Squealer and the corruption of language
If Napoleon is the muscle of the farm, Squealer is its mouth. Orwell's sharpest idea is that tyranny needs not just force but persuasion — and that persuasion can be a kind of violence.
Part of your national curriculum
- Reading: Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader
Key learning points
- • Squealer as a character
- • The weapon of statistics
- • Memory and 'Surely you remember…'
- • The collapse of meaning
This lesson at a glance
- 24 minutes
- 20 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 20
Watch first
Squealer and the corruption of language
Hear Squealer corrupt language: statistics, the old enemy, and a phrase broken on itself.
In a nutshell
Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 20
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Squealer as a character
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 20
Learn
Squealer as a character
Squealer is named for his voice. He has 'twinkling eyes' and 'nimble movements' and he is sent out whenever the pigs need to make an ugly decision sound reasonable. His character is the gap between what he says and what the animals suffer: that gap is the satire.
Reset break
Part 4 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 20
Learn
The weapon of statistics
Squealer recites figures — rations are 'up by 200 per cent' — that the animals cannot check. The numbers sound objective, so they silence doubt. Orwell is warning that data without transparency is a tool of power, not truth: a number is only as honest as the person allowed to count.
Quick check
Part 6 of 20
Quick check
Part 7 of 20
Reset break
Part 8 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 20
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Memory and 'Surely you remember…'
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 20
Learn
Memory and 'Surely you remember…'
Squealer's repeated move is to tell the animals what they remember: 'Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?' By invoking the old enemy, he shuts down criticism in the present. The tactic — frightening people with the past to excuse the present — is how the farm forgets its own revolution.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 20
Learn
The collapse of meaning
By the end, 'All animals are equal' has become 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.' A phrase that contains its own contradiction is Orwell's image of a language broken by power: when words can mean anything, they mean nothing, and force can do the rest.
Reset break
Part 12 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 3 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 13 of 20
Quick check
Part 14 of 20
Challenge round
Part 15 of 20
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Reset break
Part 16 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 4 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Challenge round
Part 17 of 20
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
____ is named for his voice.
Challenge round
Part 18 of 20
Game · Recall cards
What is a foil?
Card 1 of 4
Mastery quiz
Part 19 of 20
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Squealer and the corruption of language
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. What is a foil?
2. Which best describes a turning point?
3. A character speaks kindly in public and cruelly in private. This mainly shows:
4. Dramatic irony affects an audience mainly by:
Lesson round-up
Part 20 of 20
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaPart 1 of 20 · Watch & discover
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader