the preface & introduction

I read the preface and introduction not expecting much, because to be honest, I have never read a preface or introduction that has 'captured my interest' in any way. Thankfully I was somewhat surprised and not totally bored while reading the intro and the preface, and I actually got something out of both. Normally I either a) skip the intro all together or b) pretend to read it while actually staring at each page for a few minutes, reading the same line over and over again because of how boring it is. But this one was surprisingly interesting, and it had a lot of important information and not just opinions from the author or from the person writing. I liked how it gave us background information about the communism in Russia, and the Spanish conflict that had been going on that basically fueled Orwell's dislike of communism and how it led to him writing Animal Farm. Those are things that the reader should know about and take into consideration when approaching this book, because without that knowledge they can't fully admire it and understand its message, in my opinion. The foreshadowing about the plot and the how the book was going to end was interesting as well. When the introduction and preface both told us that the book was not going to end like a normal fairy story but end on a more depressing note, it made me want to read it more. The debating about whether the novel was really a fairy story also intrigued me, because normally people wouldn't consider a novel about oppressed animals rising up against humans, but then ending up opressing each other, a fairy story. But I liked the argument that was included. So I'm going into this story with some new knowledge on my hands:

1) This story is basically an allegory about the communism, fascism, and totalitarianism of the world wars

2) The two head animals supposedly resemble Trotsky and Stalin

3)The animals start out miserable under human control, but then end up miserable under each others control

These two pre-readings make me excited for the book and now I can't wait to start reading and figure out exactly how everything will play out. Hopefully it will help to give me a more in depth look at communism and government in general, and how things can easily be corrupted.