Animal
Farm:
Written by: George
Orwell
Narrated by: Ralph
Cosham
Listen
Time: 3 Hours
12 Minutes
George Orwell’s classic
satire of the Russian Revolution has become an intimate part of our
contemporary culture, with its treatment of democratic, fascist, and socialist
ideals through an animal fable. The animals of Mr. Jones’ Manor Farm are
overworked, mistreated, and desperately seeking a reprieve. In their quest to
create an idyllic society where justice and equality reign, the animals of
Manor Farm revolt against their human rulers, establishing the democratic
Animal Farm under the credo, “Animals Are Created Equal.” Out of their cleverness, the pigs—Napoleon,
Squealer, and Snowball—emerge as leaders of the new community. In a development
of insidious familiarity, the pigs begin to assume ever greater amounts of
power, while other animals, especially the faithful horse Boxer, assume more of
the work. The climax of the story is the brutal betrayal of Boxer, when
totalitarian rule is re-established with the bloodstained postscript to the
founding slogan: “But Some Animals Are More Equal than Others.”
This astonishing allegory, one of the most scathing
satires in literary history, remains as fresh and relevant as the day it was
published.