Animal Farm Rhetorical Analysis

Language is powerful and can evoke guilt, fear, admiration, and joy. At times, however, emotional language has a negative effect when the author uses words that seem to disrespect or guilt the audience. In Gary Steiner’s essay “Animal, Vegetable, Miserable,” Steiner debates that veganism is the only acceptable lifestyle because it does not endanger the lives of animals. Although Steiner clearly explains his firm stance, he uses a disdainful tone when relating personal struggles that ultimately disconnects the audience. Steiner does not relate and does not effectively prove veganism would end all animal suffering. Instead of discussing the advantages of veganism in an objective manner, Steiner’s tone comes across as arrogant and fails to create

Animal Farm begins on Manor Farm, where overworked, tired, and hungry animals are unhappy in the conditions that they are in, but when an old boar named Old Major introduces the idea of a rebellion and encourages the animals to take control over the farm, the animals begin an uprising against the humans, taking control over the land and renaming the farm “Animal Farm.” However, greedy and corrupt leaders rise to power and turn a once prosperous farm, into a nightmare. In Animal Farm, George Orwell asserts the idea that absolute power results in corruption. Napoleon and the other pigs, interested in remaining superior, persuades the other animals by using intimidation and emotional appeals in order to keep control of the gullible animals.

Orwell shows the difference in those with absolute control and those without the ability to express themselves by describing how “the pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge, it was natural that they should assume the leadership”(35). By including this quote within the making of the new farm, Orwell expresses how the pigs took advantage of their authorial positions so they could force the others to work, while they dominated Animal Farm with their own rules. The pigs’ power allowed them to have freedom to do anything they wanted, but caused the other animals to be restricted further in their lives, work, and individual rights. This resulted in the exploitation of the other animals, forcing them to have lose any hopes of having an equal society. Still, the other animals did not protest, and instead believed the pigs should be in power because of their intelligence. Their actions lead to the oppressive, dictatorial society shown as Animal Farm progresses. Soon, the inequity between the pigs and other animals develops to a point where “all rations were reduced, except those of the pigs and the dogs. A too rigid equality in rations, Squealer explained, would have been contrary to the principles of Animalism”

The novel ‘Animal Farm’ created by George Orwell heavily expresses the ideals of a prolonged cruel or unjust treatment and the exercise of authority. The exponential ignorance of the farm animals towards the actions and ideas of the pigs (Napoleon, Squealer and Snowball) prove the incentive that it is easier to conform to the ideals/ways of the ‘New England’, than to rebel, as well as through the exposure to propaganda and the distortion of reality. This therefore leaving them docile, numb, and oppressed.

To fully take control over Animal Farm, the government spread the message that the farm could not prosper or function without the pigs. This message allowed the pigs to gain many privileges in the farm without question. From the very beginning of the story, the other animals regarded the pigs as the smartest of all the animals in the farm. Because of this, it was naturally assumed that the pigs should lead the farm into rebellion against the humans and guide the animals into a better life. However, the pigs gained more control than the other animals thought they would. The pigs, especially Squealer, convinced the other animals that they should be allowed special privileges because they were shouldering the most “burdens” of all the

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.

Orwell uses the theme of education and literacy as a way of emphasising the importance of language and rhetoric as an instrument of social control. In Animal Farm, reading, writing and rhetoric is used as a means of social control by the pigs. The pigs on Animal Farm have the ability to read and write which allows them to persuade animals with their rhetoric for social control as well as

The undeniable greed Napoleon possesses can only be fulfilled by giving the other animals the illusion of bettering themselves by not questioning his logic: “Boxer, who had now had time to think things over, voiced the general feeling by saying, ‘If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right.’ And from then on he adopted the maxim, ‘Napoleon is always right,’ in addition to his private motto of ‘I will work harder’” (Orwell 60). Because Animal Farm’s audience predominantly consists of working class citizens, they begin to feel sympathy for Boxer since he cannot recognize Napoleon is exploiting him exclusively for his personal goal of becoming a puissant leader; therefore, animosity towards Napoleon develops in the audience. Considering the animals promptly welcome Napoleon’s promise of a better life, they work towards exhaustion, unknowingly fueling Napoleon’s greed: "All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings" (63). Although the animals working for Napoleon are unaware he is gradually becoming more human and willfully betraying his fellow animals for his own benefit, it is evident to the audience that Napoleon is corrupt. As Napoleon cunningly achieves power, his greed continues to grow, the same as a totalitarian leader’s:

Orwell is able to show how when education is not given to all, it is very easy for those with it to abuse it for more power. Now that the pigs have the initial advantage over the other animals, the future holds plans of using it as a personal tool to oppression.

Most believe when George Orwell wrote Animal Farm he was trying to warn us about several thing, some of those things include communism, revolution, and class divide. Orwell points out the dangers of communism by putting the dangers in a understandable, digestible cute story with animals. He shows the dangers of revolution by remind us how some revolutionions just end up being a switch a power to someone worse. And he reminds us about the dangers of class divide by have a big ruling class destroy all others. George Orwell wrote “Animal Farm” to remind us the dangers of communism, revolution, and class divide.

‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others’. George Orwell writes this toward the end of his highly acclaimed allegory, Animal Farm. From this single statement we can tell quite a bit about Orwell’s views on education which he puts across strongly throughout the novel. A message I see that this statement portrays is that everyone has the right to an education but some people were getting a better education than others at the time. During this essay I will be arguing that George Orwell was critical of the education system in 1945 (the year the book was written) and that he aired his views, hidden as they were, in many places through the book.

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a perfect example of how ignorance and lack of education can be used for control. Control which can lead to political and social oppression. The experiences of the various characters present how the pigs use this idea to oppress the animals of Animal Farm.

Animal Farm is established with moral intentions. The neglected animals of the farm rise up to overthrow Jones, and imagine a society of fairness based on the experiences of old major, in which all animals will have justice and won’t be demoralized by the people anymore. Old Major quickly establishes that “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend” (Orwell 11). He also reminds them that the ways of man are completely immoral, and they must not ever implement any of their habits. Giving the animals a shared enemy is an effective way to control the population. That is the first sign of a totalitarian state emerging in Animal Farm. Instead of the entire farm determining rules together, two pigs frame the rules of Animalism for the supposed utopian-like Animal Farm. They read:

In the novella Animal Farm, the timeline of early 1900s Russia unfolds in an allegory, with revolutionists Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx sparking a rebellion against Czar Nicholas II. Subsequently, a social democratic party known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the czar, aided by two significant leaders: Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Even so, the newfound ideology of communism that Stalin introduced and quickly corrupted through propaganda proved to be just as oppressive as the reign of Nicholas II. Most importantly, this corruption and oppression was elucidated by British author George Orwell through the use of rhetorical devices in the allegorical satire Animal Farm, where the audience receives a glimpse into the cunning caricature of

What is the definition of a good novel? Opinions on this question may differ, but there are many things that good novels have in common. Most importantly, the reader must enjoy the novel. When I use the word enjoy, I don’t necessarily mean that it should make the reader ‘happy’ or ‘joyful’. The novel should give the reader a valuable or worthwhile experience. Many good novels often address topics that relate to our own reality. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, one of the main focuses is on power and corruption.