A Lesson Not Learnt (Review of George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' and '1984')

In human civilization's journey across time, some lessons are never learnt, it seems.

Here is my goodreads.com review of George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'.

In 'Animal Farm', George Orwell brilliantly presents a deep and detailed insight into the innocence, as well as the folly of the human civilization.

The theme of the book, various events, the way they turn out, and the outcome - all these have repeatedly occurred over and over again, in various lands, in different cultures, across different times in the past. Unfortunately, the very same manipulations, the same sequence of events, the same mistakes can still be seen in action all around us. The same story of societies aspiring for happiness, dignity and peace gradually turning into violent dictatorships gets repeated over and over. We never learn, do we?

In a sense, almost the entire planet is nothing but a collection of 'Animal Farms' of various sizes.

'Animal Farm' goodreads.com review

And below is the review of '1984'

Absolutely the most terrifying novel I have ever read.

Published in 1949, 1984 presents a bone-chilling account of a future world composed of despotic totalitarian dictatorships, full of extreme violence towards each other as well as towards their own subjects who dare to dream of freedom, individuality and a slightly positive world. 

When one deals with stories and movies about Ghosts and Ghouls and spirits and Poltergeists, one can take  solace in the fact that such things may not really exist. And even if they do, these entities are not necessarily always evil.

Unlike the ghosts and ghouls, one cannot even have the solace that 1984 is purely a work of fiction and that the circumstances mentioned in the novel do not actually exist. They do, and can be seen all around us, in various stages of 'development'. The characters in power in this novel are beyond evil, they are ruthless and carry out torture in an extremely 'inhuman', gruesome manner that only the species of humans is capable of.

Goodreads.com review of '1984'