Status Quo in George Orwell´s Animal Farm

The cynical act of deceiving the less clever is, in fact, the gracious act of conveying a “truth” to the same latter group. This ideal is constantly formulated by a central government for the sole purpose of maintaining the classes at the status quo. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, an allegorical satirical novel, the subject of Orwell’s satire is the byproduct of a revolution with Communist roots symbolized by a rebellion on a farm by the inhabited creatures. Two pigs from the animals, Snowball and Napoleon, self-establish themselves over the rest of their animals due to their superior intelligence. Being symbols of actual leaders, Snowball being Leon Trotsky while Napoleon being Joseph Stalin, history tells the reader what will occur. Therefore, after Napoleon ultimately usurps Snowball’s power by driving him out, Napoleon ultimately commences, like Stalin, the deterioration of the lives of the masses. Similar to Stalin utilizing propaganda, Napoleon uses another pig, Squealer, eloquent in speech to address the rest of the animals and convey the “party line”. The ability of Squealer to twist the actual meaning of Napoleon’s actions are through misinforming and employing pathos on the rest; but the lack of intelligence and memory from the animals also contributes to the distortion of facts. The first method employed by Squealer is simply by lying and disguising the truth to completely avoid cracks on the animals’ dependence on the pigs. After some murmuring whether the pigs were being greedy by eating most of the milk and apples, Squealer responds:

You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples …Our sole object in taking these thi...

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...The gifted speaker, Squeaker is able to deliberately deceive and harness the animals’ approval through fabricated truths, emotional responses, and malleable memory. On one part Squealer is naturally exceptional at phrasing his words to receive positive regard from his “comrades”, whilst heavily utilizing the lack of intelligence within them to warp truth. Thereof, Squealer convinces the farm animals that the intelligentsia are doing right, rather than crimes against the established laws. The author, George Orwell, mocks the idea that the general people believe after a revolution, the newly-established government can do as it promised and bring tranquility and equality. Moreover, he explored human nature, represented by pigs, to seek superiority and to abuse others, in this case through propaganda, all to act upon their secret desires.

Works Cited

Animal Farm