This extract originates from George Orwell’s novella, Animal Farm, and it is the first incident of corruption mentioned in the book. Therefore, it is significant to the novella since it foreshadows the impending corrupted actions of the pigs, Before this extract, the pigs had milked the cows but had not shared this milk with the other animals, and they also took all the windfall apples, This excerpt is the justification of such actions, Squealer, an eloquent pig that serves as the pigs’ spokesperson, is seen persuading the other animals that the pigs‘ seemingly greedy actions are actually benefiting them, Through the use of punctuation and repetition, Orwell advances the overall plot and foreshadows the future events that will occur in his novella.
Punctuation plays an important role in this extract by emphasizing a key idea of the entire book. Most of the sentences end with a period, as seen in the middle of the first paragraph and the entire second paragraph.
However, the beginning and ending of the first paragraph have extensive use of punctuation marks such as question marks, exclamation marks, commas and quotation marks and this contrasts with the rest of the excerpt. “Yes, Jones would come back! Surely, comrades,” cried Squealer” demonstrates the emphasis of the passage with the use of punctuation. These parts detail the purported selfishness of the pigs and an argument that Mr. Jones, the previous owner of the farm, may return if the pigs are not satisfied.
The punctuation draws the reader’s attention to these parts of the paragraph and shows the importance of the content in relation to the plot as a whole.
The selfishness and greed of the pigs is seen throughout the novella, and this extract manifests this attitude, Moreover, the Mr. Jones argument, as mentioned above, does appear multiple times within the book. The emphasis of this argument can be seen as a hint that further threats and irrational arguments will be presented by the pigs in order to justify their corruption. The punctuation usage of this excerpt effectively emphasizes and foreshadows important ideas and attitudes that provide a better understanding of the entire book. This excerpt includes numerous repeated words that further advance the plot of this novella The word “pig” is constantly used to refer to the pigs while the word “comrades” is repeated to address all the other animals except for the pigs.
These two words are used in comparison, so as to say that the best interests of the pigs will always differ from the best interests of the other animals. The repetition of such words further enhances the disparity between the terms and between the two factions This difference is witnessed in all parts of the book after this extract and is the central topic of the entire book. For this reason, this excerpt is instrumental in establishing this topic as it is the first example of it in the book The conflict between the pigs and the animals that appears throughout the book is established in this extract with repeated words In hindsight, Orwell’s use of punctuation and repetition in this extract from Animal Farm strongly presents the overall idea that the pigs are corrupted rulers of the farm. This enhances the understanding of the plot in the story and is an indication of what the reader may expect to find later on in the book.
Animal Farm by George Orwell. (2022, Nov 18). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/animal-farm-by-george-orwell/