Ignorance In Animal Farm

“Ignorance is bliss till life bites your head off.” Animal Farm is a novel written by George Orwell. The book uses animals to symbolize the Russian Revolution, presenting ideas such as leaders becoming corrupt, rebellion, and overworking workers. It presents a theme that is believed to be people's ignorance can lead to their oppression. This gets conveyed through the changing of the 7 commandments established early in the novel, the animal's poor memories, and the pigs manipulating them because of their insufficient education. To begin, an example of the pigs taking advantage of the animal’s intelligence is when they change the commandments to their liking. At the novel's beginning, they develop a commandment that says, “No animal shall

While trying to promote the pigs, Squealer says, “The moment Jone’s got in, Snowball turned around and fled… just at that moment..Napolean sprang forward and sunk his teeth into Jone’s leg.” (pg 73) Although, at the actual battle the text describes it as, “There was not an animal on the farm that did not take vengeance on them after his own fashion.” From these two pieces, we see how Squealer lies to paint Napolean in a bright and heroic light, and we also see the truth of what happened. Since the animals accepted Squealer's lie, it shows that they do not have sufficient memories to remember what truly happened. The pigs lie more throughout the novel, such as when they delivered the message that Snowball never received “Animal Hero, First Class”. The text states, “The animals now also learned that Snowball had never received the order of “Animal Hero, First Class.” This was merely a legend which had been spread sometime after the Battle of the Cowshed by Snowball himself.” (pg 76) and earlier on the text said, “The animals decided unanimously to create a military decoration, “Animal Hero, First Class,” which was conferred there and then on Snowball and Boxer.” (pg 36) Yet again, we see how the pigs lie, and how the animals believe the pigs because of their poor memories and lack of education. Based on this evidence, readers can tell that Napolean uses the other animal's substandard memories to his advantage, by making him seem heroic and also making Snowball seem