“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
This defining line captures the heart of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a sharp political allegory in which farm animals overthrow their human farmer, Mr. Jones, to build a utopian society. As the pigs, led by the ambitious Napoleon, take control, the revolution’s ideals crumble, revealing a new tyranny as corrupt as the one it replaced.

I was first introduced to George Orwell’s work in my sophomore-year English class. Sophomore year was during the height of the pandemic, when everything felt uncertain and strangely suspended, so the dystopian writing really hit home. I stole my sister’s copy of Animal Farm; it was a fast read. The hopeful revolt against Mr. Jones slowly curdling into the pigs’ twisted rule felt especially sharp then and stuck with me long after I closed the book.