopian fiction published today has the basic theme of "SURVEILLANCE IS BAD". Which is kind of funny since 1984 wasn't really about the terrors of surveillance, but okay, I guess it's relevant!

 

[Music Dragon]

Template was a bad choice of word... maybe theme would have been a beter word. Thematically, I think 99% of all dystopian fiction published today has the basic theme of "SURVEILLANCE IS BAD". Which is kind of funny since 1984 wasn't really about the terrors of surveillance, but okay, I guess it's relevant!

The Matrix? Terminator? The Road? Oryx and Crake? Shades of Grey? I Am Legend? Blindness? Planet of the Apes?

 

[mewtini]

Wait, did you only hear about communism or Animal Farm at a conference? I'm guessing the latter, but.

..."brainwashing that society does to make us believe that we have progress"? What do you mean by that?

Well. The first question. I was looking through the list of books they were gonna have for conference, and one was Animal Farm. But I didn't do the actual conference, since I was low by one grade level. Dx And the second. That was a subtle reference to a summary I saw on Wikipedia, talking about how the animals are psychologically conditioned to believe that things are progressing, even though they are much, MUCH worse. Not quoted. Sorry I didn't reply earlier.

 

[Elliekat]

Haha, we JUST had a test on this book in my English class. I can't decide whether it or 1984 was creepier.

Also BOXER NEVER GETS SENT TO THE FACTORY NAPOLEON WAS FINALLY TELLING THE TRUTH SOB

 

[Dannichu]

Haha, we JUST had a test on this book in my English class. I can't decide whether it or 1984 was creepier.

Also BOXER NEVER GETS SENT TO THE FACTORY NAPOLEON WAS FINALLY TELLING THE TRUTH SOB

Oh god, Boxer being sent to the glue factory traumatised me. ;;

 

[PK]

I read this book in my english class last year and it was actually quite enjoyable and OH MY GOD BOXER THE TEARS FLOW FOREVER FUCK YOU NAPOLEON GO EAT YOUR APPLES

 

[Ruby]

Mewtini is one awesome nine-year-old.

Eh, read it once, found it... okay. Not the best thing I've ever read. I don't like George Orwell's fiction works (never read his non-fiction, though) at all. They're very bland and don't seem to have all that much to say beyond the obvious.

The problem is that Orwell's fiction works are basically just an extension of his non-fiction. He became temperamentally incapable of writing books that serve a literary purpose before a political one. That's why his writing style is non-literary and plain even in 1984, which is supposedly a science-fiction novel. I think he felt that whenever he was addressing a large audience, it was wrong not to say something political. And if 1984 and Animal Farm fall short as literature, they have still been unbelievably successful from a political point of view. Orwell's capacity as a writer has to be given some credit for that. Otherwise it's like evaluating a writer of comedy and ignoring whether he makes people laugh.

The great thing about fictional characters is that you can like them even when they're utterly unlikeable! :O

Now the contents of Butterfree's Livejournal are overflowing on to other websites!

 

[bulbasaur]

...Does anyone find the thought of pigs wearing clothes standing on two legs disturbing?