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| {{Short description|Fictional character from George Orwell's "Animal Farm"}} | |||
| {{Essay|date=May 2009}} | |||
| {{ |
{{more sources|date=September 2023}} | ||
| {{notability|date=September 2023}} | |||
| {{Infobox character | |||
| | name = Squealer | |||
| | image = | |||
| | caption = | |||
| | first = ''Animal Farm'' (only appearance) | |||
| | last = | |||
| | creator = ] | |||
| | voice = ] (]) <br/> ] (]) | |||
| | nickname = | |||
| | species = ] (1954 animated film and novel)<br>] (in the 1999 film) | |||
| | occupation = ]'s second-in-command and a leader of Animal Farm | |||
| | family = | |||
| | relatives = | |||
| | based_on = | |||
| }} | |||
| '''Squealer''' is a |
'''Squealer''' is a fictional character, a pig, in ]'s 1945 novel '']''. He serves as second-in-command to Napoleon and is the farm's minister of ]. He is described in the book as an effective and very convincing orator and a fat porker. In the ], he is a pink ], whereas in the ], he is a ] who wears a ]. | ||
| ⚫ | == Squealer's argument == | ||
| ==Allegory== | |||
| Throughout the novel Squealer is very skilled at making speeches to the animals. He is also one of the leaders of the new farm. Under the rule of ], Squealer does things to manipulate all of the animals. Squealer takes the central role in making announcements to the animals, as Napoleon keeps appearing less and less often as the book progresses. Near the start of the book, it is said that he was very convincing and could turn "black into white". This foreshadows several euphemisms he uses to maintain the control of the barn through difficult times. He is Napoleon's key to propaganda for the farm. | |||
| In the allegorical form chosen by Orwell for ], the pigs are easily identified with the Soviet leaders of the time. ] and ] clearly represent ] and ], respectively. However, for those unfamiliar with the Soviet ] in the 1930s and 1940s, Squealer's human counterpart may be obscure. | |||
| However, there is merit in the interpretation of Squealer being a representation of ] overall. Squealer certainly was the key spokesman for the pigs. His command of persuasive ] and self-serving re-interpretations of ]s illustrates the ] of propaganda to control the under- and un-educated masses. Some authors have gone so far as to suggest that Squealer specifically represented the state-run newspaper '']''. The problem with this interpretation is that it fails to associate Squealer with a specific figure in Stalin's inner circle. | |||
| == Breaking the commandments and telling lies == | |||
| He could also represent ], fitting with Orwell's description of and central role given to Squealer. {{Fact|date=October 2008}} Squealer is a close companion and protege of ]; Molotov was a close companion and protege of Stalin. Squealer serves mainly as Napoleon's "propaganda minister"; Molotov was Stalin's Prime Minister (1930-1939) and Foreign Minister (1939-1949) and constant spokesman. When the animals suspect that the pigs are breaking the laws, Squealer justifies their actions. For instance, when the other animals want to have the ] and ]s, Squealer says that milk and apples help the pigs think; so, eating the apples and drinking milk would prevent Mr. Jones from returning. Similarly, Molotov was a constant ] for Stalin, rationalizing Stalin's ] as being in the best interests of the people. {{Fact|date=October 2008}} | |||
| ⚫ | Throughout the book, Napoleon and Squealer broke the ], the tenets on which governance of the farm is based. To prevent the animals from suspecting them, Squealer preys on the animals' confusion and alters the Commandments from time to time as the need arises. Squealer falls off a ladder while trying to change one of the commandments in the night. A few days later it is discovered that Squealer was altering the commandment regarding alcohol; which suggests that he fell off the ladder because he was drunk. Orwell uses Squealer mainly to show how the increasingly totalitarian and corrupt regime uses propaganda and deceit to get its ideas accepted and implemented by the people. In the end, Squealer reduces the Seven Commandments to one commandment: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". | ||
| A point is made by Napoleon dismissing the education of the mature animals as a lost cause while Snowball attempts to educate them all (he ''does'' focus on the key ideas of Animalism, nevertheless) and starting many committees which are apparently for the good of the entire Farm — Napoleon is explicitly stated to have 'no interest' in these committees, instead snatching up newborn dogs to educate them in seclusion. He takes advantage of their malleable minds and moulds them to his liking — the dogs show up later as military enforcers or secret police. As the newer generations are brought up with propaganda and the old generations are ignored, Squealer begins making changes to the Seven Commandments. The animals experience a vague feeling of unease, and when Clover and Muriel ponder the changes, they are told that they have simply forgotten. They accept this easily, helped along by the growling dogs that accompany the pigs everywhere. Benjamin alone appears to understand what is happening, though he never acts. If asked, he says that donkeys live a long time, and that "none of you has ever seen a dead donkey". True to his cynical nature, he continues to believe that life never gets better. He is briefly outraged by Boxer's death but becomes ever more cynical when Squealer again convinces the denizens of the Farm that Boxer was only taken to a hospital. | |||
| ⚫ | == Squealer's |
||
| In the end, this works out to Squealer's advantage. Terror and silver-tongued oration fool nearly everyone, and the sole animal who sees through these fronts, Benjamin, is simply too cynical to do anything. | |||
| Throughout the book, Squealer justifies his arguments using his great powers of persuasion, his eloquent words, and his charismatic intellect. His foundation for many of his arguments is that the animals do not want ] back in power in the farm, and therefore must support Napoleon. He devises various other reasons to convince the other animals of the farm to believe him, backing them up with claims of scientific evidence (for example, apples and milk), recently discovered "documentary evidence" (proving the complicity of Snowball in working with the enemy) and using difficult reasoning, which confused the other animals. | |||
| This reflected Orwell's view that events in Russia following the ] had followed an unwelcome path, and that the egalitarian ] he believed in had there become a brutal dictatorship built around a ] and enforced by terror and lies. Orwell wrote: "All people who are morally sound have known since about 1931 that the Russian régime stinks".<ref>Orwell to ] scholar, Humphrey House, letter 1940, quoted in ''Cambridge Companion to Orwell'', p. 137</ref> Squealer, as the chief propagandist of the regime, is prominent in the story and Orwell defines the path down which small lies lead to bigger lies. Orwell regarded ] as a feature of all modern governments but especially prominent in totalitarian regimes, which depended on it. In '']'' (1946) he described "organized lying" as a crucial element of totalitarian states.<ref>''Cambridge Companion to Orwell'', p. 142</ref> | |||
| Squealer takes the central role in making announcements to the animals, as Napoleon appears less and less often as the book progresses. | |||
| ==References== | |||
| == Breaking of the Seven Commandments == | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| ⚫ | Throughout the book |
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| {{Animal Farm}} | {{Animal Farm}} | ||
| ⚫ | {{DISPLAYTITLE:Squealer (''Animal Farm'')}} | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
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Latest revision as of 04:04, 14 December 2024
Fictional character from George Orwell's "Animal Farm" | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Squealer" Animal Farm – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | The topic of this article may not meet Misplaced Pages's general notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "Squealer" Animal Farm – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Squealer | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Animal Farm (only appearance) |
| Created by | George Orwell |
| Voiced by | Maurice Denham (1954 film) Ian Holm (1999 film) |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Large White pig (1954 animated film and novel) Tamworth pig (in the 1999 film) |
| Occupation | Napoleon's second-in-command and a leader of Animal Farm |
Squealer is a fictional character, a pig, in George Orwell's 1945 novel Animal Farm. He serves as second-in-command to Napoleon and is the farm's minister of propaganda. He is described in the book as an effective and very convincing orator and a fat porker. In the 1954 film, he is a pink Large White pig, whereas in the 1999 film, he is a Tamworth pig who wears a monocle.
Squealer's argument
Throughout the novel Squealer is very skilled at making speeches to the animals. He is also one of the leaders of the new farm. Under the rule of Napoleon, Squealer does things to manipulate all of the animals. Squealer takes the central role in making announcements to the animals, as Napoleon keeps appearing less and less often as the book progresses. Near the start of the book, it is said that he was very convincing and could turn "black into white". This foreshadows several euphemisms he uses to maintain the control of the barn through difficult times. He is Napoleon's key to propaganda for the farm.
Breaking the commandments and telling lies
Throughout the book, Napoleon and Squealer broke the Seven Commandments, the tenets on which governance of the farm is based. To prevent the animals from suspecting them, Squealer preys on the animals' confusion and alters the Commandments from time to time as the need arises. Squealer falls off a ladder while trying to change one of the commandments in the night. A few days later it is discovered that Squealer was altering the commandment regarding alcohol; which suggests that he fell off the ladder because he was drunk. Orwell uses Squealer mainly to show how the increasingly totalitarian and corrupt regime uses propaganda and deceit to get its ideas accepted and implemented by the people. In the end, Squealer reduces the Seven Commandments to one commandment: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".
A point is made by Napoleon dismissing the education of the mature animals as a lost cause while Snowball attempts to educate them all (he does focus on the key ideas of Animalism, nevertheless) and starting many committees which are apparently for the good of the entire Farm — Napoleon is explicitly stated to have 'no interest' in these committees, instead snatching up newborn dogs to educate them in seclusion. He takes advantage of their malleable minds and moulds them to his liking — the dogs show up later as military enforcers or secret police. As the newer generations are brought up with propaganda and the old generations are ignored, Squealer begins making changes to the Seven Commandments. The animals experience a vague feeling of unease, and when Clover and Muriel ponder the changes, they are told that they have simply forgotten. They accept this easily, helped along by the growling dogs that accompany the pigs everywhere. Benjamin alone appears to understand what is happening, though he never acts. If asked, he says that donkeys live a long time, and that "none of you has ever seen a dead donkey". True to his cynical nature, he continues to believe that life never gets better. He is briefly outraged by Boxer's death but becomes ever more cynical when Squealer again convinces the denizens of the Farm that Boxer was only taken to a hospital.
In the end, this works out to Squealer's advantage. Terror and silver-tongued oration fool nearly everyone, and the sole animal who sees through these fronts, Benjamin, is simply too cynical to do anything.
This reflected Orwell's view that events in Russia following the Revolution of 1917 had followed an unwelcome path, and that the egalitarian socialism he believed in had there become a brutal dictatorship built around a cult of personality and enforced by terror and lies. Orwell wrote: "All people who are morally sound have known since about 1931 that the Russian régime stinks". Squealer, as the chief propagandist of the regime, is prominent in the story and Orwell defines the path down which small lies lead to bigger lies. Orwell regarded propaganda as a feature of all modern governments but especially prominent in totalitarian regimes, which depended on it. In The Prevention of Literature (1946) he described "organized lying" as a crucial element of totalitarian states.
References
- Orwell to Dickens scholar, Humphrey House, letter 1940, quoted in Cambridge Companion to Orwell, p. 137
- Cambridge Companion to Orwell, p. 142
| George Orwell's Animal Farm | |
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