When C.S. Lewis compared Animal Farm with 1984 Lewis "found Animal Farm the more powerful of the two [novels]" because "wit and humor" are absent from 1984 while these crucial elements of storytelling "are employed with devastating effect" in Animal Farm ("Animal Farm," Notes on Novels, 2006). "The great sentence 'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others' bites deeper than the whole of 1984" Farm ("Animal Farm," Notes on Novels, 2006).
             However, this characterization of Orwell's 1984 as devoid of humor seems unfair, especially given the bitterly ironic satire of mechanized, modern life and the transparent ways that a corrupt government uses forced propaganda to mold the lives of its citizens. Consider the mandatory physical fitness sessions where the hero Winston Smith is forced to perform required calisthenics to a living television screen, in an 'aerobics from hell' scenario. "The instructress had called them to attention again. 'And now let's see which of us can touch our toes!' she said enthusiastically. 'Right over from the hips, please, comrades. One-two! One- two!'" (Part I, Chapter 3). The scene is both funny and frightening because it allows the reader to parallel the instructress with bad physical education teachers he or she has experienced in his or her own life, although the fact the woman can 'see' Winston through his television is chilling.
             Also, the secret nursery rhyme password used by Winston, Julia, and O'Brian has a bitter humor: "The fragment of rhyme that Mr. Charrington had taught him came back into his head, and he added half-nostalgically: 'Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St Clement's!' To his astonishment she capped the line: 'You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St Martin's, When will you pay me? say the bells...