A while back, I participated in an online exercise that was supposed to match my personality with the book that was most like me, or most suited to my tastes, or somehow otherwise perfect for me. The result was George Orwell’s 1984, which I promptly started and then almost as promptly bailed on. No offense to those of you who loved that book or its author (and I must confess, I use the term “Orwellian” in everyday conversation almost as much as I use the term “Machevellian”, despite being an expert on neither Orwell or Machevelli), it just didn’t read well to me.

Despite that experience, though, when I spotted Orwell’s Animal Farm on my bookshelf, I decided to give it a shot (thanks in no small part to its diminutive size (a mere 139 smallish pages)). I believe I read this in high school, but like many high school shenanigans, I forgot what happened (although I had a general recollection).

Well, suffice it to say that this book is nothing short of phenomenal, particularly in light of when it was first published — 1946, on the heels of the conclusion of World War II. I will assume that most of you reading this post have read this book, and so I will not concern myself with not spoiling it (as I tend to do with most of my posts); if you haven’t read it, then (i) consider this a spoiler alert, and (ii) quit reading this and go read the book.

This book tells the story of a group of animals, led by pigs, who take over the farm on which they had been living under the tyrannical Mr. Jones. And while the book is subtitled “A Fairy Story”, the actual story itself involves not only metophorical tellings of the corruption that power can bring, but interweaves true life into those tellings. For example, the humans that live on the neighboring farms and in the village of Willingdon actually interact with the animals, sparring with them, speaking with them, and eventually engaging in commerce with them. So while the animals on the farm represent a metaphor for the downtrodden proletariat classes while under the reign of Mr. Jones, they later become functioning members of real world society, as animals. This observation may be neither here nor there, but I found it very engaging and just a fascinating way to tie the “fairy story” to the real world.

In any event, what I found most interesting about this story of the animals’ uprising and establishment of their own government, and the subsequent changing by that very government of its rules to favor those in control, including going back on its inital promises and fundamental “commandments” (sometimes by altering the commandments themselves), was the fact that the “lower classes” of animals were depicted for the most part as ignorant and incapable of forming their own opinions. Each time some of the animals noticed the pigs abusing their power by deviating from the rules that had been put in place, the pigs themselves (through Squealer) issued announcements and clarifying statements to put the concerned animals at ease, and these communications were apparently accepted by the animals as true.

What this pointed out to me was the valuable role that the media can play in society — questioning the government, investigating the activities of those in power, and speaking to the people freely (i.e., without governmental direction or censorship). I wasn’t around in the 1940’s, and so I don’t know what role the media played in communicating to the masses or questioning statements made by government; but a free press was certainly a modern day element that was missing in Orwell’s telling of this story. Not that a free press can prevent corruption or lies by those in power today.