Although all animals in the farm had the ability to learn to read and write, they let themselves forget how to. Their ignorance makes them believe, the pig's would follow the commandments as written, and that they would manage the rest for the benefit and the equality of all. The reality was that, Napoleon and other pigs only saw it as a chance to take advantage over theme. Not only this, but Napoleon sends out his personal form of “propaganda” to the other animals.
A character who's a perfect example of the lack intelligence and naive thinking was Boxer the horse. “...And in fact he was not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous power of work” (Orwell 26). He might have had much self control, but this was of no help. Later on this was obvious when mentioned, “Boxer cannot get beyond the letter D” (Orwell 50), when learning the alphabet. This is important because many of the other animals are set back to the same place as