I hate reading. I’m not good at it, it takes me forever to do, it’s boring, most of the time I don’t even know what’s going on, and it takes a lot of energy to sit still and focus on words for such a long time, you know? But this book, man, this book is different. I ran and screamed throughout the halls of my high school, almost everyday, preaching about how good it is. (Yes, I got a lot of weird stares.) (No, I didn’t care.) I’m not kidding when I say that George Orwell accomplished the impossible by writing a book I actually enjoyed reading. His book Animal Farm is filled to the brim with life lessons and advice that literally everyone needs to know ASAP. The only (relevant) characters are animals, which sounds weird, I know, but trust me, it works. As the smartest animals on the farm, the pigs become clear leaders, with Napoleon as the master. The animals respect Napoleon and view him as a powerful and influential leader. What they are too naive to see, however, is that he uses the power and control he has established throughout the farm to manipulate the other animals. I recommend reading this book because Orwell’s message and how he executes it is engaging and makes the book interesting to read.

I like this book because it has a really important message: be careful who you trust because anyone has the ability to manipulate you if they establish power and control. Napoleon changes the core value of Animal Farm: equality. What starts off as an innocent and inspirational slogan, “All animals are equal” eventually turns into a backstabbing message with the simple addition of a few words: “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” This “new and improved” slogan of Animal Farm proves how quickly the leader the animals once trusted with their lives is able to turn his back on and betray his comrades, just because it benefits himself. Napoleon uses his glorified status and the fact that the other animals are too stupid and too naive to really understand what’s going on to his advantage to convince the other animals into doing whatever he wants. And for what? He already has all the power he needs. No one even thinks anything of the change; it’s as if he just adds those words for himself. This goes to show that unless you’re on top of your game all the time, everyday, 24/7, anyone has the ability to undermine you and make changes to your life that you aren’t even aware of. The limited words Orwell chooses to add to the slogan change the vibe of the entire farm, two fold. If you think about it, though -- like really think about it -- the new saying doesn’t even make sense. If all animals are equal, then how can some be more equal than others? I mean I get what Orwell was going for -- that some people have a natural advantage over others even if all dependent factors are made equal -- but still. I’m sure he did that on purpose, so that none of the animals, besides the pigs, would understand the metaphorical change. Orwell proves this point when he wrote in a letter to a friend, “If the other animals had had the sense to put their foot down then, it would have been alright.” That’s an important thing for people to know, to watch who you trust, because people always do whatever benefits them the most. I mean, if Napoleon could make such drastic changes without any of his followers noticing, who’s to say someone’s not doing that to us? I don’t know, just something to think about.

In addition to the content of the book, I also like Orwell’s execution; the techniques he uses like length, logistics, and language make the book easy to read and thus understand. First of all, this book is short; it’s not even a hundred pages, so events unfold fairly quickly. And when things do actually happen, you know it’s something important or else Orwell wouldn’t have wasted his time or energy writing it. Essentially, the book is deliberate and concise, and isn’t filled with unnecessary “fluff,” as I like to call it. Second of all, writing Animal Farm, a story about human nature, through the perspective of animals was a power move on Orwell’s part, to say the least; it makes the book that much easier to digest. No one likes being criticized and told what to do, so by addressing important issues in an indirect way, people are going to be more open to your message. If you hint at a solution but then give people the time and space necessary to further develop the idea on their own, they’ll start believing that the idea is actually their own. There’s a lot of power in choice and self-thinking. Lastly, Orwell’s choice to use a lot of dialogue and writing at a low level also makes the book easier to handle because both choices give it a more casual feel. With so much dialogue, after a while, you forget that the characters are actually animals; they feel just as human as any other book. Also, Orwell’s decision to use a casual tone throughout the book makes the hard topics he discusses way easier to understand and think about. Some people may think that Orwell’s choice to write Animal Farm at a lower level is just a blow at the upper class, who he hated, but that’s not entirely true. He wrote the book using a level of language that is easy for everyone to understand because the ideas that he talks about aren’t very easy to understand; he needed something to balance out the complex topics he discusses in his novel. A Youtube video from the chanel “The School of Life” that describes Orwell’s work and history says that Orwell “knew that the task of a writer was to ensure that the most serious ideas should achieve mass popularity,” so he decided to write his story in a way that anyone could enjoy. He believes that the ordinary person can conceptualize the big ideas he talks about, just not using big language some other authors use. So, he wrote about those big ideas, just using words not nearly as complex as the ideas themselves. The point of these three L’s -- length, logistics, and language --  is to show that this book is worth reading. It won’t take you long, it’s not hard to understand, and you’ll learn about all the scary things that are wrong with our world. It’s a really fun time! (No, but really it is. It’s a good book, a great one even. It’s crazy how much power people have over us. Reading this book brings that all to light.)Animal Farm is filled with life lessons I didn’t even know I needed to hear.

After reading it, you’ll want to rebel more than ever, and that’s a good thing. I say do it: stand out; break the norms; speak the truth, your truth; preach what you believe then practice what you preach. Be different because being normal is boring, but being different is exciting and full of adventures. You never know what could happen if you manipulate your own life, before someone else has the chance to swoop in and do it for you.