In the opening line of this speech, the speaker immediately creates a sense of ‘unity’ and “togetherness” by using the word “comrades”. Could this be a sign of respect towards his feeling companions on the farm or a way to get all the animals to stand together and listen to the “wisdom” the speaker feels he needs to “pass on” before he does. Throughout this speech, it is clear the speaker is not only a leader but a leader that feels a certain way towards those who are “oppressing” the animals and using them as “slaves”, the humans.
This speech is not only made by an animal but it is for the animals. It is as much for the animals on the farm as it is for all the animals in England. This is made clear when the speaker not only speaks about the animals on the farm, saying; “... and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; ... we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty.” But when the speaker says; “No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free”. It is easily perceived from the speech that the speaker is giving this speech to the animals to evoke a certain emotion or thought in them.
As previously mentioned in the introduction, it is evident that the speaker feels the animals have been forced into a “slavery” by the humans. One gets this impression from the second paragraph of the speech where the “leader” speaks about animals who are “given just so much food that