Squealer (Animal Farm)
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Squealer is a fictional pig from George Orwell's Animal Farm. He is described in the book to be an effective and very convincing orator.
Allegory
Squealer, throughout the novel, is highly skilled at presenting speeches to the animals and displays it to all of the animals and to Napoleon.
In Animal Farm, the pigs could be identified with Soviet leaders of the time. Napoleon symbolizes Joseph Stalin and Snowball may symbolize Leon Trotsky. Squealer's human counterpart may be obscure. Squealer may represent propaganda overall, as he was the key spokesman for the pigs. His persuasive language and demeanor and re-interpretations of facts illustrates the power of propaganda to control under- and un-educated animals (people). Squealer may specifically represent the state-run newspaper Pravda. This interpretation fails to associate Squealer with a specific figure in Stalin's inner circle.
Squealer's arguments
Squealer takes the central role in making announcements to the animals, as Napoleon appears less and less often as the book progresses. He is basically a spoiled pig and a follower.
Breaking of the Seven Commandments
Throughout the book, Napoleon and Squealer break 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' stupidity and alters the Commandments from time to time as the need arises. This is proven on page 73 of the British version (in all books, this takes place on the very last pages of Chapter 8) when Squealer falls off the ladder while trying to change the commandments in the night. A few days later it is discovered that Squealer was altering the commandment regarding alcohol which suggests the reason he fell off the ladder was because he was drunk at the time. Orwell uses Squealer to mainly show how some governments and politicians use propaganda to get their ideas accepted and implemented by the people. In the end, Squealer reduces the Seven Commandments into one commandment, that "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".