The pigs are able to expliot the other animals as
they are intelligent enough to manipulate the truth
so that their evil actions seem perfectly acceptable
The pigs- particularly Squealer- are able to use
language very effectively. The other animals
cannot do this
Orwell was very concerned by
the relationship between
language and power
Political Allegory
The story has two different meanings- a
surface meaning and an underlying
message
Beast Fable
A fable which makes use of
anthropmorphic characters
Anthropomorphic: a description of
animals which makes them appear like
humans, e.g. they are able to talk and
think
Satire
The literary technique which focusses on targetinga n issue,
institution or idea and attacks it in such a way ro make it look
ridiculous or worthy of contempt. There is a purpose of this
humour other than just aiming to make people laugh
Power Corrupts
As well as being an allegory of Russian history,
Animal Farm can also be taken as a more general
anaysis of the search for power.
It explores the ways in which corrupt
figures can gain and manipulate power
for their own purposes.
Animal Farm exemplifies the
famous words of Lord Acton:
"power corrupts and absolute
power corrupts absolutely"
As the pigs gain more power it becomes
harder for them to resist the temtations of
an easire life- especially as the other animals
are too gullible to avoid being manipulated
Dictatorships
Napoleon emerges as the farm's leader, his is a slow descent into tyranny. He is driven by power and throughout the book we see him plan to secure his hold on the farm adn the other animals
Like in a dictatorship, Squealer completey misrepresents
Snowball's actions during the battle of the cowshed and
glorifies Napoleon's bravery. As readers we remember
that Mapoleon was actually absent during the battle- with
implications that this was as a result of cowardice.
Education and learning
"Knowledge is power"
The pigs are clearly the intelligent
animals on the farm and soon take over
control of its management
They support the revolution by teaching
their ideas to the other animals
The animals on the farm do not
remember Major's speech clearly so
the pigs have them simplified down to
seven commandments.
Snowball tries to teach the other
animals to read and write
Increasingly the pigs take advantage of the fact
that the other animals are not overly intelligent,
the gulf between the ideals of the revolution and
the reality of their actions becomes wider.
The pigs are able to manipulate the animals
as they can read, with the knowledge they
aquire they are able to hold on to their power
Propeganda
The pigs control the animals through
clever use of propeganda- a method to
convince others of the truth of your
arguements
Squealer is the chief propegandist in
the book, it is said "he can turn black
to white"