Reader Response Theory in the first third of George Orwell's Animal Farm

The first third of this book (or up to chapter five) has been somewhat positive with the animals on the farm revolting against there cruel masters, gaining control of the farm and creating their own utopia. This utopia however has started to show signs of corruption and some of the animals are beginning to realize that this was not the paradise they had envisioned.

 This book is interesting to read because it rather obviously makes the reader relate the book to real world events and ideas. So far, I have found that the book is relating many of its features and plot points to political events that took place around the time it was written. As the book was published in 1945 it is easy to see that the book has rather anti-communistic views as it shows how the wonderful idea of the animals banding together and creating a paradise where everyone is equal. This is like the idea of communism, however in the book it quickly gets manipulated into more of a controlling dictatorship, such as the way that communism began in Russia then was abused by people such as Stalin to gain power and turn the country into more of a dictatorship.

            

           The ideology of this book is therefore very easy to see as it pokes holes in the idea of communism in today's world by trying to show that there will always be some greedy people who seek to benefit from the system at any chance that is given. As the idea of communism holds the belief that all people wish to see other people and the civilization thrive, however this book is saying that this is not a natural instinct of people and that greed and the manipulation of weaker or less intelligent people will always be a problem no matter what kind of civilization we have.

On a very separate note this book also allows the reader to predict these negative things as they are happening. I think that the predictability of this book only adds to the quality as it makes me think of ways that things could have been handled better or perhaps completely different scenarios that would have had a better outcome. An example of this predictability is in the way that the author describes the pigs. "With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership." This clearly sets the pigs up to be the ones who will gain control over the farm rather then keeping the equality. This begins to happen within the next two chapters with the pigs taking certain pleasures for themselves such as all the milk and apples.

The book also does a good job at drawing mental images of what life would be like on the farm after the animals take over. It starts off with a good image as it describes the animals working together, "everyone worked according to his capacity." That image soon changes to become more like a cult with the animals writing the "seven commandments" on the walls and singing the anthem of their cause. Finally, the image of unrest starts to form with some of the animals questioning where all the honey and apples have gone only to find out that it is going to the pigs who have been doing less work than the other animals and have assumed command of the farm for their own benefit.