Animal Farm

Animal Farm was a novel written by George Orwell in 1945, and is among the first 'furry' novels.

Plot

In the novel, a group of animals, tired of abuse by their human owners, revolt. Although their philosophy of 'Animalism' is popular, few of the animals are able to understand its concepts fully, and the pigs exploit this, becoming the de-facto ruling class and exploiting the difference in species to keep the animals miseducated. For example, instead of teaching the animals what the precepts of Animalism are, they paint them on a wall and try to teach the animals how to read, a skill that only the pigs learned. Later, they claimed 'weakness' and 'special needs' in order to claim more and more special abilities. Finally, the animals cannot tell the difference between pig and human, and the precepts of animalism have been reduced to a single phrase: 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'

Influence

The Animalism precept 'All animals are equal' is referenced in the title to the furry supplement to Gamma World, All Animals Are Equal.

The book has been turned into a movie twice: an animated movie in 1955, and a live-action movie in 1999.

The furry Snowball took his name from the character of the same name in the book.