The Early Farm & Squealer's Propaganda
The Early Days of Animal Farm
After the Rebellion, life on the farm seems genuinely better. The animals work hard, the harvest is successful, and there is a sense of pride and community. Orwell describes this period in positive, almost utopian terms — the animals feel “happy as they had never conceived it possible to be.” Every mouthful of food was “an acute positive pleasure” because it was truly their own.
However, Orwell plants the seeds of future corruption immediately. The pigs do not do any physical labour — instead, they supervise and direct the other animals. This division between mental and physical labour mirrors the class divisions that the revolution was supposed to eliminate. The pigs also teach themselves to read and write from an old spelling book, giving them exclusive access to knowledge.
Orwell shows that the new hierarchy forms almost immediately. The pigs position themselves as the “brain workers” of the farm, exploiting the other animals’ inability to read. This mirrors how the Soviet elite (the nomenklatura) lived in privilege while claiming to represent the workers.
Squealer — The Voice of Propaganda
Propaganda is one of the most important themes in Animal Farm, and Squealer is its embodiment. He is described as a small, fat pig with “very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice.” Most importantly, Orwell tells us he could “turn black into white” — meaning he can make any argument sound convincing, no matter how dishonest.
Fear: Squealer repeatedly asks, “Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?” This creates a false dilemma — either accept the pigs’ rule or suffer under Jones. There is no middle option.
Pseudo-science: He dresses a claim up as fact with no evidence: “Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig.”
Rhetorical questions: These force the animals to agree without thinking: “Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?”
Rewriting history: As the novella progresses, Squealer gradually alters the Seven Commandments and rewrites the history of the Rebellion to suit Napoleon’s narrative.
The Milk and Apples Incident
The first concrete example of inequality comes when the pigs claim all the milk and windfall apples for themselves. When the animals question this, Squealer delivers his first major propaganda speech. He argues that pigs need these foods because they are “brain workers” and that the farm’s entire management depends on them. He finishes with the threat: “Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back!”
Orwell reveals that the other animals find Squealer’s argument unanswerable — not because it is logical, but because they cannot articulate a counter-argument and are afraid of Jones’s return. This shows how propaganda works: it exploits fear and intellectual inequality.
Orwell shows several reasons why the animals accept the pigs’ growing power:
Illiteracy: Most animals cannot read beyond a few letters, so they cannot check the commandments or challenge Squealer’s claims.
Trust: The animals trust the pigs because they led the revolution. They assume the pigs are acting in everyone’s interest.
Fear: The threat of Jones’s return is powerful enough to silence dissent.
Simplicity: Boxer’s maxim, “Napoleon is always right,” shows how blind loyalty replaces critical thinking.
Orwell’s Message About Language and Power
Through Squealer, Orwell argues that language is the most powerful tool of oppression. Those who control the narrative control the people. Squealer does not use physical force — he uses words to reshape reality. This reflects Orwell’s lifelong concern about political language, which he explored further in his essay “Politics and the English Language” (1946) and his later novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).