How effective is Old Major’s speech in chapter one?
In Chapter one, Old Major gives a speech about how the animals should rebel against Mr Jones, the human and leader of the farm in order to please all of the animals by having satisfactory amounts of the essentials. This rebellion would lead into Animalism. Animalism represents communism and how all animals should be equal. Old Major symbolizes Lenin. Lenin was a revolutionary thinker who came up with the basic concept of the Russian Revolution.
During Old Major’s speech, a wide variety of persuasive techniques are used and this is very noticeable. He creates a number of ideas that he discusses to the animals to persuade them that the rebellion is right.
The use of emotive language
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For example he addresses the cows with the rhetorical question “You cows that I see before me, how many thousands of gallons of milk have you given during this last year?”By using rhetorical questions it causes the animals to really think about what Old Major is saying and the rhetorical questions make help the animals relate to the topic.
Throughout the speech, Old Major calls the animals comrades. For example in his opening sentence he says “Comrades, you have heard...” By referring the animals as comrades, it brings the feeling of friendliness and makes his views more personal. Also it suggests that Old Major views and treats all of the animals as equal. Also in the speech, Old Major directly speaks to certain animals at times by using pronouns such as “You” and “Your”. For example he uses the pronoun “your” in the sentence “Fix your eyes on that, comrades, throughout the short remainder of you lives”. Through using pronouns, the speech is more personal and directly aimed at the animals so they would listen and engage more.
Furthermore, in the speech, repetition is used by repeating the main points of his speech. For example “No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness...” is said and them shortly after he repeats “No animal in England is free”. He uses repetition to emphasise his meaning to his speech. But repetition can be ironic as he repeats things due to his old age.
Moreover, the technique tripling is used. He deliberates on the horror
“The singing of this song threw the animals into the wildest excitement.”(Orwell, 5). They did not know the difficulties they would face and so the animals threw themselves head first into revolution believing it would have a positive outcome. Revolution was inevitable once the motivations were put into place. ”We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty.”(Orwell 2). Old Major ultimately gives the animals a choice by saying this: die, or die trying. The animals are motivated to do anything for this revolution because they believe their lives are going to waste. When they are faced with death they will do anything to stay alive.The progress of revolution had ended, only to incite another. “For a long time there had been rumours — circulated, he had reason to think, by some malignant enemy — that there was something
Old Major begins his speech by discussing the wisdom he has acquired.¨No animal in England is free.¨I feel it my duty to pass on to you such wisdom as I have acquired. I have had a long life¨(4).This
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Old Major is the oldest and most well respected of the pigs on the farm. At the beginning of the book, Old Major tells all animals of the farm about a strange dream he had that all the animals were equal and kept what they produced. He explains that animals do not need to live short lives where they are starved and only kept to produce. He then claims that man is the only creature who consumes without producing.
N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2016. Old Major is the animal version of V. I. Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Party that seized control in the 1917 Revolution. As old Major outlines the principles of Animalism, a theory holding that all animals are equal and must revolt against their oppressors, Lenin was inspired by Karl Marx's theory of Communism, which urges the "workers of the world" to unite against their economic oppressors. As Animalism imagines a world where all animals share in the prosperity of the farm, Communism argues that a "communal" way of life will allow all people to live lives of economic equality. old Major dies before he can see the final results of the revolution, as Lenin did before witnessing the ways in which his disciples carried on the work of
Furthermore, Old Major utilizes hyperbole in appealing to the pathos of the animals. He claims that “No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free.” even though he knows that is not entirely the case. He uses nuanced exaggeration in order to work everyone up into a fit of indignation and rouse their sense of injustice so that they will listen to whatever plan he
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The next theme that is exposed in this book is rebellion. The most prominent scenario that is seen in this book and defines the definition of rebellion is introduced in the first chapter. In the first chapter Old Major, a prize possession boar of Mr. Jones, gathers all the animals to the barn to share a dream he had the previous night. All the animals show except for the raven. Once all the animals are gathered Old Major tells his dream of Animal Farm in a non suffering state where all the animals would be free and allowed to live life free without labor. However, he does mention that in order to achieve this utopia the animals must get rid of man since man is the only factor that causes the animals to labor, and man does not produce rather
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Jones. When giving a speech to the animals Old Major says, “The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth”(Orwell 7). This illustrates how unhappy the animals are with the way that they are being treated. They are fed the bare minimum, and are enslaved to work for Mr. Jones against their will. Later when Old Major is speaking to the animals he says, “That is my message to you, comrades: Rebellion!”(Orwell 9). This demonstrates how the animals are considering rebellion. They are planning on rebelling against Mr. Jones to gain back their freedom. The animals were fighting Mr. Jones and the neighboring farmers when, “all the sheep... rushed forward and prodded and butted the men from every side”(Orwell 41). The animals were trying to keep the farmers from taking back the farm. In doing so, they were sacrificing their safety in order to keep the freedom they fought for earlier in the book. To conclude, the animals had to fight in order to gain their freedom from Mr. Jones.
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