An Analysis of The Destruction of The Truth in The Novel "Animal Farm"

Animal Farm by George Orwell illustrates Bill Clinton’s quote, “The road to tyranny, we must never forget, begins with the destruction of the truth.” The book begins with a farm established upon the truths of Animalism, but as Napoleon gains more power, he not only lies to the animals but destroys these truths. As Napoleon becomes more and more of a tyrant, thedestruction of the truth becomes more and more rampant.

We can observe the very beginnings of the road to tyranny in the first few chapters. The Animal Farm is founded on the beliefs of Animalism. Old Major taught the animals, “All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.” This leads the animals to overthrow Mr. Jones and establish a human-free farm where “All animals are equal.” Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer become the leaders of Animal Farm, and they write the Seven Commandments, which summarize Animalism. But even in the early days of the Animal Farm, some of the truths on which the farm is founded are slowly destroyed. When the animals complain because the pigs get all the milk, Squealer explains that because the pigs are absolutely necessary to the management of the farm, the pigs must have (“for your sake”) all the milk. “Surely comrades,” says Squealer, misdirecting the animals, “Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back.” Doesn’t this, an shrewd reader may ask, violate the foundational truth that all animals are equal? How could the animals be equal if the pigs are more important? We already see the pigs slowly becoming more tyrant-like. Although the destruction of the truth is not as blatant as it later becomes, we can begin to see it in the first few chapters.

In the last chapters of the book, contrary to the first chapters, the destruction of the truth is rampant and blatantly obvious, and Napoleon, after deposing Snowball, seems to officially become a tyrant. Napoleon first begins to lie to the animals about Snowball, making him out to be an evil traitor in league with Mr. Jones. Napoleon blames things that go wrong, such as the collapse of the windmill, on Snowball, and the other animals begin to do it too. They become afraid of Snowball, even though he isn’t actually there. Napoleon uses this fear to control the animals, and he even executes the animals whom he says are helping Snowball. And when Napoleon gets this control over the animals because of the lies that he spreads, he starts to break all of the Seven Commandments, while deceiving the animals into believing that Napoleon is always faultless. When the animals remember, after Napoleon’s executions, that one of the commandments was “no animal shall kill any other animal,” they find that they apparently remembered wrong.

The commandment now says, “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.” And when Napoleon begins to associate with humans, the animals think, Is there not a law somewhere that forbids this? Are not all men enemies? Squealer assures the animals that a “resolution against engaging in trade and using money had never been passed, or even suggested, even though that was precisely what Old Major instructed the animals not to do. Each time Napoleon breaks a rule of Animalism, the animals have just remembered a commandment wrong” and Squealer employs his classic misdirection tactic, “Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back.” Napoleon not only has Squealer deceive the animals, but he literally ignores the foundational truths of Animalism. He tweaks the Seven Commandments, so he can do whatever he wishes. He ignores the truth that “All men are enemies” and “all animals are comrades” and instead associates with the humans. And “all animals are equal” eventually becomes “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Animal Farm by George Orwell depicts Napoleon’s road to tyranny, the road does indeed begin with the destruction of the truth. Animalism is reduced from a system in which “all animals are equal to Napoleonism, in which, in the words of Boxer, “Napoleon is always right.” The lies that Napoleon spreads through Squealer and the ways that Napoleon controls the animals exemplify the quote, “The road to tyranny, we must never forget, begins with the destruction of the truth.

Cite this page