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, “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 “If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right” (Orwell 81). This was a sign that