I'm going to use this edition on Gutenberg for my base. I like Ormsby's translation, and it Doré illustrations in already. It'll be a bear to Google Docs it, but after my experience w/ Animal Farm I think it's going to be the best combination of enjoyablity and studiability. Working my way through the front matter today. Fun fact "Saavedra" is based on the word for "one-handed" since his left arm was crippled in battle.
Already a great story, and I'm just on the about the author!
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell: Chapter 9
Bonus:
Wrapping up! (I did not watch this)
Summary: THE PIGS ARE CAPITALISTS
Commentary:
After much choking, during which his various chins turned purple, he managed to get it out: "If you have your lower animals to contend with," he said, "we have our lower classes!"
Orwell does a lot better with 1984. He tries to have it both ways in Animal Farm. It's not direct enough to be readable as an essay critiquing Stalin (ala Goldstein's book), but it's too didactic to be a good story.
But really, what I learned is that I remember a lot more when I take notes, and it's a lot easier to write these.
Onto... something? tomorrow? I'm not sure.
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell: Chapter 8
Bonus:
Commentary:
The animals saw no reason to disbelieve him, especially as they could no longer remember very clearly what conditions had been like before the Rebellion.
Has it been a week since I said, "being able to read and be aware of history is a crucial defense against totalitarianism" yet?
This is getting kind of repetitive.
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell: Chapter 7
Bonus:
Summary: Orwell really likes the word countenance. Napoleon does the "no, we were always at war with Eurasia" thing. The executions start.
Commentary: These are a lot harder to do when I only mark the book, but don't do chapter summaries. Especially if I read it a couple days ago.
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell: Chapter 6
Bonus:
"They were happy in their work." (Not Star Trek)
Summary: Snowball is fully made into a traitor. The animals work on a windmill, but it is sabotaged.
Commentary:
How are they shoeing the horses? I really feel like the pigs' (?) dexterity is all over the place. Blah, blah, allegory, I guess.
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell: Chapter 5
Bonus:
Summary: Mollie consorts with humans! She leaves and enjoys herself! Napoleon says the animals should get guns. They turn old Major's skull into Lenin's tomb.
Commentary:
The whole proletariat must be armed at once with muskets, rifles, cannon and ammunition, and the revival of the old-style citizens’ militia, directed against the workers, must be opposed.
I'm a firm believer that you can't be much of a socialist if you're in favor of more than the most minor gun control. Like, maybe registration? Can't let the state usurp the worker's power.
Other than that, we get a bunch more Star Trekking where everyone is mad at Mollie for choosing her human friendly lifestyle and this great quote from Squealer:
Like wanting people not to be bald. Apparently that's all I'm going to harp on this book.He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell: Chapter 4
Bonus:
Commentary: I marked two things in this chapter: pigeon shitting and, "The only good human is a dead one."
