Followers and Leaders of Animal Farm
Animals on Manor Farm over throw their mean and evil rulers who have overworked and mistreated them. Once the animals get control over the farm they set up slogans and rules the animals must follow in order to have equality and justice on the new farm.
The farm is mainly ran by the pigs, who are considered the most intelligent, and also the two main ruler pigs named Snowball and Napoleon.
Napoleon uses dogs he took away as pups and trained them to follow his words and also uses them to chase Snowball off the farm. Now Napoleon has complete control over the farm along with the other pigs and the dogs.
Napoleon’s number one pig who helps him run the farm the way he likes is named Squealer. Squealer is very persuasive and can manipulate any animal he needs to. The author of the book Animal Farm is named George Orwell and he wrote this story to have a allegorical representation of the Russian Revolution. Orwell shows in this piece of writing that both leaders and followers in a society can act in ways that destroy certain rights such as freedom and equality. One of the followers name is Boxer and this horse believes that everything the pigs say about napoleon is always right.
Overall, Napoleon’s right hand pig, Squealer, uses persuasive wording and powerful speeches to manipulate other animals on the farm that Napoleon is always right. In Animal Farm one of the leaders name is Squealer and he is a pig who is very persuasive.
The text states, “The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white. ” (pg:16) When George Orwell describes Squealer as being able to “turn black into white”, he is in fact referring to Squealer’s persuasive skill. In other words, Squealer has enough persuasive talent to be able to convince the animals in Animal Farm that black is white or vice-versa.
Squealer uses his wonderful way of talking persuasively towards the other animals on the farm. When Squealer does this he is being manipulative words to make the animals think what he wants them to.
This effects the equality on the farm because the animals may not realize that they are being cheated out of their rights they originally fought for when they ran the original farm hands off the farm. Squealer’s persuasion is powerful because he influences the animals into thinking only positive ideas about Napoleon. This shows that Squealer is very manipulative and takes advantage of his power of manipulation.
Squealer keeps his power throughout the novel is by staying as an important aspect to Napoleon. Napoleon uses Squealer to go out and persuade the animals on the farm that the pigs aren’t doing anything wrong or against the rules. This is very relevant to the story because if Napoleon didn’t have Squealer to help him run the farm than Napoleon wouldn’t have too many supporters and without his supporters he wouldn’t have any power. In Animal Farm, Orwell chose the characteristics of the animals to allegorically represent people or groups from the Russian Revolution.
Napoleon plays Stalin who was a cruel ruler who used military tactics to enforce his rules. This overall represents how in Animal Farm Orwell used all of the characters to have an allegorical meaning. Squealer is a representation of the Propaganda Department, and Napoleon represents the Russian Revolutions cruel leader. Squealer’s overall goal is to persuade all of the animals to becoming loyal to Napoleon like how the propaganda department was a way of persuading the people of the Soviet Union to become loyal to Stalin.
Squealer is reaching his goal one by one and gains support every time he talks to the animals. Next, in Animal Farm one of the animals who follow Napoleon and Squealer’s words is a very strong and hardworking horse named Boxer. At first, things seem to be going well. He’s a hard worker, making “I will work harder” into his personal motto (ch-3). He’s a brave fighter, and the narrator tells us that, during the Battle of the Cowshed, “the most terrifying spectacle of all was Boxer, rearing up on his hind legs and striking out with his great iron-shod hoofs like a stallion” (ch-4).
But it’s not enough to keep him safe. At the beginning of the novel, Old Major warns Boxer that he’s disposable: “the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will send you to the knacker, who will cut your throat and boil you down for the fox-hounds” (ch-1). Boxer can see that—but once Jones is forced off the farm, Boxer thinks the threat is gone. He’s just not smart enough to see that he’s got a whole new species to worry about. Boxer worries about the farm, but he’s not smart enough to figure things out on his own.
Instead of thinking for himself, he decides to be loyal no matter what—to follow the Party (as in, Communist Party) line. Like, after Snowball is sent into exile, Boxer tries to think things over for himself, but all he can come up with is, “If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right,” and he takes up a new personal motto: “Napoleon is always right” (ch-5). Boxer is one of the animals who is easily persuaded and this is why the pigs think of him as a powerful disciple. Boxer absorbs everything the pigs tell him.
Boxer would work so hard that it would influence the other animals to want to start and work also. This is not a good thing that is happening because when they are working on different projects on the farm they are taking orders from Napoleon and if they do that than there isn’t equality because this means that Napoleon is of a higher authority. If Napoleon is a higher rank in the social class than there isn’t equality. Boxer does not realize that he is giving up his freedom and he certainly doesn’t know that he is causing the other animals to also.
He doesn’t realize this because all he does is follow Napoleons rules and work as hard as he can. Boxer motivates the other animals to work harder when the animals see him trying so hard to work. Boxer’s behavior is not typical of the animals on Animal Farm because he doesn’t ever question Napoleon like some of the other followers on the farm have. Also Boxer is not like the other animals because even though he is a follower he influenced other animals to follow in his footsteps and work harder.
This shows that because Boxer is listening to Squealer he worked harder and that influences the other animals to work but also to give away their right to freedom and equality. In Conclusion, Napoleon’s second in command, also known as Squealer, persuades the animals on Animal Farm into thinking he is a wonderful leader. One of Squealer’s followers is a very work dedicated horse named Boxer. The author of this story is name Orwell and his purpose of writing this piece was to have the allegorical purpose of symbolism of the Russian Revolution.
Orwell may have written this as a warning to the readers about how human behavior is when they get to much power. When someone gets too much power it goes to their head and they can’t function like they use to and may make bad decisions. From this novel the reader has learned that society is always adjusting itself. Not every situation is perfect nor can one expect perfection. However, the reader also learned that people have morals by which they hold themselves. Any leader who pushes his morals upon a group does not deserve power.