In George Orwell's Animal farm.... Clever and Manipulative use of Language.
Language is a very powerful tool in any human society. No society can exist without using language in all aspects of its being. Language acts as the pivot of the functioning of all human societies. It is the fabric with which culture, a way of life of a particular society is woven with.
Language can be used for various purposes in the human societies. The purposes include both positive and negative. Language can be used to both build and strengthen or to weaken and destroy the social structure of any given community. It all depends on how the language is used and also to a large extent who is given the full authority to exploit the full power of a given language in a given society.
In Animal Farm, a fictional satirical novel by Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name, George Orwell, a society where the power of language is used to both unite and later disintegrate is depicted. George uses a farm, previously referred to as the Manor Farm to depict a kind of a social order where animals are first under the authority and control of Mr. Jones. The farmer is irresponsible and a drunk and so the animals revolt against him claiming that he did not take good care of them. For the animals to achieve this, they are united by a common factor, a philosophy in a revolutionary song “Beasts of England” which they were taught by Old Major before he died. In this case, language is used as a tool to unite the animals against a common enemy the farmer. It leads to the animals upsetting the social order of the Manor Farm. The animals rename the farm Animal Farm.
At first, everything goes on smoothly with all the animals living by the seven rules which are written on the wall of a barn. The most important of these rules is the seventh rule which clearly states that, “All animals are equal.” After sometime, the pigs assign themselves leadership roles and take control of the farm. This is where conflict between the pigs and the rest of the animals set in. immediately after the revolutionary battle of cowshed, Napoleon, one of the pigs assumes total leadership by chasing away his counterpart snow ball. Napoleon cleverly uses squealer to as a spokes person to convince the rest of the animals that he is rightly placed to manage the farm. Before snow ball is chased away from the farm, he had proposed the construction of a wind mill which was to make work a lot easier for the animals. Napoleon through squealer strongly opposes the idea and later deceives the animals that it was his idea. He through squealer tells the animals that snowball had stolen the idea from him.
Later on the wind mill is destroyed after a fierce storm. Again, squealer is used by napoleon to deceive the animals of the calamity that befell the wind mill. Napoleon through squealer convince the animals that it was snowball who destroyed the wind mill, further alienating snowball from the animals.
Napoleon now takes full control of the animal farm using propaganda spread by squealer to keep the rest of the animals at bay and two fierce dogs to impose fear in the animals, forcing the animals to be completely subjective to his policies and wishes. The pigs in the farm having full control of the farm now begin breaking the seven laws of animalism. The manipulative squirms of squealer are again manifested here as he alters some of the laws written on the wall of the barn. This is a case where written language is altered for the benefit of only the ruling few. For instance, the law “No animal shall sleep on beds” is altered to “No animal shall sleep on beds with sheets.” This is done after the pigs are discovered sleeping in the farm house. When the pigs start drinking the farmer’s whisky, squealer again alters the law “No animal shall drink alcohol to “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.”
The animals continue living in deplorable conditions, working more and eating less but are convinced that they are better off than when Mr. Jones was around by a scheme of numbers invented by squealer. Squealer knows very well that the animals have very poor memories. Napoleon even has the hard working horse Boxer killed and later uses squealer to deceive the animals of his whereabouts.
Through squealer’s cunning and manipulative use of language, the initial social structure and order where all animals were equal is completely off set with the pigs assuming authoritarian positions and suppressing the rest of the animals than farmer Jones could have ever done. Napoleon through squealer brain washes and instills fear in the other animals resulting to the animals subjecting to him.
The pigs here clearly rewrote history by subjecting the other animals to the same kind of social structure they were when farmer Jones was around. The only difference was the change in the master. In this case, it was even worse as the animals had a strong believe that with farmer Jones out of the way, life would be much better than before. The situation turns out to be even worse as the pigs impose a more authoritarian rule than farmer Jones, this time by playing with the animal’s psychology.
Squealer in this novel is compared to the media while napoleon represents a suppressing government which after promising good prospects to its citizens later transforms and works against the very citizens using the media to spread malicious rumors and propaganda. The media in such a government plays around with the people’s minds by stating one thing and the altering or interpreting what is stated in a totally different way. There is no freedom of expression in such a state and no media freedom. Just like the animals, people are subjected to a totalitarian rule which is harsh and unbearable. Many do not see the truth of the matter until a time when a revolutionist comes around and arouses the people’s minds.
Language in general as stated earlier on is a very powerful tool in any society. If not used carefully, it can lead to a total collapse of a government and can also lead to an upset of a set social order.
