Preview

A deeper understanding of power and control emerges from considering the parallels between Animal Farm and V for Vendetta. Compare how these texts explore the ideas of power and control.

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1310 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A deeper understanding of power and control emerges from considering the parallels between Animal Farm and V for Vendetta. Compare how these texts explore the ideas of power and control.
A deeper understanding of power and control emerges from considering the parallels between Animal Farm and V for Vendetta. Compare how these texts explore the ideas of power and control.
George Orwell’s allegorical novella, Animal Farm and Alan Moore’s dystopian novel, V for Vendetta are prominent texts in English Literature which clearly establish the ideas of power and control. Both texts have a differentiation in terms of the ideas of power and control due to the contrasting political and social contexts involved. The authors, Orwell and Moore both succeed in demonstrating the context of communism and fascism respectively as a result of abusing the use of power and control. In Animal Farm and V for Vendetta, the use of propaganda is displayed through government manipulation over the populace. The oppression of people in the form of fear and violence reinforces the idea of maintaining the power a group or individual possesses. The exploitation of power enforces the corruption of society thus ensuing disunity and rebellion. Through the use of these themes, the ideas of power and control can be thoroughly explored and compared.
Propaganda and manipulation, a theme present in both texts has been employed in order to establish and maintain the power and control of the leader. The leaders’ control over the knowledge of the masses allow the implementation of power and control over society, hence the success in demonstrating the context of communism and fascism. Within Animal Farm, propaganda and manipulation is exhibited through the main source of propaganda, Squealer. This is evident in the quote, “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 in a way that said of Squealer that he could turn black into white. “ This quote manifests Squealer’s skilful communication enabling him to have power and control, thus the ability to manipulate and mislead facts. When Orwell describes

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Power is a multi-faceted theme that is present in society and is continually being explored through different text types. ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding, ‘Sunday in the Park’ by Bel Kaufman and Nazi Propaganda Poster ‘Long Live Germany’ has all shaped my understanding of power with its inclusion of themes such as totalitarianism and the powerlessness of Intellectual power against physical strength. This had left me to believe that physical strength and absolute control are the stronger forms of power and will act as a more successful way of government.…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Propaganda is a weapon used to deceive the minds of living things. Throughout the novella Animal Farm, George Orwell depicts how propaganda is used to assert dominance through the lives of animals. Napoleon is able to maintain control over the other animals only because of Squealers convincing propaganda. Squealer controls the others by creating fear, manipulating messages and justifying their actions.…

    • 61 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Okay. In the book The Animal Farm Squealer, the pig, shows some extremely complex characteristics. His ability to persuade the animals to do or believe anything is incredible. Squealer got even the animals to believe that Napoleon was a good leader, which we all know is not true, for multiple years. I believe Orwell created Squealer to get us to understand how manipulated the people of Russia were, in these times. Orwell writes “…Squealer would talk with tears rolling down his cheeks… “, showing squealer has knowledge of literary devices and how to use them (Orwell100). Obviously Squealer is cunning and full of himself knowing that he is smarter than the other animals.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Orwell uses references to communism throughout the book. His experiences and observations of communism and communist rule helped form the basis of the book. In one particular instance, Squealer uses propaganda to persuade the other animals that the milk and apples provide nutritional benefit to the pigs. He states that it has been “proved by science” that apples and milk benefit the pigs. He further uses misleading statements about the possible return of Mr. Jones to the farm as a justification for this privilege benefiting the pigs. This use of propaganda helps Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball gain control of all the animals on the farm.…

    • 830 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All across the world, all throughout history, there has been authority, and there has been rebellion. It is a constant cycle of controversy that has, and will continue to, have an impact on the human race. The speech presented by Samuel L. Jackson and the novel “Animal Farm” by George Orwell both display noticeable forms of authority and rebellion. They both describe the injustice being committed and in one case, attempt to gain equality with authority, whilst the other tries to overthrow it.…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Language can control and manipulate situations in many ways. In the book "Animal Farm" situations are twisted and turned around with the use of language and propaganda, thus being done so by a pig named Squealer. Propaganda is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Squealer can talk his way out of everything, but why he can do this is because of his outstanding use of clear and precise language.…

    • 108 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The idea of power and especially political power has its many definitions, and is used, explored, and even exploited, featuring in all human experiences in the struggle for authority and dominance. The theme of power is widely explored in the two texts of Macbeth by Shakespeare, the famous satirical George Orwell text of Animal Farm, and also through the Chinese Communist Leader Chairman Mao’s quote that “Political Power grows out of the barrel of a gun”. Significantly, through this quote from Chairman Mao, the messages regarding power in both Animal Farm and Macbeth are explored - that political power is obtained and sustained through the use of violence.…

    • 1273 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel Animal Farm, George Orwell hints that power corrupts through the use of an allegorical storyline. By using historical criticism, one can analyze the causes and effects of ruthless ambition. During the WWII era, there was widespread corruption in many nations, as seen in Germany with Hitler and Russia with Stalin. This time period of chaos exposed the lack of compassion among humans. Similar to this era, there were cultural and political struggles among the humans and animals in the farm as well. Ironically, in the animal’s struggle to free themselves of human dictatorship they end up oppressing their own kind.…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Power is a concept that has existed for all of human history. The battle and struggle to maintain power creates stories that have come to shape our literary world today, and help us understand governement and its intended purpose. In V for Vendetta, we are introduced to a society where the government uses survelence, fear, and physical violence to ensure the country’s stability. What lies benaeth this surface however, is an entirely different world of rebels, terrorists that stand for justice, and innocent people being oppressed. In animal farm, readers are shown a similar type of society. In both novels there is a struggle for power, good and bad. The bad form of power is already in place, and the people want to reinstill justice and equality…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How does Orwell explore the problem of rhetoric in Animal Farm? Paying particular attention to the character of Squealer, how is language used as instrument of social control?…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1984

    • 530 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This essay will propose that George Orwell was a man ahead of his time, and may eventually be correct with his predictions for the future. Along with the dangers of technology the dangers of Totalitarianism is another major threat in the future. In 1984, Orwell gave hints to warn readers of the very real possibility of letting Totalitarianism go unopposed; a version of his novel’s world could take place in some way. Another topic that expressed some type of control of the people within Orwell’s novel was the language. Big Brother created Newspeak, which replaced English, with the goal of nobody being able to conceptualize anything that will question the Party’s power. An additional theme of the novel that also expressed a possibility to occur in society was the Psychological Manipulation. In the novel by Orwell, the party bombards its people with all sorts of stimuli that are designed to prevent any independent thought. Also, the use of technology to send constant streams of propaganda and also monitor behavior provides another sense of control. The…

    • 530 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Propaganda In Animal Farm

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages

    That is what makes it so horrific; it takes morals and replaces them with human ideals that are not always just. This strong propaganda was also used destructively in Russia while under Stalin’s Communist rule. Newspapers like the Pravda, Russian for truth, told the unassuming people of all the “wonderful” things their leader was doing and kept questioners quiet. It was this propaganda and blindness of the people that made the Russian Revolution so harsh. The novel Animal Farm was written by George Orwell in protest of such totalitarianism. The novel is an allegory of the Russian Revolution and the story of the Russian Revulsion could not be told without propaganda. In the novel, Squealer, the pig, stands for propaganda in a profound way. Squealer propagandizes the animals, progressing from twisting words to telling half-truths to…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Propaganda In 1984

    • 1793 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In the totalitarian future of 1984 by Orwell the ruling party controls it’s people by means of repression, inclusive management over language and history, and utter manipulation of individual ideas and thoughts. The party’s strength is received by it’s power over the people and as a result the people believing in the party. With the depiction of extreme methods of control the story highlights what future control could become if left to flourish as well as suggesting how these forms of power tend to always be extreme. Orwell makes clear parallels between his dystopian society and the techniques used by authoritarian regimes to alert the reader how great use of propaganda and control can create a poisonous mindset. In particular, the manipulation…

    • 1793 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Totalitarian Tyrant

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 addresses the dangers of having an all powerful government by including propaganda, mind control, and physical force within the novel.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life”(Marley). In today’s society, corrupted leaders are often seen throughout the world. Also, almost every day, an event happens that forces the government into adding or changing a federal law. With all the historical revolutions from the past, one could occur at any time, any place. In his novel, Animal Farm, George Orwell demonstrates through the characters that a revolution could happen in modern society. By inspecting corrupted leadership as well as, modified and new laws, it is evident that in the novel, revolutions are present.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays