Animal Farm Prompt 1 MiniEssay

     One pig that plays a huge role in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell is the prized pig, Major. Although Major died early on in the book he is the very core of the plot of the story. Major was the pig to ignite the ideas of Rebellion and presented the cases of all the animals publicly in order to find a way to solve them. Major speaks with a lot of conviction and determination. Major's words aren't the only things that affect the influence of his speeches, but it is also the way he says things and the order he says his ideas in. Major's ideas bring about the very essence of Orwell's plot.

            The beginning of the book is Major’s long speech which covered around four pages. His speech’s main purpose was to give rise to a rebellion and to a cause that he believed had to be addressed. Major’s speech included a lot of the problems and concerns that the animals did not realize or were afraid of challenging. Major uses his position as the prize pig and assembles the group of animals into one place and then gives an extremely persuasive speech. In this speech, he presents many rhetorical questions in which the answer is always to his favor. The rebellion is to overthrow Mr. Jones, yet, Major uses all men in his speech, making them all enemies of the animals. He makes it hard for any animal to go against his words without looking as if they were siding with the humans. Using this tactic, Major uses the many opportunities to take advantage of the animals of Manor Farm

            Major doesn’t necessarily use big words in his speeches, but the sentences that he uses and his syntax bring out the things that he is trying to emphasize. His sentences are filled with accusations and assumptions that the other animals want to hear. For example: 

"Only get rid of man, and the produce of our labor would become our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free." (Orwell 30)

 In this quote, Major says that if the animals ovrthrow men, they can grow stronger in a short span of time and can get everything they ever wanted. These statements were filled with assumptions. Major brought out the accusation that men were the cause of the animal's torturous lives and used this accusation to form the idea of rebellion. Major uses this bold comment to raise the hatred towards Mr. Jone, the farmer and owner of Manor Farm. After this statement, Major puts out a question to which the answer should be obvious to even the most dimwitted animal would be able to answer.

"What then must we do? Why work night and day body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race!" (Orwell 30)

With this, Major sets up his speech for the climax of it all and provides a buffer for the main point of his meeting. This rhetorical question is answered directly after the question is presented. It doesn't give any time for any discussion or any real thought for the other animals. The question followed by the answer forces animals to think only of the idea given to them. After this, Major's true point is revealed.
"That is my message to you, comrades: Rebellion!" (30). As Major plants this idea into the animal's heads. Major is able to manipulate and capture the minds of the animals throughout the strength of his words and through the true determination of rebellion for the good of Animal Farm, not for the good of himself with the act of selfishness.