Animal Farm

Laura Basciotta Page

Laura Basciotta

October 29, 2013

Honors English Pd 3

Manipulative Propaganda

In history propaganda is often used to influence people into doing something. The story, Animal Farm, uses these manipulative forms of propaganda. George Orwell writes this story and his purpose for writing was to connect it with the Russian Revolution. The characters in history take the form of animals in the story. One of the many issues in the story are the pigs using everyone on the farm to gain power. They do this in the form of propaganda such as fear and transfer. Animal Farm provides strong examples of propaganda throughout the story.

To begin, the use of fear is used many times throughout the story. For example, the pigs telling the animals that Jones will come back. When the pigs are caught as the ones stealing the apples and milk Squealer threatens, "Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed our duty? Jones would come back!" (31).

Squealer is an exceptional speaker and anytime the pigs are caught breaking a rule Squealer is the one to explain the reason why they break the rules. He often says that if the pigs do not do as told that Jones will come back. The animals certainly do not want Jones to come back so they don't argue. The fear of Jones keeps them from arguing with the pigs and doing their duties. Another example of fear in the story is the slaughtering of the animals. Napoleon claims that Snowball is the enemy and anyone on his side will be killed, "When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out." Napoleon starts the slaughtering of animals by killing three pigs that are aligned with Snowball. He then asks all other animals to confess their crimes and they are later killed. The other animals are shaken up by this but are also confused. By the slaughtering, no animal will betray Napoleon due to the fear of dying. Also, the dogs are used to install fear into the animals. When Snowball is talking about his plans for the windmill Napoleon sends the dogs after him, "At this there was a terrible baying sound outside and nine enormous dogs came bounding into the barn" (48). The dogs are raised by Napoleon and used to scare the animals. The dogs always accompany napoleon and Squealer when they are speaking. They do this so the animals will not speak out against them. If they did disagree, the dogs would growl at them and the animals would suddenly stop talking. Furthermore, the second example of propaganda is transfer. For instance the quote, "4 legs good, 2 legs better" (118). The animals are all gathered outside to find the pigs walking on 2 legs and wearing clothes, "The sheep burst into a tremendous bleating…'4 legs good, 2 legs bad'…it went on for 5 minutes."(118). The original saying was "4 legs good, 2 legs bad" but then the pigs changed it. They changed it once they started to become more like the humans. The quote shows that the pigs think they are better than everyone else on the farm. It also shows that the animals were all a pawn in the pigs' game. The pigs wanted control of the farm for themselves. In addition, transfer is also used in the songs "Beasts of England" and "Comrade Napoleon". After the slaughtering of the animals Squealer says, "'Beasts of England' was the song of the rebellion, but the rebellion is now completed"(79). Old Major originally introduced "Beasts of England". The song explains how great their lives could be. After the slaughtering of the animals, "Beasts of England" is banned. The animals are told that the song is no longer needed due to the rebellion being completed. Minimus then makes up a song called "Comrade Napoleon" which praises Napoleon and all that he has done for animal farm. Once again the animals are tricked into Napoleon's game for gaining power. The final example of transfer is the seven commandments. The seven commandments are often changed by the pigs, "It says 'No animal shall sleep in a bed…with sheets…Clover had not remembered the 4th commandment mentioned sheets"(61). The 7 commandments are often changed once the pig breaks that rule. The pigs eventually start doing everything they swore they would never do. Everyday the pigs acted more and more like the humans. The animals were confused by the commandments changing but did not think much of it. The seven commandments are the final example of how manipulative the pigs could be.

Animal Farm uses resilient examples of manipulative propaganda particularly in the forms of fear and transfer. Propaganda was significant in history especially during World War 2. Hitler is famous for his cunning propaganda that installed fear into almost everyone who saw it. Without Hitler's use of propaganda his actions would not have had as strong as an influence. Propaganda is still used frequently today. We see most of them in the form of ads or commercials. Catchy slogans or jingles are often used to lure us into buying a product. Propaganda has a heavy impact on our lives.