Question 1

What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

The main theme of this novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, is more of a comment towards the Russian Revolution than a moral lesson that common novels have. As the background of this book is Russian Revolution, a theme, or a moral lesson that can be learned throughout the story, in this book is an expectation of the author towards the government and its leaders. By retelling the story of the Russian Revolution with animal characters which represented different roles involved in Revolution, the author, George Orwell criticizes what the government had done wrong and what was required to happen. The pigs as the politicians and Stalin, dogs as military power, the rest of the animals as citizens of Russia, were all illustrated realistically in detail. Because of such reason, a theme can be easily identified, which is a criticism that argues the Revolution was not necessarily successful as it did not improve the quality of lives of the Russian citizens nor did it obtain the satisfying results as they had thought.

Also, as a teenager living in the year 2007, the theme of this book is important. The reason being is that being a teenager means that responsibility of the decisions I make is on me, therefore I need to consider this theme and make reasonable, appropriate decisions. Otherwise, a situation like the Rebellion in the book might happen due to wrong choices I made. Thus, it is not only important to make good decisions but also to be responsible for it.