“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise,” -Adolf Hitler. Words can be very powerful and persuasive to many because they can make people think or believe anything as shown in the quote above. Animal Farm contains many allegorical figures such as Squealer representing propaganda. Squealer has a couple techniques for persuading the other animals on the farm that truly show the power of words such as the use of bull face lies and the twisting of the actions the pigs and the Seven Commandments.
One of Squealer’s techniques that demonstrates the power of words is the use of lies. A prime example of this is when Squealer explains that “the plan [for
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One example is when the other animals learn that the pigs were sleeping in beds. Clover tries to prove the pig’s wrongdoing by checking the Seven Commandments because, “she remembered a definite ruling against beds,” (VI, 61). When she got to the barn she found that this commandment now read “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,” (VI, 61). Squealer claims that “a bed is merely a place to sleep in,” (VI, 62) and claims that the other animals sleep in a bed. However, he claims that “[t]he rule was against sheets, which are a human invention,” (VI, 62) and that the beds used by the pigs are “very comfortable… but no more comfortable than [they] need,” (VI, 62). This makes it seem like the pigs need the beds to do “the sacrifice… in taking this extra labour,” (V, 50). Another twisting of these wrongdoings by the pigs is Napoleon’s purge of the so-called traitors to Napoleon. Napoleon orders the killing of four pigs, a goose, a sheep, and three hens in this purge. It was a few days later that the animals remembered that one of the commandments read “No animal shall kill any other animals,” (II, 21) but when they went to the barn it then read “No animal shall kill any other animals without reason,” (VIII, 80). This just shows how Squealer bends the rules to allow the pigs to get away with more and greatly emphasizes the power of