Animal Farm (Ch. 7 and 8) Review

Today our group did a review on the seventh to eighth chapter of "Animal Farm" by George Owell. Our group decided to read on until we finish the book. In these two chapters, various things happened - the animals found out that apparently Snowball was actually frequenting the farm by night and causing trouble around the farm; soon it became normal to blame all the troubles that happens to Snowball; one day, Napoleon held a meeting and suddenly lashed out his dogs at a few animals that have apparently been in league with Snowball; one by one more animals confess on helping Snowball with his various crimes and all of them were brutally slaughtered; shaken, the others huddle together and start singing "Beasts of England" for comfort; soon after, Squealer comes over and declares that "Beasts of England" has been banned and is replaced by a short song praising Animal Farm; in the next chapter, the windmill is finally completed after loads of hard work and the animals rejoice; unfortunately, a war breaks out not long after between Animal Farm and a neighbouring farm due to farmer Fredrick's betrayal; it ended with Animal Farm's victory, but the windmill was blown up and there were a lot of casualties; later, it was found that the pigs have been drowning themselves in alcohol and Napoleon went running around the farm, drunk; the animals then realised that the commandments have not been the way that it was when Animal Farm was first established, e.g. one of them was "No animal shall drink alcohol" but now, it's been changed to "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess."

In these chapters, we can see Napoleon and the other pigs being strict and evil leaders, slaughtering other animals without hesitation, changing the commandments to suit him, praising himself for something he didn't do, etc. He is no different than the human beings he hate now, drinking alcohol, residing in a human farmhouse, torturing other animals to no end; these are what they have vowed not to do during the early days of Animal Farm. What do you think is going to happen in the last two chapters? Read the book to find out!

The story surprises and even shocks me as I read on and the twists and turns of the plot amazes me greatly. The characters' change of personality and actions are very intriguing as well and I like how the author portrays Animal Farm now - scary and sad, no different than when Mr. Jones was in charge. 

The genre of this book is fiction and is also thought-provoking. The pigs are definitely starting to get worse, killing their own kind and breaking the commandments they have set for themselves. At this rate, Animal Farm will start falling apart and animals may start fighting against each other or even start a rebellion. This is what generated the most discussion in today's Literature Circle. Something has to be done or the farm's future is doomed.

I would recommend this book to teenagers and above due to the complicated language used, as I mentioned in my previous reviews. Reading between the lines is very essential if you want to fully enjoy the story and the vocabulary used is very complicated, so it will be difficult for a young audience to understand the content of this book. The storyline is really good though, and the author's style of writing is really intriguing. Fantastic book, read it and be amazed.