How Does George Orwell Use Metaphors In Animal Farm

The famous book Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a short story, symbolizing the time under Joseph Stalin’s rule. Orwell focuses on the characteristics of his characters to relive the tragic years of this communism. In his fable, the pigs are the ruling class of society without the farm; the leader of this society is a pig named Napoleon, who is to represent Stalin and his cruel personality. The pigs are able to control the thoughts and actions of his subjects through strong use of rhetorical devices such as metaphors, amplifications, antanagoges, and anaphoras. By using these devices, the pigs were able to keep control of Animal Farm and persuade the emotions of the animals towards thinking they were wise and kind enough to rule over them. …show more content…
The animals will have an opposite view from the higher class of “Animalism.” Napoleon gains the minds of the animals through metaphors. Before Napoleon kicked Snowball out of Animal Farm, the whole farm looked up to Snowball, because he was smart in his words and in his ideas. Even after kicking Snowball out, the animals still could not fathom Snowball turning against them. Squealer changes their views of Snowball, telling them that he was a traitor from the very start. Snowball had knocked down their windmill, he tells them. The animals are frightened of Snowball being some kind of “invisible influence.” Because of this rhetoric device, the animals’ views on Snowball changed throughout the book. The pigs succeeded through this propaganda. Soon, Snowball was thought of as an outsider and nothing more than that. Squealer is huge character in Animal Farm. He speaks on behalf of Napoleon and the pigs. He is very effective in his play on words. Whenever the animals are in distress or doubting Napoleon’s decisions, Squealer steps up and settles their minds. Squealer uses amplification as a strategy to win over the animals’ emotions. “Discipline, comrades! Iron discipline!” using amplification gives emphasis to a certain word that Squealer wishes to use towards the animals. It is a way of telling them that they should never forget what they need to have in order to keep in on good terms with …show more content…
For example, he took Snowball’s windmill plan when he ran Snowball off of Animal Farm. Time and time again, when Napoleon was not happy he would fix it one way or the other. While it seem that Napoleon worked very hard for the sake of the farm, in reality, he was too selfish to care about the other animals. He only wished to rule over them and get what he wanted. The pigs use antangoges to lessen the impact Napoleon’s cruelty has on the animals. Squealer speaks to the animals after a new arrangement was made by Napoleon. He told them that Napoleon thought of his leadership was a pleasure; however, “it is a deep and heavy responsibility.” This antanagoge makes it seem as if Napoleon enjoys his leadership, but only for the sake of the other animals other than himself. This is how Napoleon kept a lot of his respect; he was looked up to as someone who was selfless. By the end of the book, however, Napoleon’s actions caused him to lose a lot of his