“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” (134). This final commandment expresses the underlying theme within Animal Farm, a satire on Soviet Communism, written by George Orwell. Throughout the novel, the animals overthrow Jones, rename the land Animal Farm, and bring prosperity to themselves under the pigs’ guidance. Napoleon, after many debates, banished Snowball as a traitor and strategically began taking control of the farm. In chapter six, Orwell employs rhetorical devices to illustrate the authoritative rule that the pigs have gained over the rest of the animals on the farm, initially creating a hierarchy that emphasizes a divide in classes when theoretically everyone is supposed to be equal. The idea that …show more content…
the pigs are far more important than the other animals is strongly supported by Squealer’s actions. After hearing of the pigs’ decision to use the beds in the farmhouse, the animals that could remember the seven commandments were bound to question it. “Squealer... happened to be passing at [the] moment...” (67), when Clover questioned the pigs’ decision, suggesting that perhaps Squealer, the most influential speaker of all the pigs, was chosen to patrol the farm and erase any trace of doubt the animals may have about their leadership. In addition to his impeccable timing, Squealer had been “attended by two or three dogs...” (67), as if he were being guarded or escorted like royalty. Through this, Orwell establishes that the pigs have deemed themselves more important than all other animals on the farm, thus introducing the division of classes. With his ability to eloquently manipulate truth and lie, Squealer effectively convinces the animals that the pigs have committed no crime against the commandments.
In this passage, Squealer addresses Clover as comrade, like one would greet a fellow soldier, establishing a friendly, yet formal, relationship between them. Following his greeting, Squealer begins his speech by telling Clover, “[a] bed merely means a place to sleep, a pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded,” (67). The key phrase in this seemingly logical statement is properly regarded, meaning “to be satisfactorily considered in a specific way.” Orwell, by using these two words, expresses that a pile of straw in a stall is not a bed by definition, but qualifies as one by the standards of Squealer and the other pigs. Using manipulation to solidify his argument, Squealer can continue to seem infallibly logical to the remaining animals. He concludes his speech by saying, “[s]urely, none of you wishes to see Jones back?” (67). Squealer perfectly timed this loaded statement to manipulate the other animals’ emotions. The word surely is condescending towards the animals, causing them to feel patronized. By ending with this threat of Jones’s impending return, Squealer also ensures that the animals are frightened into believing that the pigs are always doing what is best for the farm. Squealer’s way with his words usually guarantees him the reaction he wants from the
animals. Through the animals’ response to Squealer, Orwell proves the strength in power the pigs have over those animals. After hearing about the pigs sleeping in the farmhouse beds, Clover thought she recalled a ruling against beds. While rereading the Fourth Commandment, “[n]o animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,” (67), she could not remember it ever mentioning sheets; but “as it was there on the wall, it must have [been] so,” (67). Despite her momentary doubt, Clover ultimately trusts what the wall says. Her confidence in the Commandments reflects her belief in the authority of the pigs, who created them. Thoroughly convinced by Squealer, Clover is then able to convince the other animals that the pigs are sleeping in the farm beds for the benefit of the farm. When Squealer asks if the animals want Jones to come back, “[t]he animals reassured him on that point [they don’t want Jones back] immediately...” (68). Orwell implies that the animals had urgency in reassuring Squealer by using the word immediately. Their urgency shows that the animals feel it necessary that the pigs know how loyal they are to Animal Farm and that they, without question, do not want Jones back. The fact that the animals fear the return of Jones and look to the pigs to prevent the inevitable, suggests that the animals see the pigs as leaders. If the animals consider the pigs as superior, there is a natural separation of leader and follower in the population of Animal Farm. The hierarchy suggested by Orwell’s use of the animals’ behaviors and words in this passage corresponds significantly with the society created by Stalin in Soviet Russia, or even with today’s societies. Although our constitution says, “all men are created equal,” human nature inevitably divides us into social classifications. Repeating what Orwell wrote, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” (134), I pose you with the question; are all people equal, or are some people more equal than others?
At the beginning of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, an aging pig named Old Major gives a speech to the rest of the animals. In his speech, he explains to them how awful their lives are in order to shows them that the Rebellion against Man, their one true enemy, will come soon. Old Major appeals to the animal’s emotions by using rhetorical questions and fear to effectively persuade the animals of the coming Rebellion.
The first rhetorical device that Squealer uses to persuade the other animals is ethos. In the beginning of the novel, Squealer explains why the milk was not being distributed evenly, and why most of it was going to the pigs. Squealer supports this idea by emphasizing the leadership that the pigs play on Animal Farm. Squealer conveys the authority of the pigs by saying “The whole management and organization of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples” (Orwell 31). This quote is an example of ethos, because it shows that the pigs are looking out for the other animals. This shows that the pigs have credible reason to have the milk and apples. It is not really true that the pigs need all of the milk to themselves, so Squealer is using his speaking skills to his advantage, so that he and all of the other pigs are able to enjoy all of the milk. This is not fair to the rest of the animals, but the animals trust the pigs to know how to run things on the farm, so they accept this as a viable reason for their greediness.
Although George Orwell’s Animal Farm was created in order to mimic individuals as well as occurrences that took place during the Russian Revolution period, it is still possible to gain a comprehensive understanding of the text without a past knowledge of history through the exploitation of human nature’s imperfections. Following the publishment of his novel, Orwell confirmed that his goal in writing this fable was to expose the wrongdoing of the Soviet Union as well as the treachery of the true ideas of the Revolution. Nonetheless, there have been several other examples of events such as the French Revolution that can effortlessly be contrasted against components of the allegory. However, we need not to dig no deeper than to the fundamental faults in human nature to witness the catastrophic consequences that attributes such as hierarchy, propaganda and betrayal have on today’s society.
This story Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel about an animal revolution over an oppressive farmer. The irony in the story comes when the pigs turn into the very thing revolted against. They exhibit the same cruelty by treating the other animals the same or even worse than previous owners. This cycle of cruelty is shown in the Russian revolution by Joseph Stalin who is represented by Napoleon in the story. Cruelty in animal farm is shown by the human’s treatment of the animals, and the animal’s eventual treatment of each other and the ironic characteristics of the two.
“The pen is mightier than the sword.” This is a popular saying that explains that, sometimes, in order to persuade or convince people, one should not use force but words. In Animal Farm, by George Orwell, animals overthrow the human leader and start a new life, but some animals want to become the new leaders. To make the other animals obey the pigs, they first have to persuade the farm’s population. Squealer is the best pig for this job because he effectively convinces the animals to follow Napoleon by using different rhetorical devices and methods of persuasion.
Pigs walking on two feet, horses and sheep talking. This is how George Orwell satirizes human nature in his classic novel Animal Farm. Animal Farm is an allegory of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The title of the book is also the setting for the action in the novel. The animals in the story decide to have a revolution and take control of the farm from the humans. Soon the story shows us how certain groups move from the original ideals of the revolution to a situation where there is domination by one group and submission by all the others. The major idea in this story is the political corruption of what was once a pure political ideal. Orwell uses satire to ridicule human traits in his characters such as Napoleon and Squealer. There are several different characters in the novel utilizing animals as symbols of people in real life during the Russian Revolution. Napoleon is the leader of the pigs that ultimately come to dominate the farm. The characteristics that we associate with pigs , lazy, greedy, and pushy are meant to symbolize the characteristics that the leaders of the Russian Revolution exhibited. Napoleon is admired by all of the animals because he is their leader. All of the animals believe that their leader wants to fulfill all of their needs. They also are convinced that Napoleon’s decisions are made the best interest of the animals. Napoleon’s piglike qualities are shown throughout the story. He exhibited greediness when he sold the dying horse, Boxer to a slaughterhouse for money so that he and the other pigs could purchase whiskey. Orwell ridicules human nature through Napoleon in the sense that he is trying to show how the greedy and power hungry eventually end in corruption.
In the novel Orwell does a good job of describing what the animals believed, “It says, ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets, she announced finally” (832). Curiously enough, Clover had not even remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets, she thought it did not matter if she slept on a bed with sheets. Besides Napoleon could read and write, therefore they had more knowledge than everyone else. Finally, Mr. Jones is the only character that was sneaky because he was able to destroy the windmill without being caught. Orwell uses trickery in the story to make the readers think differently about some of the characters. He wants us to recognize how smart Mr. Jones is, “ ‘Master, or made elementary remarks such as ‘Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we should starve to death’ ” (814). All the animals at first thought Mr. Jones was a great guy, but what they did not know is that he would later get revenge on them and he would not be caught. You can tell that Orwell wants you to have feel for what the characters think of Mr. Jones, “ ‘At the last moment Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare who drew Mr. Jones’s and Mr. Jones has Mollie trapped in the long run and he will get the best of her. The animals think they are so smart, “ ‘Impossible!’ cried Napoleon. ‘We have built the walls far too thick for that. They could not knock it down in a week. Courage, comrades!’ ”
There are three ways a community can be overthrown and taken into absolute control. Napoleon and Squealer at George Orwell’s Animal Farm use three strategic ways to keep the animals in control under their ruling. They bend language, propaganda, and truth to take control of the animals freedom by using small changes within the animals lives. Through the farm animals, it is shown that those in power will brainwash and manipulate others by twisting their reality into the truth. Language throughout Animal Farm is shown on almost every page of the book.
Orwell's book, "Animal Farm", is full of satire. This satire is Orwell's way of communicating problems and resolutions. The main message in Animal Farm is that power cannot be divided equally. There will never be equality for all. Once power is obtained it is always abused, and power causes all to think as the leader does. Equality does not exist, for it is impossible for everyone to be equal.
In Animal Farm, Squealer and the pigs want more special privileges, so they threaten the animals by saying that Jones would come back if they do not receive those privileges. To blackmail the animals into letting the pigs have beds, Squealer states, “You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties. Surely none of you wish to see Jones back?” (Orwell 67). Allegedly, if the pigs do not get the special privileges, then Jones would come back.
One of the ways George Orwell Discusses the Russian Revolution in his book Animal Farm is by using a pig named Old Major to explain who really holds power on a typical farm. The Jones own the power and it’s because“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he doesn't lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all animals”(Orwell). Orwell also uses Old Major’s speech to explain the most important thing to society is control over others and that Man has unfairly gotten the better of all the animals.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a political satire of a totalitarian society ruled by a mighty dictatorship, in all probability a fable for the events surrounding the Russian Revolution of 1917. The animals of “Manor Farm” overthrow their human master after a long history of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they are working for themselves, as opposed to working for humans. Little by little, the pigs become dominant, gaining more power and advantage over the other animals, so much so that they become as corrupt and power-hungry as their predecessors, the humans.
The author of the novel “Animal Farm” George Orwell once wrote “every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been against totalitarianism”. Similarly “Animal Farm” also highlight about the totalitarianism. As all other revolutions, the revolution of animal farm also arises with the dream for a better and more perfect society which transfers in to a totalitarian night mare with the urge for the power in the minds of animals, who symbolizes the people who live in society. “Animal Farm is a satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism during the Stalin era. In the novel Orwell uses pigs to represent the ruling class and throughout the story he represent how the ruling class people spread and improve their power employing pigs as the characters.
Imagine a world where every person is equal: everyone has the same possessions, everyone shows respect to each other, no one kills anyone else, and no authority rises over others to give dictating commands. It sounds wonderful doesn’t it? George Orwell’s haunting book Animal Farm shows however, the near impossibility it is to make that idea a reality. In this fairy tale, a group of oppressed farm animals revolt against the tyrannical bonds of their evil master Farmer Jones, chases him off the farm, and attempt to make a society based on the idea listed above. But instead of having this incredible society, the pigs decide to make one instead where they are the ultimate authority. This book highlights the dangers of trying to establish an equal society under the ideas of communism, and also has poignant symbolic characters that display historical figures in new lights.
It was the glorious speech from Old Major that made the animals want to rebel so badly. Animal Farm, written by George Orwell is an excellent novel that portrays the need for power. It shows how power can be used for either good or evil. The story begins on Manor Farm, owned by a farmer named Mr. Jones. One of the pigs, named Old Major, gives a speech that motivates the animals to rebel. After a while, the animals ended up rebelling, and managed to kick out Mr. Jones. During the beginning of “Animal Farm’s” reign under Snowball and Napoleon’s (main characters) lead, it brought the animals on Manor Farm together into a peaceful world. However, after this initial stance of power, Snowball and Napoleon began to fight for it. In the end, Napoleon ends up with control of the farm and Snowball is never seen again. Power is a corrupting influence in Animal Farm and both Snowball and Napoleon’s way of leading are very different.