animal farm

The pigs set up a study center for themselves in the harness-room, where they study trades using Mr. Jones’s books. Snowball begins organizing the animals into Animal Committees, including the Egg Production Committee, the Clean Tails League, the Wild Comrades’ Re-education Committee (to tame rats and rabbits), and the Whiter Wool Movement. These committees generally fail to produce results or remain cohesive. Snowball does succeed in teaching some of the animals to read, although most of them lack the intelligence needed for literacy. In fact, many of the animals lack the intelligence needed to memorize the Seven Commandments, so Snowball reduces Animalism’s tenets to one simple saying: “Four legs good, two legs bad” (50). As time goes by, the pigs begin to increase their control over the other animals.

Chapter III also introduces the idea of propaganda. “Stirring” as it may be, “Beasts of England” is more of a revolutionary anthem than a piece of propaganda. It is meant to unite the animals in the cause of the Rebellion and help them to envision the utopia for which they must strive. Most of the animals are not intelligent enough to let the song do more than vaguely inspire their hopes. Without even being able to remember the Seven Commandments, most of the animals rely merely on the propagandist refrain, “Four legs good, two legs bad.” Snowball reduces the Seven Commandments into this single maxim, vastly oversimplifying the full system of Animalism into a catchphrase. As the animals adopt the phrase, they begin to forget the Seven Commandments, which gives the pigs the opportunity to change them. In fact, the pigs manage to break every one of the other commandments without arousing much suspicion.