In Animal Farm, the way the characters respond to stories has a strong connection to their ability to survive. Firstly, Squealer uses his persuasive talking to brainwash the animals by twisting his stories and making it seem like he's the good guy. For example, Squealer begans to tell the animals lies about Snowball. When the windmill fell down, Squealer told the animals that Snowball knocked it down, when in all reality, the windmill fell because the storm knocked it down. Another example of Squealer lieing to the animals about Snowball was when he told the animals that Snowball had sold himself to Pilkington and were plotting to attack the animal farm. Secondly, Squealer also twist his stories up when things start to get worse for the other animal but he tells them that the things he and Napoleon are doing is for the best of the farm. When the pigs began to recieve apples and milk, unlike the other animals, Squealer stated "Comrades! You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege." Squealer also told the animals that the pigs needed the milk and apples because they contained a special substance that was nessasary to the well-being of the pig. Also, when the pigs began trading with the humans, the animals became furious, but Squealer "counseled them to avoid rash actions and trust Comrade Napoleon's strategy. Lastly, Squealer twists the story of Boxer's death. Squealer told the animals that Boxer died in a hospital, well taken care of. Every animal believed him except Benjamin. He also quoted "he whispered, Forward in the name of the Rebellion. Long live Animal Farm! Long live comrade Napoleon! Napoleon is always right." Squealer said that they were Boxer's last words. This evidence clearly shows that Squealer's success was built on nothing but lies and that by twisting his stories, he came out more successful than the other animals.
Another character, whose belief of stories affected his life, was Boxer.When the windmill got knocked down, he started believing that Snowball actually knocked it down because the second time around, he worked even harder than he did the first time. In the passage, after the second windmill was knocked down, Boxer started over-working himself even more. He worked himself to the point that he passed out because he want to complete a certain amount of work before he retired. The story also suggest "After his hoof healed up, Boxer worked harder than ever." Secondly, Boxer started worshiping Napoleon, since Napoleon had him convinced that that was the best thing to do. For example, Boxer's two slogans, "I will work harder" and Napoleon is always right," showed that he did respect Napoleon very much. Also, when Napoleon told all of the animals that the windmill had to be rebuilt, Boxer kept the mentality in his head that he would work harder. He even made a goal for himself to accumulate enough so that when he retire, the animals won't have to do so much work. This was all to impress Napoleon. As loyal as Boxer was, he still let the power of stories dictate his life by believing everything he heard. As a result of being loyal and believing Napoleon's stories, Boxer ended up dying at a Horse Slaughterer, instead of retiring like he'd planned.
Finally,the last character, whose fate at the end of the story was affected by stories was Benjamin, who didn't believe anything the pigs said. One of the stories that Benjamin didn't believe was the one about Boxer's death. When Boxer was being taken away to the, hospital but was really being taken to the slaughterer, Benjamin was the only animal that was able to read th letters on the truck, that read "Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer..." When Squealer told the animals thay he was by Boxer's side when he died, Boxer didn't believe him. The second story Benajmin didn't believe was the debate between Snowball and Napoleon, he refused to believe that food would be more plentiful or the windmill would save work. For example, in the story, Benjamin was the only animal that didn't decide on either Napoleon nor Snowball. Benjamin quotes "life would go on as it had always gone on- that is badly." Also, the story suggest that Boxer was the only animal that wasn't enthusiastic about building the windmill. The third story that Benjamin refused to believe was when one of the commanments was changed. When Squealer was caught changing the commanments, none of the other animals understood what it said,except Benjamin. As he read the sign, he just "nodded his muzzle with a knowing air and seemed to understand, but wouldn't say nothing." Although, Benjamin wasn't as loyal as Boxer had been, he'd still survived without letting the power of stories barinwash him.
In conclusion, the way the characters react to the stories helps determine their fate at the end of the story. Squealer is able to munipulate stories so that he can survive, Benjamin understands the stories and refuses to believe them, so he still lives. Boxer, however, never learns the power of stories so he meets his death! Since stories can, if in fact, be powerful, people should be aware of the way they interpret them.
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