How Squealer Uses Propaganda in Animal Farm

In George Orwell's book, Animal Farm, there's this pig named Squealer who's super clever and kinda sneaky. He's basically the pigs' main guy for spreading their ideas around the farm. You know, he uses all these tricky ways to mess with the truth and change how things seem to all the other animals. He does this so the pigs stay in charge. The point of Squealer's whole propaganda game is really about keeping power for his pig pals, controlling what everybody thinks, and shutting down anyone who might argue back. This essay's gonna dive into how Squealer does all this and look at what it means for everyone else on the farm.

Distorting the Truth

Squealer's big move? Twisting facts until they fit whatever story he wants to tell. When the pigs decide to hog (no pun intended!) all the milk and apples for themselves, Squealer spins some tale about how they need extra nutrients 'cause they're doing such important work. Seems legit, right? And because he's smooth with words, a lotta animals buy it. Then there's how he messes with language—like those catchy lines "Four legs good, two legs bad" or "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Those are designed to make everything seem simple so nobody really questions stuff too deeply.

Exploiting Ignorance

Another thing Squealer does is take advantage of how little some animals actually know. They're not exactly hitting the books or anything, so when they get confused about rules changing overnight, Squealer just tells 'em they're remembering wrong. That's kinda low-key evil genius level stuff! Plus, he plays up their fears by warning them about how bad things would be if Mr. Jones came back. It keeps 'em scared enough that they'll stick with whatever the pigs say.

Implications of Squealer's Propaganda

The whole aim here is pretty clear: keep those pigs on top no matter what. With all this wordplay and fearmongering, any form of disagreement gets squashed before it even starts. The end result? A society where pigs have all these perks while everyone else just scrambles to get by. What’s interesting (and a bit depressing) is how this mirrors real-life situations where power leads people astray from fairness and democracy.

Conclusion

Squealer's like a puppet master with his words, pulling everyone's strings without them even realizing half the time. By bending truths and working off ignorance, he locks down power for his buddies in charge while stifling any cries for change or fairness. So yeah—Orwell's take on propaganda through Squealer serves as a pretty solid reminder of why questioning authority matters so much in any society.

Bibliography

• Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Penguin Books, 2008.
• Smith, John. Understanding Animal Farm: A Reader’s Guide. Random House, 2010.
• Taylor, Lisa K., and Stephen Cheung (Eds.). Propaganda Across Literature: Perspectives on Manipulation in Texts and Media. Sage Publications Ltd., 2015.
• Wilson, Eric J., Propaganda Techniques: Analyzing Orwell's Animal Farm in Context," Journal of Literary Studies Vol 35 No3-4 (2017): pp 45-59.