Squealer was useful to Napoleon as Napoleon himself wasn’t a good talker, and began to use his abilities when Snowball had been chased away from the Manor Farm. I believe what made Squealer such a good talker was the fact that used complicating language and by doing that, he manages to confuse and scare the uneducated animals. This is shown when he explains that “a bird’s wing . . . is an organ of propulsion and not of manipulation.” Squealer always addressed to the other animals as ‘Comrades’ and this made them feel that they were equal to their leaders and that they had rights. He asked the question “surely comrades, you do not want Jones back?” Using this question, Squealer managed to prevent any possible arguments since the animals hated Jones, and make them agree with him on any speech. Another animal that helped in Squealer’s actions was Boxer, an old horse that had been in the farm for many years. Many animals respected Boxer and believed him, so if he’d say that Napoleon was right, many animals would believe him.
A second key incident suggesting that it better to use thinking or words instead of violence is when Napoleon tells Squealer to change the Seven Commandments. In order to convince the animals that nothing was changed, Squealer tells them that the Commandments were as they were in the beginning. However some animals discovered that the Commandment stating that “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets” was changed. This was true, since the pigs had added the last part of the Commandment (‘’with sheets’’). Even then, Squealer found a way to change the animals’ opinion, as he told them that the Commandment was never changed by anyone. He convinced them that the commandment was like that from the beginning, and nothing had changed. Squealer also explained about the pigs sleeping on beds, and told them that the reason that they sleep on the beds was because the pigs worked hard everyday.
Lastly, at one point of the book, we see Squealer saying that Snowball was responsible for everything that had happened in the Animal Farm and the Battle of the Cowshed. Squealer accused Snowball of being a traitor whose target was to give the farm to Mr. Jones, the man every animal hated. Squealer also said that Snowball was a coward in the Battle of the cowshed, and after a while, he warns every animal that there may be Snowball’s messengers amongst them: ‘’I warn every animal on this farm to keep his eyes wide open. For we have reason to think that some of Snowball’s secret agents are lurking among us at this moment!’’. Once again, Squealer proves that the pen can be mightier than a sword, since he manages to make the other animals believe him on what he accuses Snowball of.
Later on, we see how powerful Napoleon is, while having Squealer with him. Squealer uses his ability in persuading when Napoleon orders a new meeting, where he tells the animals to talk about any actions they have done against him. At this point, Squealer manages to convince the animals confess their crimes telling them once more that Snowball was a traitor and that they should talk about anything they had done. This key incident is the most powerful example which suggests that the pen is mightier than a sword, since instead of convincing them with Squealer’s propaganda, Napoleon could force the animals to confess their crimes, using violence.
In conclusion, we can say that Napoleon uses Squealer to do what he wants and he knows that Squealer can convince anyone or at least influence anyone. From what we have seen, the pen really is mightier than a sword in the Animal Farm since every time Napoleon wanted to pass on something to the animals, he used Squealer’s abilities in language, to do so.
