A fight breaks out in the audience, and we are once reminded of the respect that the animals have for Old Major, as he raises his trotter to silence the barn. This shows us that the animals will do what he says, and believe what he is telling them.
In the tenth and eleventh paragraph of his speech, Old Major attempts to rectify the split after the fight, by holding a vote. He asks the animals, “Are rats our comrades?”. By holding the vote, he wants to be portrayed as democratic, and it also makes the animals listening feel important, as they get involved in the decision making.
In the next paragraph, he shows that he has won the audience over by giving them orders. He gives out the rules that later become the seven commandments, “No animal must ever live in a house” etc. Also, to help the less intelligent listeners in his crowd, he repeats his messages, and uses short, simple sound bites like “All animals are equal” which are easy to remember.
To once again get on the crowds side, he brings up the subject of his dream. He begins to talk about his mother, and about being a piglet. This makes him seem ordinary, and on the same level as the other animals. It makes it easier for them to relate to him. As he begins to talk about his dream, he says “I cannot describe that dream to you”. He says that it was a dream of “the earth as it will be when man has vanished”. By not naming anything specific in his dream, he allows the animals to think of their own paradise. If he had said his dream was of an endless bucket of pig swill, the other animals would not have thought much of it. This way he makes the dream relate to each of them.
In the penultimate and final paragraph, he tells the animals of a song that his mother taught him. This adds an element of fun to his speech, and allows the animals to join together, and sing in unity. His song unites the animals, and leaves them something to remember him by.
‘A Modest Proposal’ was written by Jonathan Swift, who was an Irish clergyman. He was fed up with making reasonable suggestions, and having them ignored, so he wrote this piece using a persona to present an extreme idea.
In the first paragraph of ‘A Modest Proposal’, Swift’s persona is trying to relate to the reader, by making him self sound like them. He says that he and the reader both “walk through this great town”. In this paragraph he also indicates what the problem is in their city. He says that the problem is beggars, especially women and their children: “”Cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex.” This is similar to ‘Old Major’s Speech’, where he hints at mean being the being the problem with their lives. He also uses formal language in this paragraph to make himself sound intelligent. He uses phrases like “beggars of the female sex”, and words like “sustenance” to impress the reader.
In the second and third paragraph he again uses formal language to make himself sound intelligent, using words like “prodigious” and “deplorable”. He begins to hint at a solution to the problem as well, and how the person who comes up with it should be rewarded: “have his statue set up.” This is in contrast to ‘Old Major’s Speech’, in that Old Major makes his listeners angry, and then channels their anger to make them agree with him. Swift backs up the start of his argument, by saying that “I think it is agreed by all parties.” This immediately adds weight to his claims, and will make the readers trust him.
In the next few paragraphs he hints even more at the solution, by saying that instead of the babies needing food, clothing and nourishment, they shall “contribute to the feeding, and partly clothing of many thousands.” This is similar to Old Major, who hints early on in his speech at the answer to the animals’ problems. He again uses more formal language, like “computation” and “solar year” to make himself sound clever. In contrast to this he uses emotive language to rouse personal emotions in the reader: “That horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children.” He also uses statistics to back up his claims about the situation in Ireland: “There may be about two-hundred thousand couples whose wives are breeders.” All the time that Swift is talking, he is backing up his arguments and showing that he has researched the problem: “I am assured by our merchants.” This is in contrast to Old Major’s Speech, as he doesn’t back up his argument with facts and figures, but just relies on the audience believing what he is saying. Swift backs up his argument, by dismissing other ideas about how to deal with the problem: “We can neither employ them…they can seldom pick up a lively hood by stealing.”
Swift finally outlines his proposal, saying that some children should be kept for breeding, and the others should be eaten: “A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends.” Although his proposal is very shocking, he has calm tone of voice, and even begins to offer recipes: “Seasoned with a little pepper or salt.” This is similar to Old Major’s speech where he offers his shocking idea to the audience, but seems very calm while suggesting a revolution. We also see the real Swift’s opinion, and not his persona’s. He begins to blame the landlords for part of the problem: “They have already devoured most of the parents.” This is similar to Old Major’s speech, where he begins by saying that he is similar to the other animals, and that he suffers the same things as them, but then he says that he has been lucky, and lived in luxury. We see their true lives and feelings coming out spasmodically. Swift’s real opinion comes out again, as he highlights another of the problems in Ireland, saying that old people are “dying and rotting by cold and famine.” He is showing the true extent of poverty concerned.
Swift then lists the advantages and the benefits to his proposal to make them stand out. Also, structuring them in list form “first…secondly…thirdly”, making it easier to understand for his readers, and shows just how many advantages there are. He then, lists sensible proposals, which he dismisses as ridiculous: “Let no man speak to me of other expedients.” This is ironic because the whole reason that Swift is writing this proposal is in protest at his sensible suggestions being ignored.
In the final paragraph, Swift says that he has no “personal interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary work” by saying that he has no children. He is trying to say that he won’t profit, but he ends up showing that he won’t suffer. This is similar to Old Major’s speech where he tries to look diplomatic by holding a vote, but in fact he is telling them who to vote for.
Old Major uses many persuasive techniques in his speech. To reinforce his key ideas, he repeats his key words and phrases. This makes his message stand out. To make his point about man, he repeats idea that they do not produce: “he does not give milk, he does not lay eggs and he is too weak to pull the plough.” Also, instead of just giving one fact to the animals, he gives them several, which gives them more reason to be angry. This is also an example of repetition of sentence structure.
Jonathan Swift also repeats key phrase structures, to make himself sound eloquent and stylish: “in the arms, or in the backs, or at the heels.” He also repeats key phrases to make them easier for the reader to understand: “secondly…thirdly…fourthly.”
To make himself sound intelligent and wise, Old Major uses formal and scientific language. He says “The soil of England is fertile, is climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance to an enormously greater number of animals than now inhabit it.” Long, formal and scientific sentences and words like these will impress the audience, so that they will listen to him more attentively. Swift also does this. He uses words like “prodigious”, “computation” and “discoursing” to impress the reader. However, Swift uses a lot more formal language then Old Major. This could be because he is talking to a more intelligent audience, or he himself is more intelligent.
In contrast to the scientific language, personal and emotive language is used in both pieces to make the audience more passionate, and make the message more personal. Old Major says of Clover “where are those four foals you bore, who should have been the support and pleasure of your old age?” Also, by picking out the animals that are liked and respected in the farm, it makes the other animals more concerned. Swift also uses emotive language. He says “sacrificing their poor innocent babes.” Old Major uses a lot more emotive language than Swift. This shows that Old Major is trying to relate more to his audience, and get them on his side by playing on their emotions.
Old Major uses short, simple sentences to create sound bites and give a greater impact. He uses short sentences like “All men are enemies” and “All animals are comrades”. By doing this, his message is easier to get across, is clearer and easier to remember. Swift also does this, saying “many other advantages can be enumerated.” Yet again, however, Old Major more frequently uses short sentences than Swift does. Short sentences create tension and drama, and this is what Swift does not want to do. He wants his idea to be seen as reasonable, and not shocking, which is why he uses less short sentences.
In contrast to using short sentences for simple ideas, long ones are used to create a rhythm, and link ideas. Old Major says:
“I do not know when the rebellion will come, it might be in a week or in a hundred years, but I know, as surely as I see this straw beneath my feet, that sooner or later, justice will be done.” Swift says:
“It is melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country; when they see the streets, the roads and the cabin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms.” Long sentences also make the speaker sound more intelligent, as it shows they are capable of stringing together words.
Not only are sentence lengths varied, but both Old Major and Swift also vary their sentence types, by using rhetorical questions, exclamations and commands. Old Major asks questions that he does not expect the audience to answer, like “But is this simply part of our nature?” and then answers them for them. It is an indirect way of telling them what to think. Jonathan Swift asks “The question, therefore, is how this number shall be reared and provided for?” This is the only question that Swift asks his audience though. Questions draw the reader in, and make them feel like they are involved. Swift is telling people that he is right, so he does not want people to think other things. Old Major is only suggesting things, but his questions are hinting to the audience that he is right.
By using exclamations, Old Major makes his speech seem dramatic; “No comrades! A thousand times no!” He can make certain parts of his speech seem more important, and make people listen by using exclamations. Jonathan Swift also does this in ‘A Modest Proposal’: “…murdering their bastard children; alas!” Again though, Swift uses a lot less exclamation marks than Old Major. This is mainly because his piece is meant to be formal.
Both Old Major and Swift use alliteration in the pieces to make themselves sound stylish and eloquent. In one part of his speech, Old Major says “… as sure as I see this straw …” The repetition of the ‘s’ makes certain words in that sentence stand out, making his message more clear. Swift says “Four females”.
Although Old Major’s speech and ‘A Modest Proposal’ were written over two hundred years apart, they both use very similar techniques and development of their argument to get their point across. Both of the pieces are politically based and satirical, both use formal and emotive language, differing sentence types and structures and in sparse amounts, alliteration. This makes their arguments fairly similar.
