Manipulation is like mind control. The victim gets hooked and eventually can’t think for themselves with the controller’s impactful thoughts lodged in their brain. In “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, manipulation and control are some of the main idea’s displayed. Those ideas being expressed can be translated into one topic: theme. Although many themes can be hidden in a book, there’s commonly only one essential moral that applies to everyone. I believe the primary theme presented in “Animal Farm” is in letting manipulators control your beliefs, those manipulators will blind you or make you unaware of reality.
To start off, I feel the main moral in “Animal Farm” is manipulation. After the Rebellion, there was a new conflict being conjured up:
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Napoleon had finally driven out Snowball with the help of his vicious dogs, giving the vacant commander spot to Napoleon. Napoleon, along with Squealer, began to take advantage of their leadership. They even went as far as to change one of the Seven Commandments! Squealer began, “‘You have heard then, comrades,’ he said, ‘that we pigs now sleep in the beds of the farmhouse? And why not? You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a ruling against beds?... You would not rob us of our repose, would you comrades? You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties? Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?’”(Orwell 67). This quote explains how the pigs our now sleeping in the farmhouse, making the other animals curious. They begin to present questions. Clearly, their actions are violating commandment number four, “4. No animal shall sleep in a bed”(Orwell 24). Since only but some animals are eligible to read, most didn’t notice the revision made to commandment number four, making them clueless and feeble-minded. I can deduce this is one of the many forms of manipulation written in this book due to the pigs implying fear to the others. By including the other farm animals into the discussion, the “comrades” will begin to feel the information the intelligent boars are telling them is true. Or if they start to question the pig’s logic, Squealer entails his concern with the return of
George Orwell’s animal farm is an allegory about communist Russia and the Russian revolution. Animal farm represents communist Russia through animal farm. Some of the themes Orwell portrays throughout the story of animal farm are lies and deceit, rebellion and propaganda through the characters and the story of animal farm.
As Napoleon's spokesman, Squealer uses intimidation to prevent the animals from questioning the intentions of Napoleon and his fellow pigs. He first uses intimidation on the night that the animals question why the pigs get to receive the missing milk from the harvest. "'Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back!'" Squealer intimidates them by inferring that the consequence of not preserving the milk for the pigs is Jones's return, which is a false exaggeration. However, his attack on their vulnerability to the government and the security that they are provided with by the pigs causes the animals to trust Squealer's word and willingly supply the pigs with the milk as the pigs' personal luxury. When Clover also questions why only the pigs are enabled to use beds, a human mechanism, Squealer intervenes by saying, "' You would not rob us of our repose, would you comrades?'" Squealer here uses reverse psychology to intimidate Clover by accusing her and the others of denying the pigs' comfort...
...ls around to do more work while they lie on their backs and drink because the animals are too stupid to realize that they are being treated unfairly. Because the pigs have advantages when it comes to being smart, they take advantage of the fact that the animals have no idea whats actually going on. Though the pigs rarely do anything, they get more portions of food. Towards the end of the book, the animals see that while they are working very hard for the farm, the pigs are inside drinking and talking with humans. Though they may not realise it, they are not treated equally. The pigs have much power over the animals because they know that the animals can not realise that they are doing all the work. The animals trust that the pigs are telling the truth. Because of this, the pigs take full advantage of it and choose to slack off and take the animals trust for granted.
The story of Animal Farm is not just one of a bunch of farm animals getting along and enjoying each other. Rather, the tale gives us insight into who is the real villain during the Russian Revolution, as the farm animals represent certain groups George Orwell, in Animal Farm, reveals the villain as a good character in the beginning of the novel, but as we get deeper into the story we figure out that the good animal has been the greedy, self-centered, and cruel villain the whole time. Orwell exposes the injustices that occurred under the rule of Joseph Stalin, through the act of Napoleon becoming a dictator who is lying to the animals and switching the rules for the farm.
Animal Farm is not only a novel about rebellious animals; it is a study of the corruption of society and humanity in an enclosed environment. The actions of the anthropomorphic animals that now rule Manor Farm represent the human society as a whole. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel which contains syntax that exemplifies power and hierarchies and diction that portrays character’s will and intention.
Throughout the story, the animals begin the trust the pigs more and more, allowing themselves to be told what to do and be taken in with blind devotion. The pigs act on their newly gained trust and by the end of the story are able to lie back on their laurels and run the farm from the comfort of Mr. Jones’ armchair.
Throughout the story, the first signal that illustrates the corruption in pigs started right after the animals chased away Mr. Jones. When the animals milked the cows and discussed about what to do with all the milk, Napoleon cried “Never mind the milk, comrades…placing himself in front of the buckets” (p18) and then all buckets of milk disappeared. This is foreshadowing that later Napoleon may become the kind of leader who keeps everything good for himself and does not care about others, and this actually happened later. Several days later, someone found out that all the milk was mixed in pigs’ mash everyday as well as the apples and pointed that pigs broke the rule of “All animals are equal” (p17). This time the pigs cannot stay calm anymore. Squealer firstly said that they pigs actually do not like milk and apples and the reason why they added those into their mash was because they were ‘brainworkers’ and those were good for their brain and only when they were healthy enough the other’s safety can be guaranteed. After that, Squealer used repetition...
Manipulation of language can be a weapon of mind control and abuse of power. The story Animal Farm by George Orwell is all about manipulation, and the major way manipulation is used in this novel is by the use of words. The character in this book named Squealer employs ethos, pathos, and logos in order to manipulate the other animals and maintain control.
The pigs were first to recognize the power of knowledge and used it to manipulate the other animals. “The work of teaching and organising the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally recognised as being the cleverest of all animals. ”(15) The morning of the hay harvest, the pigs secured their leadership by surprisingly revealing to the other animals that “during the past three months they had taught themselves to read and write. ”(23) With the education, they intend to gain power and therefore, keep the knowledge to themselves.
...ll return. By cleverly inducing fear into the animals, the pigs are able to convince them to agree with and support anything they suggest.
Through use of language, the pigs appeal to the animals basic hopes and desires of a better life and a better future. They make others work extremely hard, while they themselves rest and unfairly reap most of the benefits of the work. For example, “Now comrades,... to the hayfield! Let us make it a point of honor get in the harvest more quickly than Jones and his men do.” Later in chapter three, Squealer is sent to justify the pigs selfishness and to convince the animals that the pigs are working in their favor. He said, “You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples...Milk and apples contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig...the whole management and organization of this farm depend on us.” This how the animals are persuaded to believe almost anything without question.
As a result, if the pigs are not allowed to do what they want, then Animal Farm will not prosper or function well. The effectiveness of propaganda is evident through the rise of a despotic and tyrannical government in Animal Farm. Used as a successful, manipulative tool in the story, Animal Farm depicts the dangers of propaganda to an ignorant and gullible society. Orwell’s story describes the actions that brought about the eventual collapse of an ideal utopian society.
An author often writes a novel as a warning to mankind. In Animal Farm, George Orwell creates a world of animals that allegorically represent man. The intelligent pigs take advantage of the uneducated lower animals and take control of the farm. By showing the steady increase of the pigs' intellectual exploitation of the lower animals, Orwell warns the reader of the importance of an education.
At the beginning on the text, after the rebellion, the animals are all seen as equal, with a high quality of life. Napoleon and Squealer often mentioned how important it was for all animals to do their equal share of work; however they often did little to no work. They were able to do this by Squealer acting as the media and reminding the animals that the hard work that the pigs did deserved a larger break then everyone else. As the text progressed, Napoleon and his small group of pigs slowly changed the commandments to suit themselves. Many animals didn’t question the change in commandments; and when they did they were either proven wrong or made an example of via public executions. During chapter 6, the pigs are questioned after allegedly breaking the 4th commandment “no animals shall sleep in a bed”. Squealer was quick to react, by stating that the pigs required extra rest due to how smart they were. When Muriel goes to read the commandments to prove that what the pigs are doing is wrong, she finds that the board now states “no animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets”. Through this, the pigs where able to gain control at a rapid pace and adjust the rules to have the most benefits in their
Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a fable about rulers and the ruled, oppressors and the oppressed, and an idea betrayed. The particular meaning given will depend partly on the political beliefs- “political” in the deepest sense of the word. The book is there to be enjoyed about how human beings can best live together in this world. The novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, successfully combines the characteristics of three literary forms-the fable, the satire and the allegory.