Animal Farm By George Orwell

While education can be truly remarkable and can be considered a gift, it can be

susceptible to manipulation by corrupt officials and leaders. Many leaders use education as a

method of spreading their opinions, which ultimately can result in biased beliefs. An example of

this use of education is evident in the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell. The pigs in Animal

Farm use education to assert their control over the other animals by uniting the animals with it,

by using it to appear compassionate to the other animals, and by using education as a means of

gathering further power and benefits.

In Animal Farm, the pigs use education to unite the animals in order to assert their

control over other animals. They accomplish this by providing
This is evident when Snowball creates several

committees that benefit the farm by focusing on certain skills and aspects of the animals that are

necessary to achieve in order to maintain a successful farm. This depicts the pigs as kindhearted

animals that care for the others on the farm. Additionally, the pigs create reading and writing

classes that provide the other animals with the opportunity to become literate. Although the

classes result in little improvement of literacy for many of the animals, the classes allow them to

feel as if they are given the same opportunities as the pigs. In addition to this, the pigs constantly

motivate the animals by teaching and reinforcing the phrase, “all animals are equal” (25). This

statement, while completely false in reality, prevents debate amongst the animals about their

social status and role on the farm. Furthermore, teaching the animals this mantra gives them the

impression that the pigs truly care about their well-being and believe that all animals should be

treated fairly. While these actions appear as if the pigs are sharing knowledge with the
This gives them a valuable advantage and allows

them to preserve their superiority by controlling the other animals. Many instances of this cruel

manipulation are apparent in the novel. For example, the pigs constantly alter the seven

commandments that were determined as the central principles of Animalism. The pigs do this by

using Squealer, an extremely persuasive pig, to convince the confused animals that their

memories of the commandments are incorrect. An example of this occurs in the novel when the

pigs disregard the commandment that states that no animal shall sleep in a bed. Squealer calms

the protesting animals by saying, “You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a ruling

against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep in…The rule was against sheets, which are a

human invention” (67). Although the pigs create a commandment against sleeping in beds, they

ignore it, and are free of punishment because of their manipulative techniques available through

their education. This education allows the pigs to adopt a role of extreme superiority on the farm,

which enables them to excuse themselves from laborious work in the fields of Animal