The Theme of trust In Animal
Farm
Who are the most trusting
characters in the novel?
• Clover is a trustworthy animal. She is a motherly
figure to all the animals and they all look up to
her. All the animals feel safe around her and
know where they can go if they need help. “The
animals huddled about Clover”. This shows she
wants to look out for all the animals on the farm
and not cause any trouble. If the animals have a
problem or feeling down she would be the first
animal they would probably go to.
Why the animals are so trusting of
the pigs
• The pigs are trusted by the animals because all the other
animals are not bright so it’s really easy for the pigs to
manipulate them. Squealer is the propaganda machine
and he twists the truth and manipulates the animals
throughout the book “Comrades! He cried. You do
imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of
selfishness and privileges? Many of us dislike milk and
apples.” This quotes shows that the pigs are very
manipulative because they are willing to use the animals
trust to get what they want. Boxer trusts the pigs
extremely because he has the slogan, “Napoleon is
always right.” This shows that Boxer trusts Napoleon
because he believes that he is always right, because a
hard working loyal animal like Boxer trusts Napoleon, the
other animals look up to Boxer and therefore look up to
Napoleon.
Was Snowball more trustworthy
than Napoleon?
• Throughout the book up until Snowball is
chased off by the dogs, he is more trustworthy
than Napoleon because Napoleon is used to
getting his own way and the animals know this.
To us he is misleading and manipulative but all
of the animals trusted him more in a way
because he runs the farm and they go by
whatever he says. This contradicts the idea of
communism because they are going by one
leader and trusting one person.
Who should not be trusted?
• Jones shouldn’t be trusted as he fails to do things on
time and hasn’t got his life on track properly. He drinks a
lot and can’t stay focused on what's meant to be
happening and can’t do his duties on the farm in time. If
somebody needed him to do something he would most
probably forget to do it or if it was a secret tell everyone
whilst not being on a good form. “Mr Jones, of the Manor
Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was
too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes.”
• Napoleon and Squealer also shouldn’t be trusted as they
lie to the animals and do things to benefit themselves
and the pigs rather than the whole farm.
The link between trust and
communism
• In communism everyone trusts everyone
because it is about equality between
everyone. But in Animal Farm the animals
trust the pigs more than themselves, which
shows everyone isn’t equal.
How the novel would’ve been different if the
animals didn’t trust each other
• If the animals did not trust each other the
novel would be a completely different
story. If the animals did not trust each
other the animals would not have been
likely to rebel against Jones at all because
they wouldn’t have been working as one
unit.