George Orwell's Animal Farm demonstrates how vocabulary serves as a powerful tool for manipulation and control throughout the novel. The pigs, particularly Squealer, weaponize complex language and rhetorical techniques to confuse and dominate the less educated animals. Words like "tactics," "resolution," and "readjustment" are deliberately used to obscure the truth and rewrite history. The gradual alteration of the Seven Commandments—especially the final corruption to "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"—illustrates how those who control language control reality itself.

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The stark contrast between the pigs' sophisticated vocabulary and the simpler speech of animals like Boxer reveals how literacy and language comprehension directly correlate with power. Boxer's inability to read beyond the letter "D" and his reliance on simple maxims like "Napoleon is always right" make him vulnerable to exploitation. Meanwhile, the pigs' education allows them to justify their privileges and reinterpret the principles of Animalism to suit their needs.

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Understanding the vocabulary in each chapter is essential for students to recognize propaganda techniques, track the evolution of the farm's ideology, and analyze how language can be used to maintain social hierarchies and suppress dissent.

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Relevant ELA Standard:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

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