Language as a Tool of Manipulation and Exploitation in George Orwell’s Animal Farm

Abstract

Language plays a central role in shaping thought and influencing social and political realities. In Animal Farm (1945), George Orwell portrays language not merely as a medium of communication but as a mechanism of power and control. This paper explores how language is used as a tool of manipulation and exploitation in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. The study focuses on the choice of words in the propaganda slogans used by the ruling pigs and how these linguistic structures serve to control thought and behavior. Using Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a framework, the paper examines how simple, repetitive, and emotionally charged words shape ideology and normalize inequality. The analysis also draws comparisons with modern political slogans to show that the manipulation of language remains a global and timeless phenomenon. The study concludes that Orwell’s work reveals how linguistic choices reflect power relations and how language, when monopolized by the powerful, becomes a weapon of exploitation rather than a medium of truth.