Examples Of Control In Animal Farm By George Orwell

It's very common to be and feel controlled or manipulated by someone in your life without even realizing it. This can occur in many different ways such as simply being convinced, and this is why it's so important to have boundaries and self awareness. In Orwell's novel, Animal Farm, he uses name calling, scare tactics, and card stacking to prove how easy it is for leaders to take control over others, showing that setting simple boundaries and having a bit of self awareness can prevent this from happening. A prime example of this in the book, Animal Farm, is name calling. Napoleon often uses this when referring to those he doesn't like, mainly when talking about Snowball. Because Napoleon has so much power, he gives Snowball a name in an

For example, in the beginning of the book, Squealer wants to gain the animals’ support and tries to do so by turning them against Snowball by saying, “Suppose you had decided to follow Snowball, with his moonshine of windmills- Snowball, who as we now know, was no better than a criminal?"(Orwell 55). Squealer directly calls Snowball a criminal and he does this to try and destroy any faith the other animals have in him, while also having them direct their loyalty and attention to Napoleon. Because of this, Snowball is no longer seen as the hero of the Battle of the Cowshed, but as nothing more than a traitor and a criminal. Though the animals know the role that Snowball plays in the great victory over the hated human oppressor, Squealer still continues to gaslight the animals into believing Snowball's a criminal. He then persuades them into thinking their memories are somehow faulty and that what they think they see isn't really happening. Squealer and Napoleon do everything they can to convince the others that Snowball is the villain and the problem when in reality it's Napoleon. They try to create a different version of history

Card stacking is simply focusing on only the best, most positive features of a product or idea and leaving out information regarding potential problems. In the first half of the book, Snowball and Napoleon spend most of their time arguing about the windmill situation. During this time, Snowball says, “This would light the stalls and warm them in winter, and would also run a circular saw, a chaff-cutter, a mangel-slicer, and an electric milking machine”(Orwell 48). This shows how Snowball only focuses on the good things that would come with creating the windmill rather than the bad. He barely discusses the fact that the animals would have to work hard in order to make them focus and remember only the good parts of the project, in order for them to agree with it. He never really talks about the risks that would come with building the windmill, nor does he touch on what could happen if the windmill doesn't work out. He only thinks about and reminds the animals of the good things that would result in the windmill rather than the bad. Snowball using card stacking to try and win the animals vote and approval of the windmill clearly shows how so called "leaders" are able to use propaganda to manipulate and control others into thinking they know what's right and