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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?
~ Squealer persuading the animals to let Napoleon make decisions for them.

Squealer is the secondary antagonist of the book Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Squealer serves as the high guard of the callous pig Napoleon whom goes around telling lies to the other gullible farm animals to cover up and/or justify Napoleon's atrocities and convince the animals to stay loyal to him. He represents the propagandists in the Soviet Union during the Stalin era, most likely Molotov, although in this case all of Squealer's claims are simply outright lies.

Portrayals[]

Biography[]

Squealer is described as being very persuasive and good with words, and the logic behind many of his "arguments" is that the only alternative to listening to Napoleon would be to bring back the old farmer, Mr. Jones, and that even if Napoleon is not perfect, he must surely be far worse (in reality, Jones is almost benevolent by comparison), as well as that anything selfish the pigs might be doing is necessary to keep the farm from falling back under human control. Squealer also makes up false statistics claiming that the farm's productivity is always improving, and constantly tells the animals that all their hard work will pay off for them eventually.

When Boxer is injured working on the windmill, Squealer informs Napoleon of this and lies to the animals that he will be sent to a hospital for treatment, when he is actually being sent to the glue factory.

Around the middle of the book, Napoleon and Squealer start altering the sacred seven commandments of "Animalism" to serve their selfish interests, and Squealer insists that the commandments have always been that way, and their memories are mistaken. By the end, they simply replace the commandments altogether with the self-contradictory statement: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Squealer also practices "historical revisionism" by slandering Snowball, who was violently driven out of the farm by Napoleon's dogs. At first, he says that Snowball was simply being a poor leader, then claims that he was conspiring with Mr. Jones, and then goes as far as to say that Snowball had actually been fighting on Jones' side and was their enemy from the start, while in reality Snowball was the only pig with any remotely honest intentions.

Personality[]

Squealer quickly becomes Napoleon's yesman as soon as Napoleon begins to cement his hold on power. He maintained close ties with Napoleon and the other pigs of the upper-class, benefiting greatly from their rampant corruption. Squealer becomes effectively the press secretary and minister of propaganda in the regime as he is naturally gifted at manipulating other animals, especially the sheep. Squealer is willing to build up Napoleon's cult of personality, make threats (both indirectly and directly), deflect blame towards scapegoats (especially Snowball), and secretly rewrite constitutional law to ensure Napoleon's government continues to endure. Squealer is noticeably absent from the wars against humans, with some depictions having him cower in fear or getting drunk rather than doing any meaningful military assistance.

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