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Old Major Speech

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In the novel, Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, a wise and persuasive pig, Old Major, gives an inspiring speech about the rebellion. With his rhetorical skill and ability to get the other animals to share his indignation, he successfully portrays that a rebellion is inevitable and man is responsible for all problems in life. Old Major’s speech is given to the farm animals late one night in the big barn after Mr. Jones has drunkenly gone to bed. The speech has many purposes. Major, who represents both Karl Marx and Vladimir Ilych Lenin, serves as the source of the ideals that the animals continue to uphold even after their human leaders have been exiled. One being that Old Major is very old and will die soon, and he wants to impart his wisdom on the others. He believes man is evil, no animal is free, and the life of an animal is full of misery and slavery. Old Major uses a rhetorical device known as a “call to action” to steer the animals in the direction of a revolution. He also uses repetition to make his point stronger and more abrupt. Old Major combines these two rhetorical devices with the use of imagery to form a …show more content…

A “call to action” is normally at the end of a persuasive appeal after the speaker has stated their case. Old Major uses this rhetorical device with the line, “For that day we all must labour,” (Orwell 12). This quote shows the call to action in the sense they have to prepare for the revolution, even though it may not occur for a while, it is still inevitable. The call to action can be associated with fear as well. Old Major uses fear and imagery to scare the animals into believing man is evil and responsible for all things bad. Old Major makes the animals not only hate Mr. Jones, but hate all animals on two legs. These tactics are successful. They cause the animals to believe man is evil, a revolution is going to happen, and they need to be

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Old Major usage of Pathos in his song can convince the animals to join him and help him overthrow Mr. Jones. In Stanza 2 of “Beasts of England”, Old Major sings “Rings shall vanish from our noses, / And the harness from our back, / Bit and spur shall rust forever, / Cruel whips shall crack” (Orwell 12). Old Major’s stanza highlights the animals torment and manipulation, inciting an emotional reaction from the other animals seeing how mistreated they are.

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Even though humans raised the animals and provided shelter, Old Major wants to get the animals of the farm to rebel. His main purpose throughout the whole passage is to downgrade Jones and the farmhands. In his speech, he cryptically disses the humans by saying things like, “Remove Man from the scene, and the root of cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.” or, “Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labor is stolen from us by human beings.” He uses pathos to appeal to the animal's emotional outlook on the subject and incite that Jones is the root of all their problems.

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Animal Farm by George Orwell is a classic allegory about the cruel reality of communism. The character Old Major, a pig, represents the founder of Marxism, Karl Marx. In the story he gives a speech about his vision for the animals on a farm, which starts a rebellion against the farmer, Mr. Jones. Old Major uses the rhetorical devices ethos, logos, and pathos to gain support for his vision, in order to end the mistreatment of the farm animals and overthrow the human race. Major uses logos in his speech when he says, “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing.”

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Major emphasizes all animal equality and unity in his speech, then introduces the song, Beasts of England. The song spurred a greater nationalism and all the animals sang

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To further his ideologies, he applies pathos in his speech, emphasizing the anguish the animals endure laboring on the farm. As a part of his speech reads, “Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short,” (Orwell 28). By referencing the routine hardships of working on Manor Farm, Old Major reinforces his connection with the other animals. Through this mindset, many of the animals follow Old Major’s proposal of a revolution since many were seeking a more leisurely lifestyle. Hence, the promises of never having to worry about rations or heavy labor compelled the animals.

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Old Major is an allegory to Karl Marx, he uses his wisdom and intense word choice to grab the attention of all the animals in Manor Farm. He speaks of a farm with no one truly in charge, instead of every animal contributing to the farm for the greater good. At the beginning of Orwell's novel, the pig gathers every animal on the farm in hopes of persuading them of his plan. Old Major starts his speech by saying, “Now comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours?” (Orwell 6).

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In the book, Animal Farm written by George Orwell is about how animals are rebelling against an important cause to them, animalism. Their leader, Napoleon, is a controlling pig that made himself the “leader” of the farm and what he says is how it goes like in the Russian Revolution. Orwell said, “if the other [people] had the sense to put their food down then it would be all right.” Like Mao Zedong, Napoleon and Joseph Stalin, who are all very similar, did not acknowledge or accept negativity from the animals they only accepted suitable words and worthy ideas. Along with Animal Farm, some of the people treasured the leader and other individuals loathed him.

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Old Major appealed to the emotions of the animals by listing their physical and emotional sufferings. The credibility of Old Major and the fear of one’s life united the animals to rebel against Mr. Jones. Old Major’s speech was more effective than Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech because of how his persuasive techniques struck fear into the hearts of the animals which served as a reason for the animals to unite. The sympathy that Old Major makes the animals feel for themselves and each other helped his speech to be more effective than MLK’s. The detailed way that Old Major described what happens to specific animals is what caused his speech to be so effective.

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The readers can visualize a battle scene with the speaker and his men being attacked by hungry dogs and monsters. “While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs” (McKay, 3). Describing the enemy as mad and hungry dogs brings out fear in the readers. This picture that the author has created for the readers shows how inhumane the enemy is and the level of cruelty. The speaker says “So our precious blood may not be shed in vain; then even the monsters we defy shall be constrained to honor us though dead” (McKay, 6-8).

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In the book Animal Farm it has many important characters who play roles as important people throughout history. George Orwell writes an analogy on how the animals perceive life as human beings and how they are planning the start of a rebellion just as Karl Marx did. One of the main characters in Animal Farm is Old Major who is an old wise boar, who changed the life of animals and how they lived by one speech. Is the speech Old Major gives to the animals about his dream a replica of Karl Mmarx Communist Manifesto? Old Major tells the animals about his dream which includes a better world, equality, and justice for the animals.

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This leads to the recreation of the monarchy that the animals had been trying to free themselves of since the beginning of the rebellion. The beginning of Animal Farm starts out with a speech concerning the tyranny of man by Old Major. Old major describes what the animals need to do, saying “On;y get rid of man, and the produce of our labors would be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free”(7).

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