Language In George Orwell's Animal Farm

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The use of language is a major factor in George Orwell’s book, “Animal Farm.” Orwell constructs rhetoric the most through the pigs because it is how they gain power and become the highest class on the Manor Farm. The pigs use rhetoric to convince the other animals to go through with the rebellion, to harvest, to build the windmill, and to accept the changes made on the farm by using the three appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. Rhetoric is first used by the pig Old Major whenever he is convincing the other animals that there is a rebellion coming. He says, “and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty.” He uses this as pathos to connect to their emotions and make them believe that humans …show more content…

When Napoleon realized that is was actually a good idea, he set up Snowball and had his “guards” run him off. Then the other animals were told that Snowball was the enemy the entire time. On page 72, Squealer says, “Snowball was in league with Jones from the very start! Did we not see for ourselves how he attempted to get us defeated at the Battle of Cowshed?” He uses pathos when he refers to the Battle of Cowshed because they lost an animal that day due to Jones and his men. Before Squealer told everyone that Snowball was the enemy, he told everyone that the windmill was actually Napoleon’s idea. He told them that Snowball stole the idea from Napoleon and that is why Napoleon did not like the idea when Snowball brought it up. To make this sound more believable, Squealer gave the speech in Chapter 7 about how Snowball was a traitor from the beginning. When everything was cleared up, the animals were told that the windmill is going to be built. The animals worked hard and pushed themselves while the pigs “supervised.” The pigs also got to sleep in the house on the beds while the animals who worked hard all day building the windmill slept in the barn. Yet none of the animals said anything about this because they were convinced that the pigs just had to have this if they did not want Jones to come …show more content…

Later on in the book is when the pigs really start to receive treatment that no other animals get. For example, on page 99 it says, “when a pig and any other animal meet on a path, the other animal must step aside.” Page 104 says, “there was a schoolhouse built for the pigs.” The pigs are teaching the younger pigs that they are of higher power. They want to remain higher than all of the other animals. Another time is when Napoleon sends Boxer to a slaughterhouse but tells all the animals that he was sent to a doctor. Squealer convinces them that Boxer died peacefully and uses ethos and pathos when he says that Boxers last words were: “Long live Comrade Napoleon! Napoleon is always right.” Squealer tells them this because many of the animals look up to Boxer so they will follow his words. One of the Seven Commandments was: Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. On page 117, the pigs walk out of the the farmhouse on their hind legs. Yet not one animal speaks up because they are now all terrified. The next day, all pigs who are supervising are carrying whips. Still, not one animal speaks because no one wants to be killed. In the end, the pigs end up being just like the humans, they are the enemy too. The animals never put a stop to this because they were always told that this needed to happen if they did

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