Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell is about the Manor Farm. Mr. Jones is not a very master of the farm. He tends to drink and forget to feed his animals. Old Major, an old, but respected, boar on the farm gathers the animals together and gets them riled up for a revolution. Soon after, old Major passes away. Mr. Jones forgets to feed the animals one too many times, and they revolt, chasing him, his wife, and all of the farm workers from the land. The animals decide they can look after the farm themselves, without the help of any "two-legs". The pigs are in charge, and develop a set of seven commandments for all animals to follow. They create a song about their newfound freedom and begin spreading their message across England. Initially, they run the farm well - everyone chipping in and doing their part. But, eventually, their system begins to fail. Mr. Jones gets some local farmers together and tries to take the farm back, but the animals are able to beat them back. There is unrest amongst the pigs however, and the two leaders fight over everything. One pig, Napoleon, is able to drum up enough support from all of the other animals, and they end up driving Snowball, the other leader, out. Things fall apart from there, with the pigs becomming more and more elitist, forcing the other animals to work long hours with fewer and fewer rations. They even begin secretly changing the seven commandments! Any animals caught speaking out against the pigs or acting as "traitors" are killed! Eventually, the pigs even begin working with humans - selling their products and making deals, all the while assuring the other animals that things are still better than they were when Mr. Jones ran the place. By the end, most of the animals don't even remember what it was like back then.

This is a classic that I never read in high school or college. It was really interesting! I'm not sure I think it was quite as enlightening as it's made out to be, but I enjoyed the story!