Themes — Propaganda, Education & Class

This lesson covers three more themes that run through Animal Farm: propaganda and language, education and ignorance, and class and inequality. These themes are closely interconnected — propaganda works because of ignorance, and class divisions are maintained by both.

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Propaganda and Language

Orwell believed that language is the most powerful political tool. In Animal Farm, the pigs' control of language is their most effective weapon — more powerful even than the dogs.

How propaganda works in the novel

Technique	How Squealer uses it	Effect on the animals
Repetition of slogans	"Four legs good, two legs bad" / "Napoleon is always right"	Replaces independent thought with mindless chanting
Appeal to fear	"Surely you do not want Jones back?"	Silences criticism through terror
False statistics	Claims food production has risen by 200-300%	Contradicts reality, but the animals cannot verify
Rewriting history	Claims Snowball was always a traitor	Destroys trust in alternative leaders
Altering the Commandments	Adds qualifying phrases to justify rule-breaking	Makes oppression appear legal
Euphemism	Boxer is sent to a "hospital" (actually a slaughterhouse)	Conceals horror behind reassuring language
Complexity as weapon	Squealer uses long words the animals do not understand	Confuses and intimidates

The role of slogans

Orwell shows how slogans simplify complex ideas and shut down debate:

Slogan	What it does
"Four legs good, two legs bad"	Reduces Animalism to a binary — no nuance, no debate
"Napoleon is always right"	Transforms a political leader into an infallible authority
"I will work harder"	Channels dissatisfaction into labour, not resistance
"Four legs good, two legs better!"	Reverses the original slogan — the animals accept the contradiction

Examiner's tip: Orwell shows that propaganda works not by creating new ideas but by preventing thinking. When the sheep chant "Four legs good, two legs bad" over and over, they drown out any attempt at rational discussion. The slogan replaces thought with noise. This mirrors how totalitarian regimes use state media to fill public space with propaganda, leaving no room for dissent.

The Commandments as propaganda

The Seven Commandments function as the farm's constitution — but unlike a real constitution, they can be altered at will by those in power:

Original:  "No animal shall sleep in a bed."
Altered:   "No animal shall sleep in a bed WITH SHEETS."

Original:  "No animal shall kill any other animal."
Altered:   "No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE."

Original:  "All animals are equal."
Altered:   "All animals are equal BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS."

Each alteration maintains the form of the original while completely destroying its meaning. The animals sense something is wrong but cannot prove it because they cannot read. Orwell demonstrates that legal language, if controlled by those in power, becomes a tool of oppression rather than protection.

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Education and Ignorance

The relationship between education and power is one of the novel's most important themes. The pigs' ability to read and write is the foundation of their control.

Literacy on the farm

Character(s)	Literacy level	Consequence
The pigs	Fully literate	Can manipulate the Commandments and control information
Benjamin	Fully literate but refuses to read	Chooses apathy; could help but does not
Clover	Can recognise letters but cannot read words	Senses the Commandments have changed but cannot prove it
Boxer	Cannot get past the letter D	Completely dependent on the pigs for information
The sheep	Cannot learn anything beyond a slogan	Weaponised by the pigs as a noise machine

What Orwell is saying about education

1. Literacy is power — those who can read control the rules.
2. Ignorance enables oppression — the animals cannot check the Commandments because they cannot read.
3. Education without action is useless — Benjamin can read but refuses to act; his knowledge is wasted.
4. The powerful have an interest in keeping the masses ignorant — the pigs do not prioritise education for the other animals.

Examiner's tip: The novel's most devastating irony is that the Seven Commandments are painted on the barn wall for all to see — but only the pigs can actually read them. The Commandments appear to be a public guarantee of rights, but because only the ruling class is literate, they become a private tool of control. This mirrors how legal systems in totalitarian states often have impressive constitutions on paper while the government violates them constantly.

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Class and Inequality

Despite the revolution's promise that "all animals are equal," Animal Farm shows a new class system emerging that mirrors the old one.

The class structure under Jones

        Mr Jones (owner)
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         Humans (workers)
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       Animals (property)

The class structure under Napoleon

        Napoleon (dictator)
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        The pigs (ruling class)
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        The dogs (enforcers)
             |
   Other animals (exploited workers)

The revolution has simply replaced one hierarchy with another. The pigs are the new ruling class, the dogs are the new enforcers, and the other animals are still the exploited workers.

How inequality manifests

Form of inequality	Evidence	Chapter
Food	Pigs and dogs receive extra rations; other animals go hungry	3, 7, 9
Housing	Pigs move into the farmhouse; other animals stay in the barn	6
Labour	Pigs "supervise" while others do manual work	3
Justice	Pigs break the Commandments with impunity; other animals are executed for alleged crimes	7
Knowledge	Pigs monopolise literacy and education	3-10
Physical appearance	By Chapter 10, pigs wear clothes, walk upright, carry whips	10

Orwell's key argument about class

Orwell argues that class inequality is not caused by capitalism alone — it can be reproduced under any system, including communism, if power is concentrated in the hands of a few. The problem is not the economic system but the concentration of power.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

This paradoxical statement is the novel's most famous line because it captures the essence of how inequality is justified: through language that appears to affirm equality while actually establishing hierarchy.

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Grade 9 Model Paragraph: Propaganda

Question: How does Orwell present the power of propaganda in Animal Farm?

Orwell presents propaganda as the primary mechanism through which tyranny sustains itself, arguing that language — not violence — is the most effective instrument of control. Squealer's rhetorical question, "Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?", functions as an unanswerable trump card: any criticism of the pigs' behaviour is reframed as a desire to return to the old regime. The word "comrades" is itself a propaganda device — it creates a false sense of equality and solidarity between Squealer (a member of the ruling elite) and the animals he is manipulating. Orwell demonstrates that propaganda works by exploiting genuine fears: the animals' terror of Jones's return is real, and Squealer weaponises this fear to silence legitimate dissent. This technique mirrors the Soviet Union's use of "counter-revolutionary" as a catch-all accusation: anyone who questioned Stalin's policies could be branded a traitor. Through the gradual alteration of the Seven Commandments — from "No animal shall kill any other animal" to "No animal shall kill any other animal without cause" — Orwell shows that propaganda does not merely conceal the truth; it actively reconstructs reality. The addition of two words transforms a prohibition against murder into a licence for it, while maintaining the appearance of legal continuity. Orwell's warning is clear: in a society where the ruling class controls language, words cease to be tools of communication and become instruments of domination.

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