Chapter 3

Chapter 3

1. Manipulation of language

   • Squealer's speech
     • Appeals to science
       • Squealer says apples and milk are "absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig"
         • Science is something which is way beyond the intelligence of most of the animals and sounds very impressive to them. Therefore, the animals are more likely to think that it is acceptable for the pigs to have all the milk and apples and no longer question their importance to the pigs.
     • Rhetorical question / terror
       • Squealer asks "Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones back?"
         • Just one of the times he uses the name of Jones to convince the animals that - despite any discontentment they may feel - their present lives are greatly preferable to the ones they led under their old master. The rhetorical question also serves to openly query the animals' commitment to Animalism and the new regime and allows the pigs tp identify any potential opposition.
     • Portrays the pigs as selfless
       • Squealer says "It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples,"
         • And "Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself."
           • Squealer portrays the pigs as near-martyrs who only think of others and never themselves and even do something they dislike purely for the benefit of the animals. These lies convince the murmuring animals that the pigs are, in fact, selfless.
   • Condensing the Seven Commandments
     • The Seven Commandments are condensed to "Four legs good, two legs bad."
       • The birds' objection to the slogan highlights the phrase's excessive simplicity. Whereas the Seven Commandments that the pigs formulate are a detailed mix of antihuman directives ("No animal shall wear clothes"), moral value judgements ("No animal shall kill another animal") and utopian ideals ("All animals are equal"), the new, reductive slogan contains none of these elements so they then become unimportant. The slogan can be understood by and become ingrained in even the most dull-witted minds. It appears to galvanise the animals' crusade for freedom but actually just enables the pigs to establish their own oppresive regime.

2. Snowball

   • Creates a flag
     • This is an attempt, like the Seven Commandments and preserving Jones' house as a museum, to create a greater sense of solidarity and emphasise their victory.
   • Creates committees
     • These fail because he is attempting to radically transform the very nature of the animals and trying to create a "Clean Tails League" for the cows is as doomed to fail as trying to tame the wild animals in a "Wild Comrades Re-education Committee". Snowball aims are high-minded and noble but he is naive in thinking that he can change the animals' very nature. Thus, Snowball is marked as the intellectual theoretician of the Rebellion. Like Old Major, he has noble yet naive assumptions about the purity of animals' natures.

3. Development of characters

   • Napoleon
     • We see as a pig of action who cares little for committees. He claims that the education of the young is the most important duty of the animal leaders. This, however, is just an excuse for his seizure of the new pups which will be raised to be the vicious guard dogs he uses to terrorise the farm in later chapters.
   • Mollie
     • Her vanity is stressed in her reluctance to work during the harvest - she cannot devote herself to any cause other than her own ego. Thus, when she is taught to read, she refuses to learn any letters except the ones that spell her name. She also willingly abstains from any part in the political process.
   • Benjamin
     • Orwell points out that Benjamin "never changed" and that, when asked about the Rebellion, only remarks, "Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey". The other animals find this reply a "cryptic" one.
       • The reader, however, understands Benjamin's point: he is wary of becoming too enthusiastic about the rebellion, since he knows that any new government can succumb to the temptation to abuse its power. He also refuses to use his ability to read as he says there is "nothing worth reading". His cynicism is out-of-place with the patriotism felt by the other animals, but he cannot be convinced that the Rebellion is a wholly noble cause - and, after witnessing the actions of the pigs, neither can the reader.
   • Boxer
     • His motto "I will work harder" and his request to be called to the field half an hour before anyone else marks him as exactly the kind of animal that the pigs feel confident in controlling. He is simple-minded, for example, he can't learn beyond four letters of the alphabet and where there is no thought there can only be blind acceptance.

4. Foreshadowing

   • The pigs not helping in the harvest - they "directed and supervised" the other animals, acting like Mr Jones especially when saying things like "Whoa back, comrade" to Boxer and Clover.
   • The committees - show how Snowball is an idealist i.e. they were good ideas which didn't work in practise and it was an early failure for Snowball which hints towards his lesser superiority to Napoleon
   • Benjamin - portrayed as a cynic and says from the beginning that things will never change, hinting towards how the pigs will end up becoming like humans and how Napoleon will end up replacing Mr Jones. He could be the voice of Orwell in the novel, reinforcing one of his main messages in the book about how communism doesn't work.
   • The different approaches and rivalry between Napoleon and Snowball - Snowball creates committees whereas Napoleon trains the puppies and in debates "whatever suggestion either of them made, the other could be counted on to oppose it". This hints towards the intense rivalry between them in later chapters.
   • The condensing of the Seven Commandments - is the first change we see to the commandments and leaves out all references to moral value judgements and antihuman directives which leaves an open pathway for the pigs to impose their oppresive regime and become more like humans later on in the novel.

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