Animal Farm Propaganda Essay
The Power of Propaganda In George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm, a band of mistreated animals overthrow their owners farm, leading to the story’s main conflict. Two of the smartest pigs, Napoleon and Snowball come to a dispute, which ends up with Snowball fleeing the farm. From that point on, the reader can clearly see the propaganda the pigs use on the animals, and how they use it for their benefit. Propaganda is used by the animals to persuade the minds others for the benefit of themselves, which leads to major plot development. Before talking about how propaganda was used in Animal Farm, we need to discuss what the word means. Propaganda means the spreading of ideas, information, or rumors for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person. So propaganda is a public rhetoric used for the sole purpose of changing people's minds about opinions, ideas, or people.
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Propaganda is used to fight wars, gain followers, and ultimately benefit an individual. Now that you have a firmer grasp on the word, we can move on to the essay. Our first experience with propaganda in the book is in the beginning when Old Major gives his speech. His clever use of rhetoric can be seen on page 9, and goes as, “Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free.” Old Major creates a visual representation of what could happen if only the animals get rid of man. This line in particular is special to the story because he identifies the enemy to the animals, planting an image in their minds that he wants them to see. This is also a special quote because it is the inciting incident which the whole story is based upon. Without his speech the animals would have never attempted to overthrow Mr. Jones and his farm. Another type of propaganda seen in the novel is actually from the animals themselves. Maxims like, “I will work harder,” said by Boxer, and, “Four legs good, two legs bad,” said by the sheep all bear a special quality. Repetitiveness. Boxer is a sturdy, robust animal who everyone envies in some way. This means that his use of, “I will work harder,” can be seen as a wise, thoughtful statement to the animals, which in turn, makes them all work harder. The sheep's chant, “Four legs good, two legs bad,” is seen in the book to end any dispute the animals create, making this maxim very important. Even though the sheep aren’t intelligent, the blatancy of what they are saying and how long they say it for obviously has some effect on the characters. This is just another example to show the propaganda the animals used themselves. I believe these quotes have an underlying theme, which is words can be used to get someone's way, no matter how smart someone is. These statements made by the animals are also seen to move the story along quite quickly. Whereas if the animals hadn’t said these things, conflict could’ve easily erupted causing the plot to slow down. Even with the help of the examples above, no other has used as much propaganda than Napoleon’s henchmen, Squealer. Before the uprising of the animals, Squealer was described as a pig who could, “Turn black into white,” which means that he has the capabilities to persuade any animal on the farm. This carries on later into the novel where Napoleon overthrows the democracy. After that, Squealer is his mouthpiece in giving out commands, and persuading the animals that Napoleon is acting for the well being of the animals.
One example of Squealer’s propaganda is, “The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us.
Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back!” Here we can see how Squealer uses his propaganda. At the start of the quote, he notes that the pigs are supposedly looking after the animals, and that their welfare rests in the pigs hands. This establishes that pigs are on the top of the hierarchy, and uses this to tell the animals who’s in charge. Squealer goes on to explain that it is only for the animal’s sake that the pigs received the milk and apples. However, the author denotes that this is not true by italicizing a word, indicating that the pigs are selfish. Lastly, he ends his statement with a threat, saying that if the pigs failed Jones would come back. This quote is one of the first examples of the pigs taking from the animals, and causes the animals to slowly transform into
slaves.
The novel's use of propaganda is indeed prevalent, however there is a point in the book where it is resisted. On page 79, Squealer attempts to convince the animals that Snowball has sold himself to their rival farms, plotting an attack. At the very end of his rant, he says, “Did we not see for ourselves how he attempted--fortunately without success--to get us defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Cowshed?” Just this fragment was enough to set off some type of spark in the animals, which causes Boxer to reply, “I do not believe that,” he said.” In conclusion, propaganda is seen a numerous amount of times in the book, and is used by the characters to sway the other animals. Propaganda is seen to be helpful in some cases, but rather unhelpful in others. It is also used by the more unintelligible animals like Boxer and the Sheep, showing that if used correctly, propaganda can still persuade others.
Propaganda is used to fight wars, gain followers, and ultimately benefit an individual. Now that you have a firmer grasp on the word, we can move on to the essay. Our first experience with propaganda in the book is in the beginning when Old Major gives his speech. His clever use of rhetoric can be seen on page 9, and goes as, “Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free.” Old Major creates a visual representation of what could happen if only the animals get rid of man. This line in particular is special to the story because he identifies the enemy to the animals, planting an image in their minds that he wants them to see. This is also a special quote because it is the inciting incident which the whole story is based upon. Without his speech the animals would have never attempted to overthrow Mr. Jones and his farm. Another type of propaganda seen in the novel is actually from the animals themselves. Maxims like, “I will work harder,” said by Boxer, and, “Four legs good, two legs bad,” said by the sheep all bear a special quality. Repetitiveness. Boxer is a sturdy, robust animal who everyone envies in some way. This means that his use of, “I will work harder,” can be seen as a wise, thoughtful statement to the animals, which in turn, makes them all work harder. The sheep's chant, “Four legs good, two legs bad,” is seen in the book to end any dispute the animals create, making this maxim very important. Even though the sheep aren’t intelligent, the blatancy of what they are saying and how long they say it for obviously has some effect on the characters. This is just another example to show the propaganda the animals used themselves. I believe these quotes have an underlying theme, which is words can be used to get someone's way, no matter how smart someone is. These statements made by the animals are also seen to move the story along quite quickly. Whereas if the animals hadn’t said these things, conflict could’ve easily erupted causing the plot to slow down. Even with the help of the examples above, no other has used as much propaganda than Napoleon’s henchmen, Squealer. Before the uprising of the animals, Squealer was described as a pig who could, “Turn black into white,” which means that he has the capabilities to persuade any animal on the farm. This carries on later into the novel where Napoleon overthrows the democracy. After that, Squealer is his mouthpiece in giving out commands, and persuading the animals that Napoleon is acting for the well being of the animals.
One example of Squealer’s propaganda is, “The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us.
Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back!” Here we can see how Squealer uses his propaganda. At the start of the quote, he notes that the pigs are supposedly looking after the animals, and that their welfare rests in the pigs hands. This establishes that pigs are on the top of the hierarchy, and uses this to tell the animals who’s in charge. Squealer goes on to explain that it is only for the animal’s sake that the pigs received the milk and apples. However, the author denotes that this is not true by italicizing a word, indicating that the pigs are selfish. Lastly, he ends his statement with a threat, saying that if the pigs failed Jones would come back. This quote is one of the first examples of the pigs taking from the animals, and causes the animals to slowly transform into
slaves.
The novel's use of propaganda is indeed prevalent, however there is a point in the book where it is resisted. On page 79, Squealer attempts to convince the animals that Snowball has sold himself to their rival farms, plotting an attack. At the very end of his rant, he says, “Did we not see for ourselves how he attempted--fortunately without success--to get us defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Cowshed?” Just this fragment was enough to set off some type of spark in the animals, which causes Boxer to reply, “I do not believe that,” he said.” In conclusion, propaganda is seen a numerous amount of times in the book, and is used by the characters to sway the other animals. Propaganda is seen to be helpful in some cases, but rather unhelpful in others. It is also used by the more unintelligible animals like Boxer and the Sheep, showing that if used correctly, propaganda can still persuade others.