I finished George Orwell's Animal Farm today. It is my 4th Orwell novel and definitely my least favorite (in order of consumption: 1984, Down and Out in Paris and London, Burmese Days). I love political satire, I have even waded through Voltaire's satires in French. My main problem with Animal Farm is how much he has simplified the various aspects of humanity into flat stereotypes of the dull witted human. I suppose it could be a commentary on how important the role of universal education is but it ended up making me more frustrated with the characters than anything. Supposedly, this is negated by the fact that they are animals who merely seem to have human traits, such as speech but I don't think it's entirely successful. There is too much in the narrative that could be mistaken for 'this would work if only this had happened' when in reality he is trying to decry totalitarianism completely.
I'm not sure if this is entirely coherent. I have had an excessive amount of sudafed today as of course, blowing your nose is rather taboo in Korean society and I have a head cold. What do Koreans do? I have yet to discover this.
Next up: Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare (gifted to me by a friend who was vaguely horrified that I'd never read it) or Foucault's Madness and Civilization. We'll see how I feel before the bus ride tomorrow. In all likelihood, both will end up in my bag, defeating my never ending mission to try and cut down on how much stuff I lug around with me.
3 comments:
I somehow missed this entry completely and went on to the bank entry. One of these days your shoulders are going to hate you for the weight of that bag!
i would be more worried about the midget's back (no mom, midget jokes will NEVER get old)...... I haven't read two of the Orwell books you mentioned (not 1984 or animal farm)..... Any good???
Definitely read 1984, especially since you are a scifi person. I read it during the Dystopia unit i my scifi lit class at Bellport of all places.
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