Animal Farm Squealer free essay sample

Literature Honors 15 August 2012 Squealer In the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell, there were many animals that were concerned about self-preservation. Of these characters Squealer was the most concerned. Squealer is a pig that lives on Animal Farm and is held as a figure of high authority. Besides the farms leader Comrade Napoleon, Squealer has the biggest role of leadership on the farm. There are many ways that Squealer shows his concern of self-preservation. Squealer is very often encouraging the animals to support Napoleon and follow his rules.He uses his authority to threaten animals into doing what he wants. At times, Squealer tricks the animals into believing that the things he is doing will benefit them when in the end they don’t. Squealer shows his concern of self-preservation by taking actions to keep power and protect himself. The most important thing that Squealer does to show that he is concerned about self-preservation is that he supports everything that Napoleon says or does. By doing this Squealer knows that Napoleon will protect him.He sees that if he shows strong support for Comrade Napoleon and encourages the other animals to support him too, then Napoleon will protect him and give him perks such as sleeping in beds and drinking alcohol. When the animals are upset with a decision that Comrade Napoleon makes Squealer says, â€Å"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be? † (Orwell 59).Although Squealer may not believe that what he is saying is true, he knows that if he says that Napoleon will continue to watch over him. After a while, the animals on the farm started to fully trust Comrade Napoleon. At this point Boxer, a horse on the farm, started to live by the motto â€Å"If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right† (Orwell 81). This was a sign that Squealer was succeeding at convincing the animals that Napoleon was the best leader. In addition to supporting Napoleon, Squealer uses the authority earned in negative ways towards the animals living on the farm.Since he is smart and can read and write he is automatically a person of high authority. Comrade Napoleon uses Squealer as his messenger and spy. â€Å"Afterwards Squealer was sent round the farm to explain the new arrangements to the others† (Orwell 59). Once Squealer decides to team up with Napoleon the animals become afraid of him. â€Å"The animals were not certain what the word meant, but Squealer spoke so persuasively, and the three dogs who happened to be with him growled so threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further questions† (Orwell 62).The animals are scared of Napoleon because he makes all the rules and can do whatever he wants without consequences. â€Å"Four young porkers in the front row uttered shrill squeals of disapproval, and all of them sprang to their feet and began speaking at once. But suddenly the dogs sitting round Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent and sat down again. † (Orwell 59) When Squealer convinces the animals on the Animal Farm that their former leader was a spy, who was working for Mr.Jones, it helps build the trust they have in Squealer and Napoleon. The animals on the farm are treated with much less respect than Squealer, the other pigs, and Napoleon; because of this these other animals seem to believe whatever the smarter animals say. When the animals questioned why the pigs could stay in the house but they couldn’t Squealer replied, â€Å"that the pigs, who were the brains of the farm, should have a quiet place to work in† (Orwell 69).All of the things that he is doing help him stay on good terms with Napoleon and protect himself from the other animal s. Since the majority of the animals on the farm are not very smart it is easy for them to be tricked into things that will in the end only benefit the other pigs. â€Å"At the foot of the end wall of the big barn, where the Seven Commandments were written, there lay a ladder broken in two pieces. Squealer, temporarily stunned, was sprawling beside it, and near at hand there lay a lantern, a paint-brush, and an overturned pot of white paint† (Orwell 102).He had been changing the Seven Commandments so that they fit the lifestyle that Napoleon wanted to live. â€Å"They had thought that the Fifth Commandment was, â€Å"No animal shall drink alcohol,† but there were two words that they had forgotten. Actually the Commandment read; â€Å"No animal shall drink alcohol to excess† (Orwell 103). This Commandment really only applies to the pigs because they were the only ones who can access alcohol. After almost all of the Commandments had been altered Clover notices the wall was ooking different and asked Benjamin to read it for her. â€Å"He read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran Squealer shows his concern about self-preservation by using authority against the animals, encouraging the animals to follow Napoleon, and tricking the animals into believing him. All of the things that he does on the farm are to build trust with the animals, especially Comrade Napoleon. Throughout the events of the book Squealer’s intelligence helps him. It might come off like Squealer is just greedy for power but gaining power and taking charge is his way of protecting himself from animals on the farm or other strangers who come to Animal Farm.