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Throughout the Russian Revolution of 1917 propaganda told people what to believe, ridding them of their right of freedom to think. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm the pigs use tactics of influence against the other animals in much the same way. The leading pig, Napoleon promptly takes over the farm after the rebellion against Jones and consequently turns his comrades’ lives into a living hell without them even realizing it. Animal Farm vividly displays how the varying use of propaganda can easily misguide and potentially harm the uneducated or misinformed.
All the animals despised Mr. Jones for the way him and his men treated them, so naturally when he is run off the farm, the animals are overjoyed. Since the rebellion, the animal’s biggest fear has been that Jones may one day come back. With Squealer being Napoleon’s right hand man, it is his Job to convince the lower animals that is indeed will happen if they do not follow under Napoleon’s rule. After the rebellion, Squealer is instructed to explain to the other animals why the milk and apples will now go into the pigs mash.
He announces “It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs is enough for the animals to forget all about the milk and apples. This shows that the easily moulded minds of the animals allow them to be greatly taken advantage of when fear involved. A second act of when the pigs use fear to control the animals is when Napoleon let the dogs loose on Snowball. They are meant to scare as Orwell explains, “Though not yet fully grown, they were huge dogs, and as fierce-looking as wolves. (36) From this statement, there is an understanding for the previous question as to why Napoleon separated the dogs from the other nimals. The animals are blinded by the fear of their size to realize they are only puppies and realistically could be overthrown if needed. Napoleon uses fear to subconsciously control his animals when the animals are tricked into admitting crimes they did not commit, and then are slaughtered. Baffled, Boxer concludes, “l do not understand it. I would not have believed such things could happen on our farm.
It must be due to some fault in ourselves. ” (57) Boxer is too frightened to see the fault in Napoleon and he blames himself and decided that he and his peers should work harder for Napoleon. This shows how quickly he can be manipulated due to his lack of education and loyalty to the farm. hope. That is exactly what the animals need when Old Major delivers his speech a few days before his death. He encourages “Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever. (4). Although it is discreet, the statement is propaganda and gets the wheels turning in the minds of the animals to get rid of Jones. Besides for the majority of Old Major’s speech to be propaganda, the song Beats of England that he teaches to the animals, has a lasting meaning. The second verse of the song, “Soon or late the day is coming, Tyrant Man shall be o’erthrown, And the fruitful fields of England shall be trod by beasts alone. ” (7) sets blind encouragement in the eyes of the animals.
They do not and cannot think clearly of the possible consequences of a rebellion and only see the larger picture that they will supposedly be free someday. Minimus creates a poem to honour Napoleon when he decides to abolish the singing of Beasts of England. The song which basically gives all credit to the flourishment of Animal Farm to Napoleon reads, “Every beast great or small, sleeps at peace in his stall, thou atchest over all, Comrade Napoleon! ” (63). The animals accept this without question and it becomes the new anthem of the farm.
This type of propaganda influences the animals through something they can blindly follow the orders of the pigs unintentionally. Most of the animals on the farm have trouble with going with their gut and they usually just follow what everyone else does. This helps the pigs control them without being detected as doing anything wrong. The sheep help a lot by interjecting every time there is a conflict with “Four legs good, two legs bad. ” (22). Non one ever questions the sheep and when this repeated, they are simply brainwashed back into the mindset that whatever Napoleon says, must be right.
Later in the book, the sheep develop a new motto, “Four legs good, two legs better. ” (89) when the pigs begin walking on two legs. Although the animals, Clover in particular, are mortified, they do nothing to stop it. None of them have the capacity or knowledge of the matter to try and cease the pigs and their new habit. Their ignorance throughout the novel allows this to happen under their noses. It is evident that none of the animals really have a mind f their own. When boxer says, “l will work harder! (18) the rest of the livestock Just follow suit. No one tries to take a different path, and they are all constantly living the same lives. The animals of Animal Farm are easily distraught and misguided due to their lack to education and knowledge. Although destructive, the pigs use a creative amount of propaganda to as the lower animals could have easily prevented this to have gone so far. George Orwell recreates and tells a story of how easily our lives can become corrupt if not fully informed and educated on particular matters.