Rhetorical Devices Used In Animal Farm

Writing Activity 1

Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegory in that the animals on the farm represent human activity. If it was not an allegory, the characters would be humans, not animals. This novella has two political overtones within this story. On one level there are animals that stand for types of people and ideas. On another level you have animals that relates to politics, and morals. In Orwell’s novella just about everything represents something else. The retelling of the story shows the development in Soviet communism using animals in Animal Farm to allegorize the rise of power of Stalin. For example, after serious disregard by their owner, the animals revolt and throw out Mr. Jones and his wife from the farm. Creatures are yearning for freedom but in the end become depraved by accepting the very power that had initially persecuted them. This shows in the text when “Old Major, the prize white boar “states, “Man is the only creature that consumes with producing.”

He inspires the animals to “work night and day, body and soul, for over-throw of the human race.”

Some rhetorical components in Animal Farm consists of anaphora with the use of “Comrades.” The term ‘Comrades’ was used repetitiously to help the pigs convince the rest of the animals that they are all equal.

The pigs use “comrade’ to confront each other so the less astute animals believe they are equal. Another example of a rhetorical component deals with the Seven commandments. The repetition of the words “Whatever goes upon,” and “No animal shall,” emphasizes the necessity for all of the animals to obey the commandments. Another form of a Rhetorical component in Animal Farm comes in the form of allusion. This shows with the “Battle of the Cowshed” being portrayed as an allusion to the Russian Revolution. Parallelism’s are also used as rhetorical components in Animal Farm. For example, The Battle of Stalingrad which was the German invasion of Russia during WWII parallels with the Battle of Windmill in the story. Animalism parallels to communism. The animal revolt parallels with the Russian

Revolution.

The use of allegory as a rhetorical device differentiates from a non-fictional account in that an allegory is interpreted to reveal a meaning, typically a moral or political one. The reader has to interpret their own meaning of the story in order to make a connection on their own. In a non-fictional account, the meaning is already laid out. There is no need to mentally construct a meaning of the story. A historical account explains what actually happened to the people and events who actually existed. A statistical account of an event solely lists statistics. An allegory is a fictional account. The characters and events are not ones that actually exist or really happened. The allegory represents a real event as seen by the author. It is fiction, not history or statistics.

I think that Orwell’s use of allegory rhetorically is successful. The animals exchange one kind of oppression for another. One was oppressed by animals, one by equally oppressive animals who also will dictate to all. While the ideals of the animals may be admirable, the result is just to trade one oppression system for another.

Writing Assignment #2
Orwell's allegorical novella is not a poem but rather an allegory that uses characters and events to represent something else to reveal a moral or theoretical message. Orwell was one who wanted all to remember the mistakes of the past and learn from history's blunders. Niemoller's cautionary poem states what disaster happened when he did not do what he should have done when he had the opportunity. When comparing the two, they both are transmitting a message to learn from past experiences. They both portray extreme unhappy events with meaningful endings. They both are cautionary tales about the abuse of power.