How Does George Orwell Use Propaganda In Animal Farm

George Orwell once stated, “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” In other words, leaders commonly use manipulation to gain power and force their ideas while having full authority. In George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, he demonstrates how propaganda can assist corrupt leaders to hold total power, plant fears to influence the audience to believe the media, and blind individuals to make society seem perfect when in reality, everything is falling apart. To ensure that Napoleon had full power, he continuously lied to the animals and constantly exploited their thoughts. In the story's beginnings, the pigs “reduced” the principles of Animalism to “7 commandments” (Orwell 11).

Squealer was an emotional manipulator that modified problems to make Napoleon look superior. He planted alarming images in the animal’s minds about Snowball to distract them from other problems. All of the animals were deceived by all of Squealer’s lies and whenever anything went wrong, it became usual to “attribute it to Snowball” (Orwell 32). Squealer was able to trick them into believing Snowball was an enemy all along and that he possessed secret documents to prove it. This created fear in the minds of the animals and distracted them from the real truth. Squealer, taking advantage of the animals' mistrust of people, warns, "One false move and our enemies will be upon us! Surely allies, you don't want Jones back!" (37). By reminding the animals of how horrible life was while Jones was in charge and threatening a return to this condition if they do not listen and submit to Napoleon's orders, Squealer plays on their fear. As the story climbs, fear climbs as Napoleon “turns the dogs into protection for him” and uses them as “punishment” (22-23). The animals genuinely fear for their lives as they imagine the horrifying and bloody consequences of being a traitor which forces them to surrender to Napoleon’s