Orwell shows the power of language as a form of social control. To what extent do you agree? Throughout history, propaganda has played an integral part in political regimes. The dictatorship under Napoleon is no different. Napoleon uses the power of language (essentially a type of propaganda) very effectively to pacify, and later silence the greater population of animals. Later on, however, we see that physical violence is just as, if not more effective as a means of social control. At the very start of the novel, Old Major delivers a speech.
He incites the animals to rebel against the humans, speaking passionately about a ‘golden future”. He says “remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever” and talks about how “you young porkers will scream your lives out at the block within a year”. ‘Beasts of England’ paints the very image of utopia. The animals are unable to resist being drawn in and stirred by Major’s emotional speech, and so it can be said that Major managed to control, or at least direct the animals (to rebel) with just a speech.
Squealer is Napoleon’s very own propaganda machine. He is a small fat porker, with round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements and a shrill voice, which is the very image of a corrupted politician. “The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white”, which implies that not only is he a brilliant talker, but also a fantastic liar. Squealer is Napoleon’s right hand man, later on, when Napoleon rarely appeared in public, Squealer is sent out to order around and persuade the animals, and he is exceptionally good at what he does.
Squealer uses several persuasive techniques in all the speeches that he delivers and also lies without any qualms as long as it gets him to his goal. There are many examples throughout the novel of Squealer manipulating the animals. For instance, the 7 Commandments are constantly being changed to suit Napoleon. In his speeches, Squealer uses several persuasive techniques on the oblivious animals. He guilt trips the animals by talking about how the pigs are looking after them and how they are important to Animal Farm; he creates ear “Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! ”; and uses long words and complicated sentences to make sure the animals do not ask for further explanations and to in a way, convince the animals of his superiority. Furthermore, Squealer also has no qualms about lying “Many of us actually dislike milk and apples”. The one tactic that Squealer constantly uses is pinpointing the enemy. This gives the animals something to focus on and means that their vision is fogged in regards to the pig’s questionable activities.
Amazing, Squealer manages to spin Snowball into a criminal and a traitor, and subsequently brings up that fact at every turn to convince the animals that Napoleon is right. In fact, the only reason that the use of language is so effective on animals such as Boxer is because they are uneducated and therefore ignorant and extremely easy to control with just words. They are also isolated from the outside world, after all, humans are the ‘enemy’ and the rumours that do reach the Farm are not to be believed and trusted.
Author: Cody Owens