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People's interpretation of animal farm
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The English language is one of the most complex languages known to man. Words, sentences, and ideas can be built and misconstrued because of the language’s depth. In the novel Animal Farm, the head pigs in charge, Napoleon, twists words in order to gain control and power over the entire farm. The Manor Farm transforms from the totalitarian rule of Mr. Jones, a mean farmer who feeds his animals meager portions, to Napoleon, a pig that will have you liquidated for a bottle of liquor. Language is used as a means of social control because of its irony, it changes, and it’s illegible by some.
Irony is the first reason that language may be used as a form of social control. Many words have double meanings, for example: break, spread, dress, match, etc. For this reason, various meanings and definitions can be derived and used as a person pleases. In Animal Farm, when all the animals were first rebelling, Snowball said, “The only good human being is a dead one." Human being can be interchanged with numerous words, which is what Napoleon did in order to control the animals with an iron fist. ...
What is irony? Irony is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is actually the opposite of what is expressed by the words the author used. This technique is used to ridicule or mock a particular subject by expressing laudatory remarks, but implying contempt and denigration. There are several examples of irony in the novel _All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_ by Erich Maria Remarque, a realistic, yet fabricated account of a soldier's experience in an international war. The lighthearted irony quickly transitions into dark satire with the use of dramatic irony, the setting, and situational irony to mock the glorification of war and introduce reality.
Language is a tool used by all of humanity, with the ability to express the emotions and thoughts of people worldwide. “Animal Farm” by George Orwell focuses on three pigs that go by the names of; Napoleon, Squealer and Snowball. These three take command of the farm they reside on after overthrowing their human master freeing them and the other animals on the farm. After the expulsion of Snowball later on in the story, Napoleon declares himself leader of the farm. In order to secure a life of luxury for Napoleon and his fellow pigs, Napoleon (with Squealer as his spokesman) uses language that distorts the truth, language that intimidates, and language that appeals to the emotions of others to manipulate the gullible animals of Animal Farm.
Despite the warnings of Orwell through both his essay and dystopian novel, bad English is still used today, and could be argued to affect more English than it did during Orwell’s life. The consequences are also just as he predicted, those who control the language are able to wield control over the thoughts of others. The usage of poor quality English by media has he effect of making the recipients of news more detached from events and as a consequence, more self-focused. The clumsiness and foolishness imposed by bad English ultimately degrading thought, politics, culture, and society is what Orwell had foretold. This is the English tragedy that is disregarded, modern thoughts of “English” are not of language but of the English Queen.
In Animal Farm, by George Orwell, many satirical devices, such as irony, hyperbole, and juxtaposition, are used throughout the story to criticize the Russian revolution and the adoption of communism. An example of irony is when the pigs begin to sleep in beds, something they vowed they would never do. The pigs defend themselves by saying the rules were that they would not sleep in a bed “with sheets” (70). This represents how everyone was supposed to be equal in Russian communism, but how leaders were developed anyway. Next, an example of hyperbole is that a pig named Squealer is said to be able to “turn black into white” (26). He is very convincing and a good talker. The over-exaggeration of his skills represents Russian propaganda. Finally,
hour's sleep in order to hear what he had to say". Old Major was a
Irony is the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. This rhetorical device is often used many times in literature and a very significant device. One example of irony occurs at the end. In the final chapter, was setting the jungle into fire, in order to smoke Ralph out. The fire, at the beginning of the book, was used for two things: it enabled the kids from signal a ship for a rescue, it helped cook meat, and it helped them keep warm.
Language can be used as a weapon to control others. In the story, after old Major died, the pigs distorted the meaning of his words and twisted the idea of socialism and gradually turned it into totalitarianism. Those pigs knew that other animals were not able to oppose Old Major’s idea, so they used that as an excuse for disobeying the ‘Seven Commandments’ and did whatever they want for their own benefits. They used outrageous terror and abuse of language to keep other animals in dark and finally, they became even greedier and totally destroyed the farm. This symbolizes the society in 1945 and it is the reason why George Orwell wrote this book — to wake up the people at that time.
Language has the power to influence and reshape our thoughts and actions. In Anthem, by Ayn Rand, there is a society which controls the language of everyone in it. Under the World Council, everyone is to follow the many rules put in place and no one even tries to break them. There is no “I” in their language, there is only “we”. With the power to influence and reshape people, language has a big impact on our thoughts and actions.
As soon as Old Major had died Napoleon took his place as the leader of
“The pen is mightier than the sword”, a popular saying, and one that is unequivocally true. Although physical force and power can manipulate someone into acting a certain way, it is not as effective as intelligence. Intelligent people can use the force of their words to extents that physical strength does not extend. Furthermore, intelligent people can use things like propaganda, lies, and deceit to get whatever they want. This is clearly proven by the actions of the pigs in the Animal Farm. Because of their high levels of intelligence compared to the other animals of the farm, the pigs are able to manipulate everyone else to achieve their own personal means through the use of propaganda, lies, and deceit. Propaganda can be seen clearly in the role of the pig Squealer, although it is prevalent throughout the story. In this case, propaganda is used by the pigs to tell the other animals exactly what they want to hear, and to cover up any sort of mistakes on the parts of the pigs. Lies are used to further the personal agendas of the pigs, as well as damage the name of Snowball in the eyes of the animals. Propaganda is used as a defensive measure on the part of the pigs, whereas lies are used as an offensive maneuver by the pigs to strengthen their positions. Deceit is used by the pigs to placate the animals, a maneuver that can be seen as neither offensive nor defensive. Deceit is most prevalent in the maxim of “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”
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.
George Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English Language, first published in 1946, talks about some “bad habits”, which have driven the English language in the wrong direction, that is, away from communicating ideas. In his essay he quotes five passages, each from a different author, which embody the faults he is talking about. He lists dying metaphors, operators, pretentious diction, and meaningless words as things to look out for in your own writing and the writing of others (593-595). He talks about political uses of the English language. Our language has become ugly and the ugliness impedes upon communication. Ugly uses of language have been reinforced and passed down in the population “even among people who should and do know better,” (598). Ugly language has been gaining ground in our population by a positive feedback mechanism.
The original dream of Animalism was not to just have animals successfully run a farm, but to live by certain rules. Rules such as, all animals are equal, no animal shall kill another, and no animals shall drink, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or do anything else that has to do with humans. This dream was a failure, because Napoleon disobeyed all of these rules throughout the story of Animal Farm. The dream of Animalism failed because of Napoleon’s selfish nature, and inability to abide by rules that he found inconvenient.
In 1946 George Orwell wrote the novel, Animal Farm. In this book, Orwell takes advantage of language and words to criticize the effects a totalitarian Russian regime, while some of his characters in the novel use the power of language and words to control a farm that at first, was a great democracy. In Animal Farm, language was a control mechanism, used to encourage, fool, and manipulate.
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, words – particularly names – are the most important tools for gaining and keeping power. The pigs are able to convince the other animals of anything they wish, if they put their mind to it. Any of the animals could do whatever bad action they want – and it’s not difficult, to steal some extra grain – but what is incredibly difficult is convincing those around you that the bad action they just committed is good. It’s not difficult to kill, but it is very difficult to justify your unjustifiable acts to everyone around you. Actions have more limitations as weapons than words, and consequently language is a more important tool for acquiring power than actions.