Question

did you know?
one of orwell’s concerns about the soviet state was that it used language to distort historical events. after stalin
bullied leon trotsky out of the country, he systematically removed any trace of trotsky from soviet history—took him
out of photographs, censored his papers, and so on. he also used pravda, his government - owned news agency, to
control the information people received. in chapters 5 through 7, orwell repeatedly calls readers’ attention to both
napoleon’s manipulation of information and the animals’ willingness to believe him.

orwell’s characters and narrator use language to communicate hidden agendas¹. sometimes orwell hints that
language should be carefully questioned, other times it’s up to the reader to notice. as you read chapters 5 through
7, complete the chart below by filling in some examples of manipulative communication. then state what you think
the language really means. use as many boxes as you need². you may paraphrase the passages from the text.

| the words actually said / written
you need to use exact quotes from the
text here... | what they really mean
you have to explain that even though the
character says one thing, he really means
something different... |
| ex: you may turn in late work anytime for
credit. (said by watkins) | you should do your work on time. you
can do the work late, and maybe i’ll grade
it before report cards are due, maybe not. |
| ex: in the future, all questions relating to
the working of the farm would be settled
by a special committee of pigs presided
over by himself (said by napoleon) | what does he really mean? |

Explanation:

The problem involves analyzing manipulative communication in a literary text (relating to Orwell's work), focusing on interpreting language's hidden meanings. The subfield of Literature (under Arts) is appropriate as it deals with textual analysis, understanding literary devices, and interpreting authorial intent and character communication.

Answer:

Literature (under Arts)