Totalitarianism In Animal Farm, By George Orwell

Intended to work perfectly, the communist manifesto, inspired by Karl Marx, includes a world where equality is prevalent and everyone can indulge in resources. However, while the animals attempt at his fantasy, the pigs’ totalitarianism proves inevitable. As the pigs’ reign over the farm proliferates rapidly, the animals’ free will and thought dwindle away; even in the purest of hands, power ultimately corrupts and the hope that all are equal comes crashing down. In Orwell’s Animal Farm, some blame the animal’s ignorance and gullibility for the demise of Animal Farm, however through Napoleon’s tyranny and master manipulation, scapegoating Snowball, and Squealer’s powerful rhetoric, the pigs continue to bask in power and eventually turn into
Just as George Washington trusted his nation to peacefully accept new authority, Old Major yearns to instill the desire for freedom in the animals, however, blinded by their hope, the animals do not realize that by switching sides from Jones to Napoleon they remain in the dark, while Napoleon rises to power. Deceiving the animals into believing his malicious efforts are for the betterment of the farm, he is the epitome of a selfish, power-hungry tyrant; he succumbs to the allurement of power just as Golem could not resist the temptations of the ring in J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Marx believes religion is the “opium of the people,” and sometimes devotion to religion can delude the way one thinks about life on earth; hoping to keep the animals docile and optimistic about the future, Napoleon brings Moses back to the farm. Additionally, he slightly alters all of the amendments to ensure the pigs live like royalty, but masks his true intentions with the excuse that his actions are for the good of the
Orwell creates Squealer as a physical representation of Pravda, the Communist Party of Soviet Union’s newspaper, and as he sprays his propaganda everywhere, the whole farm reeks of Squealer’s stories. Capitalizing on the animals’ gullibility, he uses their fear and ignorance to brainwash and control them, wielding their inabilities to his will. Prior to Snowball’s escape, Squealer taught the sheep to blindly chant “four legs good, two legs bad” as another form of propaganda, however, after Napoleon’s reign over Animal Farm grows stronger, Squealer teaches them to chant “four legs good, two legs better” because Napoleon, autocratic and manipulative, wants the pigs to act superior to the other animals. Rewriting history, Squealer simply erases what he dislikes and constructs a new version; he convinces the animals to follow the new, altered commandments and even changes the animal’s knowledge of a real event they witnessed, the Battle of the Cowshed. Deluding the animals into believing Snowball cowardly fled from the battle, Napoleon becomes the hero in a story Squealer creates. Throughout the novel, Squealer persuades and cons the animals into thinking Napoleon is the greatest leader and their lives now are better than before, but unfortunately, there is no one to blame for the outcome of Animal Farm but themselves, for their decisions hinder them from living free