Animal Farm “Intelligence and Education as a Means of Oppression”
“Intelligence and education as a means of oppression”
Anyone who has read “Animal farm” would agree that the pigs used the other animals’ lack of intelligence and education as a means of oppression, but is it possible to say that Napoleon and his most loyal follower, Squealer, educate the others so as to control them?
Right from the beginning of the novel we can see that the ones who took control of the development of the farm were the pigs, because they were the “smartest of the animals”. At that point, they were still using their superior intelligence and commanding ability to lead the rest of the animals towards what everyone believed was freedom and common welfare. Everything went right until the pigs found something they wanted only for themselves: milk and apples. And that was enough to have greed taking control of the situation. From that moment on, their greater ideals were left behind and they started deceiving all the other animals. The pigs began stealing more than food for themselves; they started stealing the others’ dreams, hopes and illusions, to turn them into a worse nightmare than the one they had lived when the farm was under Mr. Jones’ careless, almost unbearable regulation.
Furthermore, they started using not only education, but also terror to have power over the others. First, they threatened the animals, and then they showed themselves as the only ones who could protect their entire lifestyle from any outside threat. For instance, when they accused Snowball of having destroyed the windmill and had threatened with destroying the whole farm. The pigs invented this awful set of lies in order to terrorize their so called “comrades” only to say afterwards that they were the only ones who could control and neutralize the treacherous pig who had run away and wanted revenge, as Squealer would always remark.
And the deal was settled. The small possibilities the other animals had for learning were destroyed, for instance, by burning the books
Anyone who has read “Animal farm” would agree that the pigs used the other animals’ lack of intelligence and education as a means of oppression, but is it possible to say that Napoleon and his most loyal follower, Squealer, educate the others so as to control them?
Right from the beginning of the novel we can see that the ones who took control of the development of the farm were the pigs, because they were the “smartest of the animals”. At that point, they were still using their superior intelligence and commanding ability to lead the rest of the animals towards what everyone believed was freedom and common welfare. Everything went right until the pigs found something they wanted only for themselves: milk and apples. And that was enough to have greed taking control of the situation. From that moment on, their greater ideals were left behind and they started deceiving all the other animals. The pigs began stealing more than food for themselves; they started stealing the others’ dreams, hopes and illusions, to turn them into a worse nightmare than the one they had lived when the farm was under Mr. Jones’ careless, almost unbearable regulation.
Furthermore, they started using not only education, but also terror to have power over the others. First, they threatened the animals, and then they showed themselves as the only ones who could protect their entire lifestyle from any outside threat. For instance, when they accused Snowball of having destroyed the windmill and had threatened with destroying the whole farm. The pigs invented this awful set of lies in order to terrorize their so called “comrades” only to say afterwards that they were the only ones who could control and neutralize the treacherous pig who had run away and wanted revenge, as Squealer would always remark.
And the deal was settled. The small possibilities the other animals had for learning were destroyed, for instance, by burning the books