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Power of Language in Animal Farm by George Orwell Animal Farm (1945) - satirical allegory of the Russian Revolution, particularly directed against Stalin's Russia. Led by the pigs, the Animals on Mr Jones's farm revolt against their human masters. Why by the pigs and not by any other more noble animals? By the power of their speeches pigs have convinced all the animals that they were the most intelligent, brilliant and that is why worth of being the leaders of the animal community. Pigs have managed to corrupt the minds of animals which were quite ready to loose an hours sleep in order to hear (Orwell, 29) this marvellous talking.
They learned how to to read and write and... did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership (Orwell, 46). Pigs were considered the brightest; the two of them that stood out the most were Napoleon (representing Stalin) and Snowball (representing Trotsky).
Napoleon was not really a good speaker, but he could assert himself. Snowball was a better speaker, he had many ideas. They both presented everything in such a manner like everything they said was right so that no animal could doubt that. The animals listened first to Napoleon, then to Snowball, and could not make up their minds which was right; indeed, they always found themselves in agreement with the one who was speaking at the moment (Orwell, 67). Still Napoleon is the principal character of the novel, a greedy power-hungry, cruel dictator (as human counterpart one could name Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mao) who when realized that his companion, Snowball, was pretty smart, decided to eliminate him and manipulating the minds of other animals he convinced them that Snowball was guilty in all the troubles. Another pig, Squealer (a human analogue could be Goebbells, CNN, Fox News or any other news media used for propaganda by the establishments), was very persuasive and...
could turn black into white. (Orwell, 36). He managed to change the rule from "all animals are equal" to" all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others" (Orwell, 133). He managed to convince the other animals that it was for their sake that the pigs ate most of the apples and drank most of the milk, that leadership was "heavy responsibility" and therefore the animals should be thankful to Napoleon, that what they saw may have been something they "dreamed", and when everything else failed he would use the threat of " Jones returning" to silence the animals. He communicated to all the others what Napoleon had said, and always convinced them that it was right. He is a symbol of Stalin's propaganda machine, the Pravda. The people had no other source of information, and Stalin needed to manipulate the media.
He took control of the publication, making it work for his needs. Squealer is also like the Goebbels, the propaganda minister in Hitlers Third Reich. Hes a great influencer, and can make sense out of everything. Every dictator needs such a Squealer, a master at influencing the public making them believe things, even though they are not true. The proletariat's were the easiest to convince and were most attached to Stalin, being that the system would benefit them most and were not educated. These would be horses Boxer and Clover.
They were faithful, hard working and never doubted the system. Such creatures wont question whats wrong and believe their leaders. They lived life by two motto's If Napoleon (a leader) says, then its right and I will work harder. "Animal Farm" presents how the mechanism of propaganda and brainwashing works in totalitarian regimes, by showing how the pigs could make the other animals believe really anything. It is sad that inspite of the warnings that writers like Orwell made in their works, the world continues to move in a self-destructive way. The modern Political Pigs use the same techniques that they have used earlier to control people and exploit them and the sheep-like humans continue to sleep and allow themselves to be manipulated, preferring others to think for them. Bibliography: Hammond, J.
R. A George Orwell Companion: A Guide to the Novels, Documentaries, and Essays. Palgrave Macmillan, 1982. Hitchens, C. Why Orwell Matters.
Basic Books, 2002. Orwell, G. Animal Farm. Signet, 2004. Smith, D. , Mosher, M. Orwell for Beginners.
Writers & Readers, 2000.
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Research essay sample on Animals Are Equal Animal Farm
