Old Major In George Orwell's Animal Farm

In George Orwell’s Novel, Animal Farm, Old Major delivers a speech to the animals on the farm. Major preaches on how the humans are weak, selfish, lazy thieves who steal from the farm animals. Lecturing on banning together and rebelling against the humans, Old Major uses pathos, ethos, asyndetons, and imagery to help sparks an uproar amongst the animals. Major uses these strategies to engage and convince them of who the real enemy is.

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.

This all went very well for a while, but the revolution then took a drastic downfall. The animal’s freedom and individuality was slowly taken away. Napoleon took the dogs freedom away by “making them bow, “ and obey him only. The animals also began to have no freedom of speech, “ raised their voices timidly but they were promptly silent by a tremendous growling,” which shows us that the farm was no longer run by all the animals but rather by the pigs, anything they say is right and you may not argue. The animals no all had to be the same, which can be taken as equality, but it was taken to the extreme. The animals had to call each other, “comrade,” and they weren’t even allowed to stick out in the smallest ways, ” Molly’s ribbons were taken,” which was fine at first but then slowly the animals started forgetting who they were.

After reading George Orwell’s Animal Farm, one may take better care of his or her fluffy white cat! Easily recognized as a fable, in his book Animal Farm, Orwell uses free willed, self-thinking animals to struggle for their freedoms in much the same way man does. It is not just a fable though; it is based on reality. George Orwell (or Erik Blare) dealt with conflict with social democracy, communists, and capitalism his entire life, and it sparked his novel. The one who sparked the movement on Manor Farm was the visionary elderly boar, Old Major, who had a dream that the animals could be in charge of the farm. Old Major’s heart was for the idealistic benefit of the farm animals. Old Major, who was respected

Jones. The animals conformed by working like slaves for Mr. Jones who doesn’t even provide enough food for their strength. After Old Major motivated the animals to revolt, they wished for change and fair treatments, and the only way for that to happen is to get rid of the humans and rule the farm themselves. Old Major had admitted “The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth” (page 7). What Old Major said had triggered the animals and made them consider the idea of a rebellion. The consequences of their conformity was bad treatment, labor, poverty and injustice. After they overthrew all the humans who ruled the farm, which cause more consequences for their nonconformity, the animals felt free and rich. Although, after they have revolted and kicked the humans out, they proved that conformity was no longer apart of their farm, and showed the upsides of

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.

To begin, Old Major is a very influential and integral part of the book. He is the one who instills the idea of the animals holding a revolt. On page 25 it states, “Old Major.. was so highly regarded on the farm that everybody was quite ready to lose an hour’s sleep on order to hear what he had to say”(25). This quote demonstrates how old major was a well respected and admired figure on the farm. Most of the animals on the farm were working animals, so sleep was very precious. For the animals to get up and lose an hour of sleep clearly shows that the animals wanted to hear what he had to say. That evening Old Major presents Ideas that no animal in that barn had ever heard before. Old Major exclaims, “work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race!”(30). This quote clearly illustrates how

Old Major, a prize-winning boar, gathers the animals of the Manor Farm for a meeting in the big barn. He tells them of a dream he has had in which all animals live together with no human beings to oppress or control them. He tells the animals that they must work toward such a paradise and teaches them a song called “Beasts of England,” in which his dream vision is lyrically described. The animals greet Major’s vision with great enthusiasm. When he dies only three nights after the meeting, three younger pigs, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer formulate his main principles into a philosophy called Animalism. Late one

Old Major's use of rhetorical devices makes his speech effective in conveying the ideals of animalism and the revolution. Old Major speaks to all the animals on the farm, making a motivating speech calling all the animals to action, allegorically representing what Marx and Lenin did during the Russian Revolution. Old Major begins the speech establishing his credibility with the audience, appealing to ethos. Old major emphasizes that he “has had a long life… had much time for thought” and “understands the nature of life on this earth.” Old major alludes to his wisdom and longevity, reinforcing his credibility. By doing this, Old Major is respected and listened to, effectively using ethos to support why he should be the leader of the animalism

1. The animals who gather to hear Major’s speech each mirror a single human trait. What is revealed in Clover? Boxer? Benjamin?

1. Old Major explains his grief about a typical animals lifetime. He walked through the process of how laborious and short lasting a animals life on the farm is. He says that no animal in England is free. He’s concerned that this unethical process will continue on after he dies. He helped the animals understand that it is not the climate that is killing them off, but the owner. Some workers in today’s time might complain that their pay is not enough to support them or their family, or that they are not being treated properly.

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.

2A) In your opinion, who was the most powerful, intriguing, puzzling, or sympathetic character? Why? Cite the character’s words and actions to support your claims.

Although Animal Farm does not have any heroic characters, in the story there is a death of a supporting character. The death of a supporting character neither glorifies nor diminishes the supporting character to anything more or less significant. All characters, whether they are the major characters or even a minor, supporting character, they all do not have a complete story. There are no completely round characters in literature. Characters die; characters exist, simply for the sake of the plot, not so that the reader would know the life story of each and every character.

In the beginning of the book, the farm’s owner, Mr.Jones comes home and goes straight to bed. Knowing that they are safe to congregate, the animals meet in the barn, listening to a lecture from a pig named Old Major. He tells his comrades that he had a dream in which they were free from humans, and all animals were equal. He also taught them a song about animals becoming free