Manipulation in Animal Farm by George Orwell Essay Example
📌Category: | Animal Farm, Books, Orwell, Writers |
📌Words: | 914 |
📌Pages: | 4 |
📌Published: | 22 April 2022 |
In an autocracy the leader has absolute power and has very persuasive officials to talk to the people in his place that have a better way of speaking than he has. The author George Orwell demonstrates this in his book Animal Farm with its government officials manipulating the people, so that in the eyes of the animals they look like hero’s or the good guys when what they are doing behind the scenes is not abiding by their laws. When a government manipulates its people by abusing its language it can lead to an abuse of power like Squealer does. In the novel they have Squealer use his persuasive way of speaking to justify and deceive the animals about what the pigs are actually doing behind the scenes throughout the book when the animals first overthrow the humans, after the battle of the cowshed and to the pigs joining the humans.
Squealer's introduction to the novel sets him as someone who has a clever way with words which can abuse power by tricking the more simple minded animals into thinking things are not really how they are. After the old major's death a group of pigs met together to plan out this rebellion when the pigs are being introduced it is said “ that he could turn black into white” (Orwell 13). Even at the beginning of the book it is known that squealers is a very persuasive talker he could be used to convince animals that were not yet ready for the rebellion to fight in their cause. The narartor tells us this early on to really fortify how manipulative the pigs are going to turn out to be. Some of the other pigs are described as good public speakers but squealer was very good at at twisting whatever he was trying to convince them of by the way he moves and the tone he talks in he moves from side to side and is a very active speaker so that he can keep their attention focused just on him. He uses anything to convince the animals to really sell them what he is trying to convince them
George Orwell further portrays this idea that squealer is used to manipulate the animals when boxer sees snowball by the edge of the property and decides not to harm snowball since boxer thinks that snowball is still a hero for what he had done at the battle of the cowshed. Squealer disputes him by telling him that was all a lie, “That was our mistake, comrade. For we know now--it is all written down in the secret documents that we have found-- that in reality he was trying to lure us to our doom”(Orwell 57). Boxer does not dispute squealer’s claim because in boxers mind everything that the pigs say and do is always correct so he accepts this idea that snowball had been a traitor from the beginning and tried to end them at the battle of cowshed. These secret documents he is speaking of are never talked about or shown to anyone besides the pigs but none of the animals even question whether they are real or not. If squealer can convince boxer he was a traitor and boxer, being one of the most trustworthy animals on the entire farm, the rest of the animals will believe this though they watched snowball fight bravely and saved them from the humans attack. Squealer manipulates them by twisting what really happened and passing it along to not as intelligent but very trustworthy animals so that the other animals will believe the pigs.
In the final chapters of the book George Orwell continues to push along the idea of Squealer manipulating the animals after Boxer's injury. During this incident Boxer hurts his lung and supposedly is taken to the veterinary hospital but it is read on the cart that on the cart that it is for the horse slaughterer the animals panic and try to free him but to no avail.. Then he addresses the animals on where he was taken “Some of the animals had noticed that the van which took Boxer away was marked ‘Horse Slaughterer,” and had actually jumped to the conclusion that Boxer was being sent to the knackers”(Orwell 85). Squealer was telling them how it was actually the veterinarians cart that they had not erased the name on the side and when he tells them Squealer comes after Boxer is reported dead by the pigs and squealer talks about how he was at his side as he passed and how glorias it was and the lavish medicine bought by Napoleon from him; they believed him but no animal had actually left the farm and returned. The author further shows his level of manipulation by how he describes the death of Boxer in how emotional and tragic he made it sound and how he scorned them about thinking they sent Boxer to the knackers. The author shows how manipulative and deceptive he is as a warning to not believe everything that is told to you even if it is told to you by your government.
George Orwell's Animal Farm demonstrates a warning that when a government manipulates its people by abusing its language it can lead to an abuse of power through the examples of Squealers manipulation, his way of speaking, and how he does whatever the leader tells him to say. Other examples of abusing language by a leader in this book is when the commandments are changed during the night, Napoleon saying that he can smell Snowball after the windmill is destroyed and expelling Snowball after Napoleon says he is in league with the humans. Each of these instances demonstrates the manipulation of the animals by their government of pigs no matter their status Orwell proves that the government is not always being truthful to the governed.