Don't judge a pig from its posture!
My first experience with Orwell's writing was by reading Animal Farm. At first I did not know what to expect since I read it without any knowledge whatsoever of its content and i only got it because a friend recommended it. Because of the reasons above I thought I got my hands on a children's book about farm house animals who try to break free from their master and nothing more. I could not have been more wrong.
The story takes a turn when the book slowly transforms the animals and the environment of the farm into a mirror image of the Russian society and economy. Each social class is represented in animal types and is given traits according to its real life counterpart. The whole farm is "ruled" and controlled by the pigs and mainly two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. For someone who knows Russian history it quickly becomes clear that the two characters resemble the two Bolshevik intellectuals, Stalin and Trotsky.
The book shows great examples for the use of propaganda and how manipulation is a key element in establishing firm hold on a given community/society. Emotional attachments to the characters can be easily formed and thus grim events do not go by without affecting the reader. The ideas of socialism and communism are deeply buried inside the life of the small farm in England that can only be recognized by readers that have some background in the topic.
Though masked as a children's book, Animal Farm is much more of a representation of the Russian social and economic perspective which is presented in an easy to grasp setting. It is not a good read for children but definitely recommended for readers who would like to explore the above concepts. It is a throughout enjoyable writting.
XAXWQY 

Good
Good