George Orwell's Animal Farm

Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations

by Harold Bloom

Tracing the rise of Napoleon as the leader of the barnyard animals and his ensuing dictatorship in the farmyard community, this classic satiric allegory serves as a warning to all societies as it depicts the slide from revolution to totalitarianism. Orwell transforms the seeming pastoral innocence of his setting into a pernicious political theater of repression and control. This new edition of critical essays examining Animal Farm provides 10 to 12 full-length critical essays for students of literature, plus a chronology of the author's life, a bibliography, an index, and notes on the contributing writers.

Genres: Literary Criticism

166 pages, Library Binding

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Konstantinos Tzamaloukas]

A must read

The book is about the allegoric story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before...

The vicious cycle of Power

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story formats in a really interesting way with animal representing important communist characters during the Russian revolution. The character in the book that represents Joseph Stalin is called Napoleon and as what Stalin did he uses military forces to rule his animal farm. The fact the Napoleon and other character related to Communists in Russia are all pigs, sends a message the author is trying to tell us. The actions and the military forces that that had happened in Russia is irresponsible.

[Andrew Ssempala · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biggest problem facing mankind is the presence amongst us of domineering personalities who want the world at their feet. That is the major common factor between the oppressor and eventually the freedom fighter. So Napoleon was just as much an egocentric ruler as the men of the system he overthrew. So much for the "classless" socirty dreamt about by the Soviet leaders once they'd overthrown the Tsars.

[Banner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book by accident while looking for a hard copy of Animal Farm. I love the original so I figured it may be interesting to read a published assortment of notes about it from highly respected figures.

Though I am disappointed by the result. Animal Farm is one of those great books that you don’t need to dissect greatly to understand the message of the book. And though people try, the ultimate beauty of the story is its simplicity. Orwell can take complex political situations and organize it in a story that is both beautiful and easy to understand. This isn’t to say that it requires no dissection at all. A hyper-awareness of history is needed to get a greater understanding of the story. However, there reaches a point in scholarly dissections when it starts to feel like grasping at straws.

Bloom includes arguments that he himself says he doesn’t believe in. I agree with his assessment that Patai’s feminist critique of the story lacks its persuasion power as it relies too hard on its self-congratulatory identification, which Orwell himself was resistant to. This one especially feels like an incorporation of one’s own ideas into a story that doesn’t have that intent. Though, I do see the argument of abuse of power and “who writes the rules?” in this story. And throughout a history dominated by prominent male rule, I get the argument that is being made here.

Elbarbary’s dive into “Language as Theme in Animal Farm” would be interesting, as one of Orwell’s greatest traits is his view of language as a model for oppression and liberation. However, Elbarbary completely misses the mark through his own character. Did he even read Orwell’s Politics and the English Language? It is quite literally the best thing a writer can read, because otherwise one’s writing can end up like Elbarbary’s here: unnecessarily complex and drawn out to the point where its original meaning is lost. And need I remind you, this is an exploration INTO the way Orwell uses language. It’s like he completely misses the key ingredient to what makes Orwell such a captivating writer. This is unfortunately what we see far too often in academic essays. It ends up becoming a self-congratulatory circlejerk of one’s own narcissism. Super disappointed.

Other essays provide decent enough insight to the historical context of the story. As mentioned before, this is important to grasp when reading the story. So if you do wish to get a little more insight into that aspect, then it could be useful. My favorite might be Fowler’s aptly named “Animal Farm,” which not only goes into the historical context, but also does a better job at understanding the essence of Orwell’s writing than Elbarbary. If there is any one passage from this collection that I would recommend, it would be that one.

Pearce’s “Orwell, Tolstoy, and Animal Farm” feels like an essay I would come up with before I conducted heavy research, then upon doing the research, I realize I don’t have as much evidence to compare the two as I initially thought. But by this time, my deadline is in 4 hours so I need to get this paper written. This is what it reads like, especially considering the ending of, “Obviously such comparisons may be pushed too far. What does seem clear, however, is that the connections between these two figures are worth recognizing, and also worth further study.” As someone who has written about many topics that are out of my depth, this is a conclusion I am familiar with using all too well.

The remaining essays fail to leave much of an impression either. While I wouldn’t say that this collection is without thought-provoking and captivating writing, it is very few and far in between.

A problem I came across while reading the different writings is that 90% of the time, it is recounting the same stuff. Animal Farm represented the Soviet Union, yes. Napoleon represented Stalin, yes. It was rare that I read something that felt deep or insightful. In many ways, I left this book gaining very little.

I would only recommend this if you are really into Animal Farm and you would read just about anything that ventures further into its dissection. But even then, keep your expectations in check.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting insights. I really liked the various "Critical Views" with a wide ranges of topics, such as feminism perspective of book, religious views, historical interpretations, literary interpretations etc. Reading the book felt like attending a book club without having to talk to people. An introverts dream!

[Ed Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good mini-commentary on Orwell’s Animal Farm. Brings out ideas that you wouldn’t notice or understand by just reading the book. Essay’s are short, on a high school to undergraduate college level, and useful if you’re not looking to read entire book length commentaries.

[Amethyst · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting interpretation. Before thoughtful and well written.

[Deon Louw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Universally insightful

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

These notes cover the chapter summaries, analysis, about the author, history, etc. They are useful and thorough. Great to use if you are studying or teaching Animal Farm.

[Allison Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

i hated it because how the pigs took over an made all the other animals suffer an work while the pigs took over the house an killed some of the smarter animals or the ones who tryed to get out but at the end how one animal calls all the others an they go the that farm an get it back by getting back at the pigs.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but short reviews of Animal Farm by Orwells' contemporaries but they all very brief and very thin.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

its a good and great book its cool it has talking animals in it

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a good book

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book itself leaves little to the imagination.
A Farm and talking animals, truly a recipe for disaster!

[Sukumaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good

[Raksha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animal Farm is a book that has all the flavors and all the elements of a good book.
I would recommend it to everyone.

[Nithya · Rating 5 out of 5]

classic!