Essay: Squealer, the persuasive manipulator (George Orwell’s Animal Farm)

George Orwell’s Animal Farm would not nearly be the same without a character like Squealer. The novel seeks to show how a society where all lives are entirely equal has not been, and cannot be achieved. The main character and also the dictator of the farm, Napoleon, deceives the animals and abuses his power for his own personal advantages. However, readers do not realize the significant role Squealer plays in corrupting the government and helping Napoleon rise to power. Without a character like Squealer who assists Napoleon to power through his persuasive arguments and manipulation of the truth, Napoleon would not have reached and maintained his dictator position.
Squealer, a sly, crafty pig, uses his intelligence and persuasive speaking throughout the story to manipulate the farm to the benefit of Napoleon. His role as a manipulator is foreshadowed when they first introduced him, “He was a brilliant talker…the others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white”(16). He is so convincing that he can make the obvious seem false and he is well respected for his persuasiveness. However, he often uses his cunningness to deceive the other animals. In chapter three, Squealer deceives the animals of the farm for the first time when it was ordered that the milk and apples are given solely to the pigs, “Squealer was sent to make the necessary explanations to the others…‘Milk and apples contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig…It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples’”(35-36). Squealer is trying to convince the animals that it is for their health reasons that they eat the apples and drink the milk, so they can serve their duties conscientiously as brain-workers on the farm. “‘Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back!…Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?’…When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say…So it was agreed without further argument…”(36). Squealer verbally frightens the animals into capitulation with the threat of the return of Mr. Jones, the farm owner who was forced out by the animals due to his abusive tendencies. Squealer will not give up to persuade the other animals into believing that the apples and milk are necessary for the pigs since he is ordered to do so.
By doing this, Squealer is masking the pigs’ true intentions by misleading the animals.
Squealer is the messenger of Napoleon, so it is his responsibility to inform the animals of relevant news and regulations. Napoleon fundamentally stops conversing with the animals in chapter eight and assign the duties of informing the animals to the pigs, including Squealer. “All orders were now issued through Squealer or one of the other pigs”(92). Squealer and the other pig who is not mentioned are now the intermediaries between the pigs and the public. They become the only source of data the farm animals have, thus the animals have no way to argue or question any of the statistics the pigs deliver. “There were times when it seemed to the animals that they worked longer hours and fed no better than they had in Jones’s day. On Sunday mornings Squealer…would read out to them lists of figures proving that the production of every class of foodstuff had increased by two hundred per cent, three hundred per cent, or five hundred per cent as the case might be”(92). Though at times the animals think that they are being fed the same amount or even less than when Mr. Jones was in power, Squealer constantly reassured the animals that the information source showed the contrary and the animals could not dispute. Squealer is getting more and more extreme with his ways of convincing the animals. He is making up all these information sources he says he gathered even though they are nothing but lies.
Squealer is described as a pawn of Napoleon’s and is the device by which Napoleon communicates with the animals. He gives accounts of government tidings and justifies  Napoleon’s actions and policies. Thus, he puts Napoleon in a good light, regardless of the accuracy. Nevertheless, Squealer is employed by Napoleon to slander his opponent Snowball several times. An example of Squealer’s propaganda for Napoleon is his explanation of the expulsion of Snowball. In chapter five, Squealer explains the new arrangements that Snowball has been expelled and pacifies over the animals’ shock of his unexpected banishment. “Snowball, who as we now know, was no better than a criminal?’”(55) Squealer is libeling Snowball’s reputation after he is expelled on the farm. By doing this, he is actually justifying that Napoleon has made the right decision of expelling Snowball. Therefore, Napoleon now has all the power of the farm to himself without the animals being dubious or suspicious. As he befouls and defames Snowball with lies, he commends Napoleon as well, “Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal”(55). As a result, Squealer’s speaking talents are utilized by Napoleon to vanquish all doubt of Snowball’s treachery and to elevate his importance by exposing Snowball as a traitor.
In conclusion, if Napoleon did not have a persuasive manipulator like Squealer who assists him to power and dictatorship, Napoleon would not have reached and maintained his position on the farm. With the cunning and compliant Squealer as a messenger and pawn of Napoleon’s, Napoleon is able to coerce the entire farm into believing what he wanted. Through the writing of Animal Farm, it is clear that Orwell abhors the use of propaganda for personal benefits and does not believe it is possible to create a civilization of absolute equality.