What makes Animal Farm a totalitarian society?

is established with
good intentions. The animals rise up to overthrow Jones and envision a society based on the
teachings of , in which all animals will be equal and the exploitation of the many by the few
(i.e. people) will cease. But by Chapter Seven, it is obvious that the animals' experiment has
become a totalitarian nightmare. The animals, near starvation, labor on another windmill, the
first one having collapsed due to poor design. The hens are forced to give up their eggs, and,
when they protest, are starved into submission.makesinto a figure of fear, claiming that he is
sabotaging the farm at night, and 's manipulation of the truth about Snowball through propaganda
is a hallmark of totalitarian governments everywhere. At the end of the chapter, the degree to
which Animal Farm has degenerated into totalitarian government is made clear, as Napoleon has
several animals executed in plain view of the rest as punishment for supposedly treasonous
activities. Many of the animals have so internalized the pigs' propaganda that they actually
turn themselves in to be brutally killed by Napoleon's dogs. The event has a profound effect on
the animals, as seen in 's description of Clover's thoughts:

These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that
night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion...Instead...they had come to a time when no
one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to
watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes. There was no thought of
rebellion or disobedience in her mind. She knew that, even as things were, they were far better
off than they had been in the days of Jones, and that before all else it was needful to prevent
the return of the human beings...But still, it was not for this that she and all the other
animals had hoped and toiled. 

At this point, it seems,
Animal Farm has become a truly totalitarian society, far from Old Major's vision of equality and
prosperity for the animals. Using terror, mind control, and violence, Napoleon has made himself
into a dictator as brutal as the humans.