Squealer’s Lies in The Novel Animal Farm by George Orwell

Pattern recognition lies within all animals, especially humans. But this fact contradicts many events that have happened in history, mainly the ones including propaganda. The communism under the rule of Stalin after the Russian Revolution of 1917 is an example. The common people believed in propaganda, no matter how extreme the propaganda became. A book called Animal Farm was written which showed the cruelness and events that happened under the rule of Stalin using an animal farm to show these events. In the book, Squealer is used as a representative for Napoleon, as he spreads his propaganda. This propaganda usually is justification for the actions of Napoleon, such as the exile of Snowball. The reason that the animals believed his lies and propaganda is because of their lack of education, their fear of their government, and the acceptance of a pattern.

One important example of how pattern recognition can be altered or disallowed is by limiting education. Once Napoleon exiled Snowball, Napoleon stopped teaching and allowing animals to read. Napoleon used the animal’s lack of education to his advantage by using very simple language in some situations so that other animals could understand, such as using the sheep to his advantage by making them say “Four legs good, two legs bad!, and by the end when the pigs stood on two feet they said “Four legs good, two legs better!'”. Because there were many sheep, the animals were often convinced by the simple language of the sheep. Another way that the lack of education was used in propaganda and for Napoleon’s power, in general, was by using complex language. Squealer uses more difficult language than the animals are not accustomed to, and as a result, the animals are confused and don’t comprehend what the squealer says. The animals, as a result, start assuming that Squealer and his propaganda are right. In these situations, Boxer helps with his famous quote: “Napoleon is always right” which he repeats over and over again. Boxer is the ideal worker of the common people (animals other than the pigs) so the animals follow him. As a result, when Boxer says “Napoleon is always right” after Squealer gives out some propaganda, the animals agree with Boxer and believe in what Squealer says.

Lack of education isn’t the only way to make the animals believe in propaganda, another way is to make them fear the government. Fear can be easily created through experience, and that’s what Napoleon did. “A goose came forward and confessed to having secreted six ears of corn during the last year’s harvest and eaten them at the night. Then a sheep confessed to having urinated in the drinking pool-urged to do this, so she said, by Snowball-and two other sheep confessed to having murdered an old ram, an especially devoted follower of Napoleon, by chasing him round and round a bonfire when he was suffering from a cough. They were all slain on the spot.” Although this is quite a long quote, it fully represents how Napoleon started off taking control of the animals through fear. This event created a subconscious fear of Napoleon in the animals. This subconscious fear directly changed the decisions of the animals, because of their fear of Napoleon killing them too. The animals decide, either subconsciously or consciously, that following Napoleon and his propaganda would be safe, so as a result they start, or continue, believing in the Squealer’s propaganda.

At one point a pattern can be accepted and thought of as a normal circumstance. This is what happened to the animals. Over the course of the entire book, Squealer spread propaganda, and there was always a reason to believe in it. Instead of finding a break or mistake in this pattern of constant propaganda, the animals accepted Squealer’s propaganda as true. “Squealer came out to make another announcement. As his last act upon earth, Comrade Napoleon had pronounced a solemn decree: the drinking of alcohol was to be punished by death… On the next day, it was learned that he had instructed Whymper to purchase… booklets on brewing and distilling… A week later Napoleon gave orders that the small paddock beyond the orchard… was to be plowed up… it soon became known that Napoleon intended to sow it with Barley.” Napoleon decides to make alcohol illegal, and then buy and plant barley himself. The animals chose to ignore this for multiple reasons. First, for many of the animals, the lack of education made them unable to reason logically and think against Napoleon. Secondly, their fear for their own lives overcame them, as they were afraid that if they told anyone what they thought was happening, Napoleon would find out and kill them. Finally, many animals simply kept on following the pattern: believing and deciding not to question both the propaganda of Squealer and the ideas of Napoleon.

Propaganda is a dangerous tool that can have disastrous effects. The reason that the animals believed the lies and propaganda of Squealer is because of their lack of education, their fear of their government, and their acceptance of a pattern. We can conclude that propaganda was used as a tool for controlling the animals in Animal Farm and controlling the common people during Stalin’s rule.

Propaganda is still a problem today and has been a gigantic problem before. It allows a man or a group to control another group of people, by using special techniques such as simple and complex language. The effects of this can be horrible, and the power that one may receive from propaganda is massive. Propaganda is a tool for controlling the bigger masses from a small unit of control, such as a gov’t or dictator.

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