Lies and Deceit on Animal Farm/ the Real World
There have been many examples of dictatorship across the world. Some examples of these are Hitler of Germany, Castro of Cuba, and Mussolini of Italy; they all have been corrupted by power. Joseph Stalin of communist Russia is the most accurate example because he is like Napoleon. People, especially leaders, use lies and deceit to maintain power; Napoleon is like Stalin because they are both corrupted by power.
People often tell lies when it is convenient; the pigs told the other animals many lies some of which include, when the pigs took the milk and apples, when they lied about Boxer’s death, and when they said that the farm would be so much better off without Jones, but everything was just as bad if not worse. People tell lies as simple as trying to protect others’ feelings or something really complicated to try and get out of trouble either way the bottom line is people lie.
The first lie of many that the Napoleon and the other pigs told is when Major is saying that Jones the farmer is treating the animals poorly and is trying to convince them to rebel against him. He tells them, “The life of an animal is misery and slavery; that is just the plain truth” The animals didn’t know that the pigs were just planning to take over and be just as bad as Jones was, or even worse. People tend to lie and deceive others when it is convenient for them, to make it easier on themselves.
I’m pretty sure that all of us, at one point or another lied to our parents because it was what seemed easier at the time; For example, a child may lie because they broke something on accident, or a teenager stayed out past curfew and are lying to get out of it. After Old Major’s speech to the animals, Snowball tries to convince Mollie that Jones was bad; she was one of the rare few who liked him. Snowball was being corrupted by power, and he is a very convicing liar which is why Mollie believes him. Then once the pigs got rid of Jones, they were taking all of the good apples and milk and saying it was for the health of their brains.
Humans in the real world lie in their favor if we want something bad enough we will lie to get it. Boxer starts to work himself to death when they build the mill and he works day and night for weeks straight. Napoleon then names the mill after himself even though Boxer and the other animals did all of the work. People also lie or stretch the truth when we want to take credit for an achievement that we may not have even done ourselves. Then Napoleon sold wood to a human without consulting the group which made everyone a little angry.
Humans do things without asking first. Squealer lied to the others after that by telling them Boxer was going to the vet instead of the knackers. “The van had been previously owned by the knackers and then bought by a vet and they have not yet re-painted the van” He said. When it was all said and done and the transformation was complete one dictator was switched for another the animals were in the same place they had previously been. Napoleon would stand on his hind legs and even carry around a whip with him to keep the others in line.
Then he tried to lie and say that the humans aren’t so bad after all. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In chapter three, the pigs’ deceit the other animals into thinking everything was okay when in fact it most definitely was not. The pigs were so clever that they could think of a way out of any and every difficulty. To recapitulate, people lie all the time and it is similar to the book because the pigs told the others the milk and apples were just a sacrifice, that Boxer’s death was an unfortunate accident, and that the pigs didn’t help anything.
As a consequence the farm was worse then before, Boxer and many of the animals were killed, the mill was torn down and the pigs took over and made everything worse. Telling the truth may be worse at first, but in the long run it is the better decision.
