Examples Of Manipulation In Animal Farm

In the book Animal Farm, the animals seem to live in constant fear that Mr. Jones will return. The pigs capitalized this fear by distorting the animal’s memories, and intimidating them with the thought that their greatest terror will return. They fabricate lies about their former comrade Snowball, and modify the Seven Commandments to benefit themselves. It can easily be stated that the purpose of this manipulation is for the pigs to gain power and control over the other animals at the farm. It is not difficult for the reader’s perception to also be distorted based on the pig’s description of memories. The pigs are constantly giving the animals false memories to give themselves a more comfortable lifestyle. For example, when the animals begin
For example, they keep changing the Seven Commandments to allow them to wear clothes, drink alcohol, and sleep in beds. Every time the pigs amend a commandment, the animals simply believe they have forgotten the original commandment, and that it had been like that all along. Little by little the pigs are becoming more and more like humans, saying that they need certain things that the other animals do not because they are the elites of the farm. However, while the pigs are claiming this, they are also expressing how all of the animals are equal, and that humans are bad. At the end of the book, the animals finally realize that the pigs were contradicting themselves all along. The pigs are walking on two legs, “Animal Farm” is called “Manor Farm” once again, and the Seven Commandments have become one, final saying, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” (Chapter 10). This new saying is evidence of a totalitarian communist style of government on Animal Farm, which is still used today in countries such as Cuba. This phrase represents a turning point for many of the animals, who finally understand that there are two animal classes: the elites, and the inferiors. By the end of the story, there were “Twelve voices [...] shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” (Chapter 10). This quote represents how the pigs utilized lying and manipulation to gain power until they were at the same level as the humans, and the other animals were still