Writing for a Purpose

Often I read fiction which is just that - fiction. 

This time I read Animal Farm by George Orwell. This book, though sub-titled as 'A Fairy Story' is by no means a work of fiction. It has very cleverly used the setting of an animal farm to tell the makings of a (not)socialist nation. 

The edition of book which I had was perhaps meant for college reading and had an introduction explaining how to read the book. I chose not to read it. 

The fast paced book captured me - always another event in pipeline, always another development to read about. But it was not until I reached the end of the book that I saw the weight this book must have carried back in 1943 when it was first published. 

The book had an appendix - preface to the book written by the author himself for the Ukranian translation. In these 4-5 pages, he explained how his life thus far had led him to writing a sort of 'Soviet Union for Dummies' book. Orwell, being a committed socialist himself, couldn't accept the fact that people's understanding of Socialism was based on USSR of that era. He quite effectively puts forward all the things socialist which USSR was not.

I was moved by his intention behind writing a politicaly incorrect book - endangering his commercial interests. He wanted people to know what really happens behind the closed gates is not Socialism and that there are not many examples of socialist societies in the world and least of all USSR.

This brings me to the age old battle between - duties as a citizen versus our little often materialistc gains. Are we not mortals who try to achieve what we can physically during our lives? - whilst losing sight of the bigger picture? But can't both be done together? As some of the geniuses in the society have done before - so elegantly.