Although many people believed for many centuries on the possibility of a social equality becoming a reality, as attempted in the Russian Revolution in 1917, it is known that this ideal has not been achieved in society yet. While this is a fact, many groups of people believe that social equality may come true one day. However, this day has not arrived and social stratification is still a reality. Such stratification is enlarged by the use of discourse. It is possible to say that this linguistic strategy has being adopted successfully by the dominant classes for a long time. That is because this social class has enough knowledge to apply this tool to influence others. The dominated classes, on the other hand, in most of the cases, do not have conditions to perceive that they are influenced by discourse. As a consequence, these individuals work in order to fulfill the wishes of their dominators and do not realize that they are being explored. On the book Animal Farm (1945) written by George Orwell, the use of discourse is a tool that is constantly adopted in order to increase the social distance between those that on the one hand are in the control and on the other those who are the working force. As a result, social stratification enhances and the ideal of equality becomes a distant dream that might never come true, as an utopia.

Animal farm portrays the consequences that the use of absolute power can cause on a whole society. That is because when this happens, only a small part of society is benefited while the biggest part of it suffers with this system. This absolute power is built and increased by the use of discourse. Michel Foucault defines discourse as a

group of statements which provide a language for talking about – a way of representing the knowledge about – a particular topic at a particular historical moment. …Discourse is about the production of knowledge through language. But… since all social practices entail meaning, and meanings shape and influence what we do – our conduct – all practices have a discursive aspect. (cited by Hall, 1997:44)

In this fashion, as Stuart Hall (1997) points out, it is important to remember that Foucault offers a very different definition of discourse than that ordinarily used by linguists, in the sense that Foucault’s definition is as much about ways of thinking and practices as it is about language. Indeed, according to Foucault, meaning and, thus, meaningful action are only made meaningful within the constitutive abstract space of a discourse (44).

Based on this concept of discourse, we can say that on the narrative Animal Farm, this powerful tool is a device that only the pigs have the ability to use. Because of that they can be considered an analogy of the dominant classes that retain power and knowledge to use it. This understanding of the world allows them to use discourse in order to shape the other animals according to their desires. As a consequence, the pigs are able to take advantage of the “lower-classes” animals. That is possible because by the use of discourse they are capable to make all the other animals believe in their words and do what they wished to achieve. As a result of this initially trust produced by discourse practices, the other animals did what they were told to do without realizing they were explored and that they were not having any benefits with it.

In order to contextualize this essay, it is important to provide a brief description of the narrative Animal farm concerning the plot. The story happens in somewhere in London at a farm that belonged to Mr. Jones and his family. One night the animals go to a meeting that Major, an old pig, had organized. During this meeting, Major explains that due to his wisdom and long lifetime he had get to the conclusion that “No animal in England is free” and “The life of an animal is misery and slavery (7). The reason of this animal condition was attributed to the tyranny of the human beings. Three days after this meeting Major died, but he had already planted a seed in the animal’s souls. Influenced by Major’s speech, they started to prepare themselves for the Rebellion in order to get rid of men. They were guided by the pigs, “who were recognized of being the cleverest of the animals” (15). Three pigs, Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer, had elaborated Major “teachings into a complete system of thought, which they give the name of Animalism” (16). The animals had frequent meetings with the pigs in order to learn these principles. One day, all the animals in union expelled Mr. Jones from his farm. From that day on, they were not ruled by men anymore. After this event, the pigs started to use their superior intellectual capacity to dictate the rules in that society. The other animals, as a consequence, did everything their superiors asked aiming at having a better life. However, their lives became worst than ever and most of them were not able to realize that negative change. The work increased and only the pigs benefited with this new situation.

Such environment was influenced by an initial speech that encouraged the animals to change their reality. In this sense, we can perceive that the use of discourse has started to persuade a whole society in a way that made its members feel the necessity to chance their lives. The power of discourse is clear, as this wish of changing was inexistent until the moment that the animals listened to old Major’s speech that “had given the more intelligent animals a completely new outlook on life” (15). Due to Old Major words the animals felt that they were a unit and had a common goal to achieve that was, expelling men from their lives:

Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the interest of no creature except himself. And among us animals let there be perfect unit, perfect comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are comrades […] weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. […] All animals are equal. (10/11)

Influenced by the new ideas that were presented to them, they started to prepare themselves emotionally to the rebellion that would occur one day. However, it happened sooner then they expected: Mr. Jones was expelled from the farm and they were free of men. Due to this new reality they could start to live filled with the sureness that they were part of an equal society.

However, the animals were not able to perceive that they are not on the same level of the pigs because the discourse is used to disguise this situation. The pigs are able to occupy this superior position due to their finer intelligence in relation to the other animals. Their intelligence allowed them to influence the other animals and get the things they wished by the use of discourse. In order to gain the animals confidence, the pigs made them believe that they all belonged to the same group. The creation of the seven Commandments, which had in common the idea that all animals were equal, reinforced the principle of old Major speech and it was a strategy to make the animals feel that they were a unit.

Taken by this feeling of belonging to a group, all the animals worked with pleasure because now they were not working to men, and believed that they were working for themselves. There was a feeling of contentment with the new life that that started to have:

Everybody worked according to his capacity. The hens and ducks, for instance, saved the bushels of corn at the harvest by gathering up the stray grains. Nobody stole, nobody gambled over his rations, the quarreling and biting and jealously which had been normal features of life in the old days had almost disappeared. (29)

As we can see the ideal of equally seems to work at the beginning of non-men around times. Nevertheless, this apparent balance among the classes does not last long. That is because the tasks gradually increase to the other animals that work harder and harder to satisfy the pig’s wishes. The other animals, in their turn, were not able to realize that the freedom that they have acquired from men did not mean that they were free. That is because the only thing that had changed in their lives was that instead of suffering the exploration of men (which was lighter), now they were under the exploration of the pigs. In other words, there were explored by those who made them believe that there would be equality in that society after men disappeared. Thus, this equality was an illusion because the pigs were in control.

Since the beginning of the times without men around, it is clear that the pigs are on the top of the social class. This superiority is seen by the fact that they “did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others” (27). As a consequence this superior condition, the ideal of equality among the animals is marked by social stratification since the beginning of its times. This fact can be perceived, through the constant increase of advantages that the pigs have in relation to the other animals. One example that shows traces of this social stratification can be seen when we learn that all the milk and apples were being reserved for the pigs. In order to contain any reaction that the other animals could have in relation to this fact, the pigs use their capacity of discourse to maintain their position of superiority. Through the use of speech, the pigs are able to convince the other animals that they need milk and apples for their health and if they fail in their duty Mr. Jones would come back. Persuaded by the reasons the pigs gave for having this advantage, “it was agreed without further arguments that the milk and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of apples when they ripened) should be reserved for the pigs alone” (36). This passage confirms the fact that the pigs have the capacity of using discourse in their favor and, as a consequence increase their advantages in that society as well as the distance between the higher and lower class. In relation to what the pigs say, we can highlight that their authority in that society give them the conditions to produce their own truth. In this sense Foucault notes that

Each society has its regime of truth, its ‘general politics’ of truth; that is, the types of discourse which it accepts and makes function as true, the mechanisms and instances which enable one to distinguish true and false statements, the means by which each is sanctioned… the status of those who are charged with saying what counts as true. (cited in Hall, 1997:49)

As a consequence of the power of the pigs, they can “choose” what is true and what is not according to their necessities and the other animals, having no other way out, accept their choices.

Influenced by this “truth” produced by the pigs, the other animals are incapable to interfere in their reality. An example of this incapacity can be seen when Napoleon, expels Snowball from the farm. After seeing Snowball running away from the dogs to save his life, several of the animals “would have protested if they could have found the right arguments” (54). As we can observe the animals do not know how to react to the things that they think are unfair. They feel impotent, they do not know how to express themselves due to the lack of cognitive capacity that they have.

Moreover, this lack of intelligence prevents them to make choices even when they are offered this opportunity. An instance of this reality can be seen when there is an election between Napoleon and Snowball. This event enables us to note the lack of discernment that the animals have in relation to the two candidates. As a consequence of this lack of discernment, they were not able to choose which one of them would be the best option to govern them. As the following passage shows:

The animals listened first to Napoleon, then to Snowball, and could not make up their minds which was right; indeed, they always found themselves in agreement with the one who was speaking at the moment. (51)

As we can see the other animals are easily influenced by the pigs. That is because they are not able to have their own opinions. In other words, they are just guided by the ones that have superior intelligence to command them.

Supported by the behavior of the other animals that did not react against the facts, Napoleon is able to take control of the situation. He announced that from now on the Sunday morning meetings would come to an end. They were unnecessary, he said, and wasted time. In future all questions related to the working of the farm would be settled by a special committee of pigs, presided over by himself. (54)

As we can observe the control exerted by power has assumed its full form. The power of Napoleon is reinforced by the presence of his dogs that are a threat for the other animals. The dogs represent a powerful protection to Napoleon in case anyone tries to break the rules he has established. As we can see the after this moment, the animals are officially regarded as the working force that does not interact with their superiors. As a consequence, this equal society that was idealized by all the animals is even further to become a reality. Actually, it has never existed. However, at least some time ago the pigs were wiling to make the animals believe that they lived in an equalitarian environment by using arguments to produce this effect of meaning. But now they knew that that “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others” (134).

This narrative emphasizes what has been happening in our society for centuries, that is, the social stratification that is intensified by discourse. This system is so rooted in the world that it seems that it will still last for a long time. It is true that these power relations have been slightly diminished throughout the years, but it is still very strong in our society nowadays. In this sense, Gelson Peres da Silva (2009) in his article in which he deals with power relations highlights “how little humankind has moved forward to a fairer society in which civil rights are equal to all citizens, and that is a long way to walk on” (74).


References

HALL, Stuart. Representation: Cultural representations and Signifying Practices. The open University/Sage Publications. London. 1997
SILVA, Gelson. Dogville by Lars Von Trier: human sexuality and power relations. Letra Viva. UFPB/DLEM – V.9, nº 1- 2009
ORWELL, George. Animal Farm. Orlando: Signet Classics. 1996