Power Through Language In Animal Farm By George Orwell

Orwell designed Newspeak to demonstrate the importance of language to ideas. Orwell thought literature was dying out, which he connected with dying language (Kazin 235). Language is not only the means by which an idea is expressed, but also the means by which an idea is thought. The purposes of Newspeak are to allow for the expression of thoughts Ingsoc deemed proper and make impossible the expression of thoughts Ingsoc deemed heretical (Kendrick 344). According to Orwell, control of thought follows control of language. The government in 1984 means to control the language, and

A key character who explores the themes of rhetoric and social control, is the pig Squealer, the animals are easily tricked particularly by Squealer who has an understanding of rhetoric and is able to control other animals by abusing language and radicalising simple mantras bleated by sheep, “Four legs good, two legs bad”. This causes Animals with opposing views to be silenced out and the mass of uneducated animals follow along as big words are complicated to understand but small words and simplistic slogans are easy to follow regardless of their logic. “Frightened though they were, some of the animals might possibly have protested, but at this moment the sheep set up their usual bleating of "Four legs good, two legs bad," which went on for several minutes and put an end to the discussion.” (7.36)

Napoleon from Animal Farm used controlling language to gain the rule of the animals. Napoleon is a power hungry nuisance in the form of a pig. He and his sidekick

Often times in a communist society, a leader’s use of language can lead to abuse of power. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the farm leaders, the pigs, use unknown language, invoke scare tactics, and create specific laws, thereby enabling them to control other animals, to suit their greedy desires, and to perform actions outside their realm of power. Because of the pigs’ use of broad language, implementation of scare tactics, and creation and manipulation of laws, they are able to get away with avoiding laws and convincing other animals into believing untrue stories and lies that are beneficial to the pigs.

Throughout the story, you see the way that the pig, Squealer, gives information to the “lowly” animals. He tells them what the leading pig, Napoleon, wants them to know, but he tells it in a way that it seems they are benefitting. Squealer had a way of persuading the other animals to listen to him, through his actions and manipulation. “The best known among them was a small, fat pig named Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements and a shrill voice. He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, which was somehow very persuasive. The others said of Squealer that he could turn black to white.”

Most of us communicate with others with words every day, using words as a tool to transfer messages. In the book Animal Farm, however, the language was used as a powerful weapon to strengthen the dominated dictatorship of Napoleon. Orwell explored the problem of rhetoric in Animal Farm by narrating how Napoleon and Squealer used words to placate other animals because their words effectively consolidated their power. This essay will demonstrate the rhetoric power in Animal Farm by presenting three examples.

Language is powerful and can be used to control instead of uplift. An example of language being used to

Language is the inevitable medium which people use as a means of communication. However, how that person uses the language that they have varies. Some view language as a persuasive political instrument and others view it as a means of expression and empowerment. In the essay “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” by James Baldwin, he was able to illustrate the history of the discrimination of language and how Black English is not accepted as its own language. Baldwin also shows that due to the lack of acknowledgement of Black English, it lacks the power it needs to empower the people who speak it. In the essay “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell, he was able to break down language and explain how language shapes reality. Orwell states that the he is not considering the literary use of language, but language is an instrument of expression and the promotion of cognitive deliberation and persuasion. Furthermore, both these authors agree that language is a political instrument, however, Baldwin uses this instrument to unite people and Orwell uses the instrument to persuade people.

Napoleon from Animal Farm uses controlling language to gain the rule of the animals. Napoleon is a power hungry nuisance in the

Since without language thought is nearly impossible the party believes that by altering the language they can impose their untrue reality. They will be able to restrict it to the point that even a person’s thoughts are manipulated; things such as individualism and imagination will cease to exist. Which ultimately will give the Party total control over society. The newspeak engineer also goes on to state “ In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.” (55) This quote proves how vital control of language is to the party, it is the key to becoming a controlled state. By creating the element of Newspeak in 1984 Orwell is warning against the potential consequences of manipulating language to benefit people in power and how this can eventually lead to a totalitarian state.

Power over the mind and power over the past are both necessary to ensure power over the population. Both language and power are crucial to controlling the population and since language has the power in politics to mask the truth and mislead the public, one could use them both to increase public awareness of this power. In the dystopian society of Oceania in George Orwell's novel 1984, Orwell gives readers a glimpse at how power and language relationship can be used to gain control of the public.

Power can act as the driving force that constitutes a hierarchical relationship between peoples, classes, or ethno-linguistic groups and language as a symbolic power that constructs society and controls social agencies (Bourdieu, 1991). The unequal power relationships among languages and the peoples who speak them create ‘language ideology,’ which Woodlard (1998) termed ‘power-linked discourse about language’ (p. 7). Such a language ideology makes people appreciate languages differently according to the languages’ social value as a linguistic capital (Bourdieu, 1991) and affect the ways people use language (Marttnez-Roldan and Malave, 2004). Bourdieu used the terms ‘power’ and ‘capital’ as synonyms, taking for example, “the kinds of capital

listen to the pigs, and agree with what they say so that they will not

An example of how the author uses these literary devices is when Minimus wrote Napoleon a poem. This poem read “Friend of Fatherless!.. Lord of the swill-bucket! Calm and commanding eye, like the sun in the sky, Comrade Napoleon” (Orwell 65). This is comparing him to something he’s not, Napoleon is not a Lord, he is a pig. This book also uses this in the whole entire book. Animals do not talk, they can not read and write and they can’t build things. A reason the author did this was to tell the story because its easier by using animals rather than humans. This is because humans don't think that animals have feelings, so by giving animals a few feelings it makes it easier to write and tell the story. It also is a way for people to learn about the dictatorships, a different way than flat out saying Hitler was bad.

Napoleon from Animal Farm uses controlling language to gain the rule of the animals. Napoleon is a power hungry