The Power Of Fear In George Orwell's Animal Farm

đź“ŚCategory: Animal Farm, Books, Orwell, Writers
đź“ŚWords: 611
đź“ŚPages: 3
đź“ŚPublished: 14 June 2021

Fear is used as a powerful propaganda technique to suppress and control animals in Orwell's famous novel Animal Farm. Initially, Mr Jones ruthlessly wields his authority by oppressing and intimidating the animals. Mr Jones and his men use whips, prods, and harnesses to punish and control the animals. As a result of his intimidating presence and the threat of violence, the animals fear Mr Jones. They passively submit to his authority. 

After the successful rebellion, there is a use of fear of Mr Jones' making a return to the barn to motivate the animals to accept the principles of animalism and to follow his instructions through the leading pigs such as Napoleon, Snowball, and many others. Animals submit to the rules of the ruling pigs because they fear Lord. Mr Jones will return and brutally suppress them. The animals give to the ruling pigs' policies because they fear Mr Jones will return and brutally oppress them. Once again, fear is the essential element needed to motivate the animals into obeying the pigs. 

Napoleon recognizes the power of fear and trains his menacing dogs to strike fear in the animals. This terror tactic allows him to easily seize power and rule the farm as a ruthless tyrant. Napoleon's ferocious dogs act as his bodyguards and go with him everywhere he goes, intimidating the other animals and threatening political dissidents. Napoleon also strikes fear in the animals by holding public executions, which allegorically represent the Great Purge under Stalin's leadership in the late 1930s. Squealer manipulates the animals into obeying Napoleon's oppressive policies by suggesting that Mr Jones will return if they do not follow their leader's directives. The possibility of Mr Jones's return strikes fear in the hearts of the animals, and this terror motivates them to obey every command. 

Squealer and Napoleon also make Snowball a scapegoat. They tell the animals that he is in a league with Mr Jones, dedicated to the demise of Animal Farm. Any problem or issue on the farm is at once blamed on Snowball and his clear presence cultivates an atmosphere of hysteria. The animals fear Snowball and Mr Jones while looking to Napoleon as their courageous leader. This contributes to his image as their brave guardian and protector. 

To a great extent, the animals use fear to keep one another in check and submission. To ensure that there is acceptance on the part of the animals, fear is used as a motivating factor.  Old Major uses fear when he tells the animals that their purpose is to be used and discarded by human beings. Old Major makes no pretense about how he sees Jones and the other humans. He makes a point of using this fear to ensure that the animals understand his meaning by suggesting that when Boxer becomes old and no more of us he will be sent to the "knacker's." Fear is the motivating element that he uses to make sure that the other animals embrace his vision, and after he dies, Snowball and Napoleon use this fearful element in their recruitment of animals into the Animalism philosophy. Once the pigs assume leadership, Fear is then used by the propaganda master Squealer when he stresses to the animals that they must struggle to avoid Jones' return. Squealer uses the fear of Jones as sort of the ending to all arguments if any animal voices their discontent about life under the pigs. Naturally, Napoleon uses fear to quell any dissent. Through his forced confessions and public executions, Napoleon uses fear to keep the animals under his control. Orwell demonstrates that political regimes often use tools such as playing on fear to combine their power and make sure that there will not be any questioning of their policies and practices. 

Overall, Orwell illustrates how fear can be used as an effective propaganda technique. It can be used to manipulate the masses and allow clever politicians to control and oppress an ignorant, hysterical population. hysterical population.

+
x
Remember! This is just a sample.

You can order a custom paper by our expert writers

Order now
By clicking “Receive Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails.