Animal Farm
by George Orwell
Table of Contents
Squealer
Squealer is the mouthpiece for Animal Farm. Unlike the other two pigs, Squealer does not stand for a specific individual, but could be one of hundreds of people who have engaged in propaganda for a dictatorship. Even prior to the Rebellion, Squealer is known as a good speaker, but in a different way than Snowball. While Snowball is adept at engaging in persuasive speech and able to convince others of the rightness of his point of view, Squealer is known to be very adept at arguments. Therefore, Squealer is well situated to become the animal in charge of propaganda at Animal Farm. It is difficult to tell whether Squealer’s willingness to be Napoleon’s propagandist is because he believes in Napoleon or simply because of the personal benefits that Squealer receives for his behavior. He comes across as unfailingly loyal to Napoleon, but there is none of the devotion that is evident in Boxer’s behavior toward Napoleon. Squealer is the keeper of Animal Farm’s history, which he revises to suit Napoleon’s ever-changing behavior. Squealer also continuously revises the Seven Commandments so that, by the end of the book, there is only a single commandment. One of Squealer’s defining characteristics is that he dislikes being questioned. As a result, he uses threats to help encourage the animals to accept his version of events. For example, he threatens to the animals that Mr. Jones will return when they begin arguing with him. He is also aggressive toward Boxer when Boxer questions his version of Snowball’s participation in the Battle of Cowshed.
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