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Character analysis

Squealer

in Animal Farm by George Orwell

Squealer, a small, fat pig and Napoleon's chief propagandist in George Orwell's Animal Farm, plays a crucial role in this satirical take on totalitarianism. Described as a brilliant talker, he becomes the regime's mouthpiece as soon as Napoleon takes control, twisting every act of cruelty into language that the other animals can either accept or fear.

His character evolves from an eager revolutionary to a cynical tool of oppression. In the beginning, he brushes off concerns about the pigs' exclusive access to milk and apples by warning that Jones could return — a recurring threat he uses to stifle any dissent. After Snowball's expulsion, Squealer begins to rewrite history, first downplaying Snowball's contributions in the Battle of the Cowshed, then labeling him a traitor who "had been Jones's agent from the very start." He even changes the Seven Commandments under the cover of night — with Clover catching him red-handed, holding a lantern and paintbrush — altering "shall not kill" to "shall not kill without cause" and ultimately replacing all commands with "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS."

Squealer's main traits include verbal skill, shamelessness, and cowardice: he never fights in battles but is always on hand to explain the fallout. One of his most chilling moments is when he fabricates a deathbed account of Boxer's final words, twisting the horse's betrayal into a narrative of loyalty that keeps the other animals compliant. Squealer is a representation of how language can be weaponized for control, making him one of literature's most memorable examples of political manipulation.

About this character

Form
Novella
Author
George Orwell
First published
1945

The person01–03

01·Who they are

Who is Squealer?

Squealer is introduced as a small, fat pig with "very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice." Crucially, Orwell describes him as "a brilliant talker" who, when arguing a difficult point, tends to "skip from side to side and whisk his tail" in a way that is "somehow very persuasive." From his first significant scene — justifying the pigs' monopoly on the milk and windfall apples — he is established not as a thinker or a fighter but as a performer, a creature whose entire value to those in power lies in his ability to make the unacceptable sound reasonable. He possesses no independent authority; he is Napoleon's instrument, the regime's voice box, and his identity is almost entirely defined by that function. Where Napoleon is blunt force, Squealer is the lubricant that allows that force to move without friction.

02·Arc & motivation

What is Squealer's arc and motivation?

Squealer begins the novel as an eager revolutionary who appears to believe in the principles of Animalism — or at least finds them useful. His early speeches carry the energy of a true convert. By the novel's end, however, he is drunk, stumbling in the night beside a broken ladder and a spilled paint pot, having just altered the last surviving commandment. The arc is one of progressive cynicism: each lie requires a larger lie to support it, and Squealer transitions from selective emphasis to outright fabrication without visible crisis of conscience. His motivation is not ideological conviction but self-preservation and appetite. He relishes the privileges of porcine power — the whisky, the comfortable bed, the extra rations — and propaganda is simply the price he pays for them. He is not a true believer; he is a careerist who has chosen the winning side and does whatever is necessary to remain there.

03·Key moments

What are Squealer's key moments?

The milk-and-apples justification in the early chapters establishes his template: appeal to science ("Milk and apples contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig"), appeal to shared interest, and close with the Jones threat. This approach works immediately and perfectly, which is why he never abandons the formula.

The progressive defamation of Snowball across several chapters demonstrates Squealer's technique of incremental revision. He first minimizes Snowball's role at the Battle of the Cowshed, then questions his motives, strips his military decoration, and finally, in a jaw-dropping escalation, declares that Snowball "had been Jones's agent from the very start." Each stage prepares the animals for the next, illustrating that sustained propaganda is more effective than a single dramatic lie.

The nocturnal commandment alterations — Clover spotting Squealer on the barn wall with a lantern and paintbrush — create the novel's most visually precise image of rewriting history. His guilt is unmistakable, yet he manages to talk his way out of it by the morning.

His fabrication of Boxer's death scene, where he invents last words praising Napoleon and describes a dignified passing in a hospital, is his coldest moment. He converts the regime's most shameful act — selling a loyal worker to the knackers — into an advertisement for Napoleon's benevolence.

The cast04–05

04·Relationships

What are Squealer's most important relationships?

Squealer's relationship with Napoleon is one of absolute dependency flowing both ways: Napoleon needs Squealer's voice; Squealer needs Napoleon's protection. He never challenges Napoleon in any scene and consistently frames disagreement with him as an existential danger to the farm, collapsing the distinction between loyalty to a leader and loyalty to a cause.

With Snowball, Squealer's role is purely destructive. Snowball is an inconvenient historical fact, and Squealer's job is to eliminate him — first from the present, then from the past. The relationship is parasitic; Squealer exploits Snowball's former credibility, inverting it into evidence of treachery.

Boxer is Squealer's most tragic audience. Boxer's motto "Napoleon is always right" makes him almost pre-propagandised, and Squealer exploits this until the very end, manufacturing a peaceful death for an animal sold for slaughter.

Clover represents Squealer's greatest structural vulnerability — the partially literate, morally intuitive observer who feels the deception without being able to articulate it. Her helpless confusion at the altered commandments highlights exactly what Squealer's literacy-gap strategy depends on.

05·Connected characters

How is Squealer connected to the other characters?

Napoleon

Squealer is Napoleon's indispensable enforcer of narrative. Every policy Napoleon enacts — hoarding food, executing dissenters, trading with humans — is immediately justified by Squealer to the farm population. He never questions Napoleon publicly and frames all criticism of him as tantamount to inviting Jones's return, functioning as the dictator's voice and shield.

Snowball

Snowball is Squealer's primary rhetorical target. After Napoleon drives Snowball out, Squealer progressively blackens his reputation across multiple scenes — stripping him of his Battle of the Cowshed medal, accusing him of sabotage, and finally declaring him a spy for Jones from the beginning — demonstrating how propaganda erases inconvenient heroes.

Boxer

Boxer's blind trust in Napoleon makes him Squealer's easiest audience. Squealer exploits Boxer's loyalty by inventing a deathbed scene in which Boxer supposedly praises Napoleon with his last breath, converting the horse's sale to the knacker into a story of peaceful passing — his most cynical manipulation in the novel.

Clover

Clover is the animal most likely to notice Squealer's deceptions; she spells out the altered commandments on the barn wall and senses something is wrong, but lacks the literacy and confidence to challenge him. Her helpless suspicion highlights how Squealer's tactics exploit the uneducated and well-meaning.

Old Major

Old Major's original vision of Animalism provides the ideological raw material that Squealer later distorts. Squealer never openly repudiates Old Major but systematically inverts his teachings, turning the founding dream of equality into its opposite while still invoking its language.

Mr. Jones

Jones functions in Squealer's rhetoric as a perpetual bogeyman. The phrase 'Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones to come back?' is Squealer's all-purpose silencer, used to justify every privilege the pigs claim and every hardship the other animals endure.

Study06–07

06·Questions

Questions readers ask about Squealer

What is Squealer's role on Animal Farm?

Squealer is Napoleon's chief propagandist and the regime's official voice. He justifies every policy Napoleon enacts, including the pigs' monopoly on milk and apples, the execution of dissenters, and trade with humans. Where Napoleon uses force, Squealer provides the rhetoric that makes that force acceptable, acting as the dictator's indispensable voice and shield.

How does Squealer silence animals who question Napoleon's decisions?

Squealer silences dissent with the threat of Jones's return: 'Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones to come back?' This phrase justifies every privilege the pigs enjoy and every hardship the other animals endure. By equating criticism of Napoleon with a death wish for Animalism, Squealer makes dissent feel too dangerous to voice.

What does Squealer do to Snowball's reputation after his expulsion?

Squealer systematically destroys Snowball's reputation through incremental revision. He first minimizes Snowball's role in the Battle of the Cowshed, then strips his military decoration, accuses him of sabotage, and finally declares that Snowball 'had been Jones's agent from the very start.' This escalation illustrates how sustained propaganda can erase an inconvenient historical figure.

What is Squealer's most famous or most-quoted line in Animal Farm?

While no single line is formally attributed to Squealer, his most consequential words are the final alteration to the barn wall: 'ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.' This replaces the original Seven Commandments and stands as the clearest statement of how revolutionary ideals can be inverted.

How does Squealer manipulate the other animals after Boxer is sent to the knacker?

Squealer fabricates a false deathbed scene, inventing last words in which Boxer supposedly praises Napoleon as he dies, describing a peaceful passing in a hospital. This transforms the regime's shameful act of selling a loyal worker for slaughter into an advertisement for Napoleon's benevolence, showcasing Squealer's cold manipulation.

Why is Clover significant to understanding how Squealer operates?

Clover represents Squealer's greatest structural vulnerability: she is a partially literate, morally intuitive observer who senses the deception without articulating it. She sees Squealer at night with a lantern and paintbrush beside altered commandments, but lacks the literacy and confidence to challenge him. Her confusion highlights the literacy-gap strategy that Squealer's operation relies on.

Is Squealer a true believer in Animalism, or is he simply self-serving?

Squealer is a careerist rather than a true believer. Although he may have appeared ideologically committed early in the revolution, by the end he is found drunk beside a broken ladder, having just altered the last surviving commandment without any crisis of conscience. His motivation is self-preservation and appetite — for whisky, comfortable beds, and extra rations of porcine privilege — with propaganda being the price he pays to maintain them.

Does Squealer ever fight in any of the battles on Animal Farm?

No, Squealer is absent from every battle and physical confrontation. He appears only after events, ready to explain, justify, or reframe what has happened. This pattern constructs a portrait of moral cowardice: Squealer benefits from violence, including the executions ordered by Napoleon, without risking anything himself.

07·Essay angles

Use this in your essay

Tool · Essay angles

  • Language as the primary instrument of oppression

    argue that in *Animal Farm*, physical force (the dogs) would be insufficient without Squealer's rhetorical apparatus — examine what this suggests about how totalitarian regimes sustain themselves.

  • Squealer as a study in moral cowardice

    trace how his absence from every battle or confrontation, combined with his presence at every aftermath, constructs a portrait of someone who profits from violence without ever risking it.

  • The mechanics of historical revisionism

    using Squealer's treatment of Snowball as a case study, analyse how Orwell dramatises the Stalinist rewriting of the past and what it implies about the relationship between collective memory and political power.

  • Squealer versus Old Major — corruption of founding ideals

    explore how Squealer systematically inverts Animalism's original principles while continuing to invoke its language, and what Orwell implies about the life-cycle of revolutionary rhetoric.

  • The willing propagandist

    compare Squealer to characters like Boxer who are *deceived* and consider whether Orwell presents Squealer's conscious complicity as more or less culpable than the blind faith of his victims.

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