Squealer is a fictional pig from George Orwell

George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

's Animal Farm

Animal Farm

Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II...

. 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

Animal Farm

Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II...

, the pigs could be identified with Soviet leaders of the time. Napoleon

Napoleon (Animal Farm)

Napoleon is a fictional character and the main antagonist in George Orwell's Animal Farm. While he is at first a common farm pig, he gets rid of Snowball, another pig which shares the power...

 symbolizes Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

 and Snowball

Snowball (Animal Farm)

Snowball is a fictional pig in the book Animal Farm written by George Orwell. He is based on Leon Trotsky.- Snowball's ideas :Snowball believes in a continued revolution: he argues that in order to defend Animal Farm and strengthen the reality of Old Major's dream of a life without humans, the...

 may symbolize Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....

. Squealer's human counterpart may be obscure. Squealer may represent propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

 overall, as he was the key spokesman for the pigs. His persuasive language and demeanor and re-interpretations of facts illustrates the power

Power (sociology)

Power is a measurement of an entity's ability to control its environment, including the behavior of other entities. The term authority is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to...

 of propaganda to control under- and un-educated animals (people). Squealer may specifically represent the state-run newspaper Pravda

Pravda

Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....

. 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.

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".