The Powers of Propaganda

517 Words2 Pages

Every day, language is used in many different ways. Especially in politics, this tool is used in propaganda to convince a certain audience to agree with one side of a conflict. In George Orwell's Animal Farm, propaganda is commonly used by the pigs, the leaders of the farm. Propaganda is sent out to the common animals using Squealer, who is a clever pig who always convinces the masses and spreads opinions the pigs want the others to believe. Orwell's Animal Farm illustrates how people use language, which parallels how the pigs use propaganda to distort and manipulate reality.
Squealer uses euphemisms to make the common citizens believe the ruling classes' claims. In the novel, Squealer, who symbolizes propaganda, commonly uses euphemisms to make life on Animal Farm seem better than when Jones ruled the farm, although it is evident that life is only getting worse over time. For example, "(Squealer always spoke of it as a 'readjustment', never a 'reduction')" (77). In this example, whenever the animals or common citizens received less and less rations, he always made the reduction sou...

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