While our pastor was on sabbatical this Summer, 3 different pulpit supply pastors used quotes from Animal Farm in sermon illustrations. B was intrigued, and asked if it was appropriate for him to read. I remember crying over it in 8th grade, and having to make myself read 12 pages a day to get through it in time (which like Moby Dick, grew to 24 pages a day, then the rest of the book…) I just don’t like gut wrenching novels, I still think of fiction as something fun, not instructive. No wonder I majored in chemistry, not English in college! I should have told B, "Animal Farm Good, 1984 bad." but I think I just said, "Sure."
So, I found it interesting to watch B this week. He keeps laughing over Napoleon and Squeaker’s manipulations, and Benjamin the Donkey’s wise cynicism. But Snowball’s exile brought up more questions than I could answer (we haven’t gotten to the Story of the World Modern Times yet, and to be honest, I don’t know it yet.) I stuck sticky notes in the chapters of SOTW Vol 4 that covered the various stages of the Russian revolution, and rise of Stalin, and left him to it.
I asked him today, "What about the sad and pathetic parts?" B replied, "The pitiable parts are there, but I find the funny parts easier to remember. I think jokes are candy for the ears."