One of Orwell's most uncomfortable observations in Animal Farm is about why ordinary, decent creatures fail to see what is happening to them. The animals are not villains. Boxer is heroic in his dedication and physical sacrifice. Clover is sensitive and perceptive. Benjamin the donkey is the most intelligent animal on the farm and knows from the beginning that things are wrong. Yet none of them effectively resist. Orwell suggests several reasons. Literacy and education are controlled. The pigs are the only animals with full literacy. The other animals can read fragments or cannot read at all. This means their access to information is mediated by those in power. They cannot check what they are told against written records. Memory is unreliable under confident assertion. When Squealer insists that the Commandments always said something different from what the animals remember, the animals hesitate. Their memory against his confidence: his confidence tends to win. This is not because the animals are foolish but because confident official assertion creates doubt in individual memory that is very hard to resist. Questions are costly. Animals who question are publicly accused of sympathy with Snowball or with Jones. The social and physical cost of being identified as disloyal is high enough that most animals suppress their doubts. Benjamin's case is the most troubling. He is the only animal who clearly understands what is happening. He reads well. He does not forget. But he says nothing, because he believes it makes no difference: life has always been difficult and will always be difficult. His cynicism is as fatal as Boxer's naivety.