Rhetoric In Animal Farm. 13/4/17 – Daniel Griggs. Rhetoric

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.

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.

In the allegorical novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the aging pig Old Major speaks to all the animals on the farm, making a stirring speech calling them to arms. He tells them that Man is the enemy, and a rebellion is inevitable.His clever use of rhetorical devices such as appeal to ethos, rhetorical questions, among many others, is what makes his speech so effective.

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.”

Rhetoric seems like a big word but the meaning is simple- persuasion. In the book Julius Caesar, Antony and Brutus, two major characters, are fantastic at persuading the Roman citizens. When one is reading the story, they might think that both have equal amounts but when you look closer, Antony has the better rhetoric strategies. In just a few short sentences, Antony convinced the people to believe that Caesar needed revenge even though he never came out and told them that. Just a couple of minutes ago, the citizens were on Brutus’s side and thought that Caesar needed to go.

The book Animal Farm by George Orwell two main rhetoric devices are used. The pigs especially Squealer use ethos and pathos to manipulate the animals to doing what they want. The pigs also use their power to control everyone. These pigs are like the government. They abuse their power and control the people. In this book George Orwell is making a statement about how things were during the Russian war and how the citizens were treated.

In the book, Animal Farm, by George Orwell,Squealer is Napoleon's speech giver. In order to persuade the other animals that Napoleon is always right, Squealer uses a variety of different rhetorical strategies to do so. Squealer uses pathos, rhetorical questions, and hypophora to convince the other animals of his point. The first strategy that Squealer uses is pathos, tugging at the other animals’ emotions to convince them that Napoleon, as always is right. After Boxer is taken away in a cart marked, “Horse Slaughter” the animals begin to worry for their friend, even so much as trying to convince him to leave the cart.

Rhetoric is often denoted to as the art of persuasion. A set of linguistic traits and semantics used to evoke emotional responses from its intended audience, opening the floor for unanticipated influence by said audience. It would be an atrocity to ignore the efforts behind this simple yet powerful manipulation. This is referred to as rhetorical discourse. Essentially, there are six characteristics of rhetorical discourse, these characteristics being; rhetoric is planned, adapted to an audience, shaped by human motives, responsive to a situation, seeks persuasion, and is concerned with contingent issues (Herrick 8). Further, each of the characteristics lends itself to support the social functions of rhetoric; testing ideas, assisting advocacy, distributing power, unearthing facts, shaping knowledge, and building communities (Herrick 15).

When making the statement “Some suggest that human beings but not animals are made in God’s image and hence stand in much closer proximity to the divine that any non-human animal; according to this line of thought, animals were made expressly for the sake of humans and may be used without scruple to satisfy their needs and desires," I began to scrutinize the writer throughout the essay from then on because he seems to be based on facts instead of in view of realities. He expresses that Christians degrade creatures and at last couldn't care less. This is a provocative statement. This backs my analysis that Stein is constructing his exposition based solely around opinions. Steiner tries to garner sympathy from the reader by defending his point of view of animal consumption.

Animal farm is a renowned, allegorical novella written by George Orwell in 1945, which can be interpreted to have a hidden political meaning behind it referring to the Russian Revolution. Throughout this novella, the author purposely positions the audience to make judgements based on sensible, moral perception to show that Orwell effectively revealed how the pigs exploited a vast majority of propaganda techniques to deceptively manipulate the values, attitudes and beliefs of the other animals, with full intention of complete social control. This was exposed to the reader when the three main values of ‘Animalism’, as outlined in Old Major's speech, which consists of freedom, unity and equality, are abused for the pigs own advantage. This task

Squealer often uses persuasive language over the animals because they are uneducated and therefore easily manipulated. By using this language, he can make the animals do whatever Napoleon wanted, which is not always a good thing. The theme of how powerful words are and its effects is proven through Squealer’s propaganda techniques of bandwagon, appealing to fears, and logical fallacies.

Animal Farm by George Orwell contains many connections between the characters of the novel and propaganda techniques such as assertion, scapegoating, manipulation of statistics, and the humble servant. Orwell’s use of propaganda by the characters Squealer and Napoleon reflects the power of language as well as the specific theme that words can be used as tools as well as weapons.

“A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies”, this quote by the poet Alfred Tennyson was supremely important to relate to the role of Squealer in Animal Farm. Squealer was the an allegorical figure who spreads all of Napoleon’s propaganda, including using demonstrations, which was parallel to Pravda, the official newspaper of Soviet Union. In Animal Farm, Squealer was known for his friendly, disarming charm. He used strategies to manipulate emotions of animals, to articulate Napoleon’s policies and reconciled on two levels: to maintain a unity between the rest of the animals and the pigs, and also to explain there is no contradiction between the original seven commandments and the subsequent amendments made by the pigs.

In the USSR, propaganda slogans were used in public interaction to arouse patriotism and distract from controversial content of the speech. This is paralleled in Animal Farm through Squealer’s “skip”, “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