In the beginning he brings intrigue to the barn. “But I will come to the dream later”. This adds suspense and keeps the animals paying full attention to him.
He addresses his audience as comrades. This brings the feeling of friendliness and makes it personal. It makes the audience feel included.
Another effective use of persuasion is repetition. Old Major repeats many of his points over and over again to emphasise what he is trying to explain to the other animals. “No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness…” and then shortly after he repeats “No animal in England is free”. I found that it is also quite ironic how he may also be repeating things due to his old age.
Other uses of persuasion are rhetorical questions. This causes the animals to really think about what Old Major is talking about and is allows them to relate to it easier. “But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this land of ours so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell upon it?” Old Major often structures his speech with two rhetorical questions together or close to each other to emphasise them. He also answers his own questions, as the animals will have no doubt that he would ever tell them anything wrong.
He lists points to make it seem like an endless amount of pathos throughout the farm. This causes the animals to be angry and upset and crave freedom. “Miserable, laborious and short” this exaggerates how badly they are treated and makes it seem so much worse.
As the speech goes on, Old Major builds up and up towards a huge climax. He almost explodes as he feeds the animal’s minds of what to do with such a rotten and evil man like Mr Jones. “Rebellion!” He almost forces them and his excitement fuels the excitement for the rest of the room.
He also reassures the animals and continues to cut down the great reputation of man. “ All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.” This makes the animals feel might and powerful. This is what boosts their confidence to finally destroy what made the world.
The speech Old Major gave to the rest of his animal army gave great influence to the animals. He gave them the rough plan led them on the right trail to success. They come in as normal animals on the farm and they leave the barn as an army.
