Commentary on Old Major's speech

Old Major's speech was directed to the animals. It was about over throwing the man and the animals should take over. It was all a rebellion. In this short essay I will describe the persuasive techniques used by Old Major to persuade his fellow animals to follow his dreams. I will include quotes and other important features used by Orwell. The main part of his speech is on his dream. Old Major the 'Middle White Boar' chooses the place and the time to make his speech very carefully. From this we can infer that he has taken his time to analyse successful techniques employed by other famous speakers from the past. In addition Old Major has a title and that is he was a prize to Mr. Jones. Also his appearance was revealing. He had a benevolent appearance and his tushes where never cut. Orwell describes how well Old Major had positioned himself on 'a sort of raised platform.' He did this in order to give the speaker (Old Major) prominence, to make him look bigger and more important so that the farmyard animals would believe he was a person who should be listened to with respect. Another important feature to do with persuasion was that Orwell states Old Major was 'ensconced on his bed of straw, under a lantern which hung from a beam.' This means that Old Major was in the light and the audience was in the dark. Additionally he was more comfortable than the rest

  • Word count: 1191
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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1984 vs Brave New World

984 vs Brave New World Undoubtedly, the thought of living in, or forming a utopian society has flashed through nearly every person's mind. A few people have even tried to make this ideal dream society a reality. Unfortunately, within the pursuit of these societies the leaders become corrupt and begin to become paranoid with the fear of rebellion. Hundreds of people were murdered during the reigns of Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin in what they considered measures to maintain peace and stability within their respective "perfect" society. One must also consider the hardships that the citizens were forced to endure while living under these oppressive governments. This dream of forming and maintaining a utopian society was immortalized in two novels dealing with the same basic ideas, 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Both of these novels deal with the lives of main characters that inadvertently become subversives in a totalitarian government. These two books differ greatly however with the manner in which the government controls the population and the strictness of the measures taken to maintain this stability. This essay with compare and contrast the message and tone of each novel as well as consider whether the utopia is a positive or negative one. In 1984, George Orwell explores the many facets of a negative utopia. Orwell seems to focus on the

  • Word count: 1318
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The 3 Size Challenged Pigs.

The 3 Size Challenged Pigs Once, there were three size challenged pigs, of different nationalities, who lived together in mutual respect and in harmony with their environment. Using resources that were native to the area, Mr Australia built his house out of straw, Mr France built his out of sticks, and Mr America built his out of clay that was shaped into bricks and baked in a small energy-efficient oven. When their work was completed, and they were satisfied with their efforts, the three height impaired pigs settled down to live in peaceful autonomy. Little did they know that their ambitions would soon be shattered! One day, along came a niceness-deprived wolf with expansionist ideas. He saw the pigs and grew hungry, in both a physical and ideological sense. When the pigs saw the wolf, they ran to Mr Australia's house of straw and huddled in the corner. The wolf ran up to the house and banged on the door, shouting, "Vertically challenged pigs, let me in!" The pigs replied, "Your shock tactics hold no fear for pigs defending their homes and culture!" But the wolf was not the type to be denied what he believed to be his obvious destiny, so he huffed and puffed and blew down the Australian pig's house of straw. The pigs, shocked at the wolf's ability to blow down a house in a single breathe, ran for the house of sticks belonging to Mr France. Along came the wolf and

  • Word count: 706
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What Strategies Do The Pigs Use To Suppress The Other Animals On The Farm, And How Is This Suppression Heightened Through Orwell's Use Of Language?

Introduction Animal Farm is a book written by George Orwell, but his real name was Eric Arthur Blair. The book was based on the Russian Revolution, which occurred in 1917. The idea of the book came about as he began to notice the indecisiveness of the Russian Government. He also witnessed how badly the leaders were treating the public. The events relate to when Tsar Nicholas the 2nd was the leader of Russia. He was a very rich man and made sure that everyone else was poor. He wanted all the luxuries for himself, but wanted everyone else to live in poverty. The revolution occurred in February during which time the Provisional Government was overthrown and Vladimir Lenin kicked out Nicholas the 2nd, which led to Lenin having control of Winter Palace. Orwell was annoyed with the way that the leaders of Russia were treating their public. Lenin's reign then came to an abrupt end when he died in 1924. Consequently, Russia was left without a leader making it vulnerable. Stalin then competed with Leon Trotsky for the leadership and eventually won. Trotsky had plans to industrialise the country, but Stalin refused to have these plans implemented. This is similar to Snowball's plans for building a windmill for the overall good of the farm. In 1928, Stalin copied Trotsky's idea and industrialised the country. Stalin was initially a moderator but then became a

  • Word count: 1809
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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1984 Quote Journal

Sarah Pathammavong August 15, 2002 British Lit. Smith 984 Quote Journal "On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. Big Brother Is Watching You, the caption beneath it ran." (Orwell 5) This quote is an example of how effective and convincing The Party can make a simple poster. The Party has put posters everywhere constantly reminding the Party members that they are being watched. Being watched played a major role in every Party member's life in the book. Winston who was constantly scared of doing things, such as having a face of anxiety or not cheering with as much enthusiasm in the two minute hate. Everything that Winston did throughout the novel that he thought was not seen by the Thought Police was seen by them. Winston even tried to make sure that his diary was not bothered with so he sprinkled some powder on the corner of the book. That powder was carefully replaced as if it was the same as when it was first put there, by the Thought Police, that is how watchful and investigative the Thought Police is. The Thought Police are continuously spying on the Party members through the televisions, hidden microphones throughout Oceania, and spies of their own. The Party wants to keep an eye on their Party members to have

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Animal Farm - Snowball's Diary

Animal Farm Snowball's Diary 8th March Old Major died in his sleep today. He had known that his time was near. He gathered us all into the barn only 3 days previously and spoke openly of the wisdom he had gained over the years and of the strange dream that he had. He spoke of how we are all comrades. He asked what kind of life do we have? 'Miserable, laborious and short.' We are given only so much to eat that will keep us breathing and give us the strength to carry out a days work and no more. We are pushed to the limits and when we are not capable of carrying out our duties we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. Most animals do not know the meaning of happiness because they do not live beyond 1 year. The life of an animal is misery and slavery. Remove man from the scene and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever. Man is lord of all the animals, he makes them work, gives food enough to prevent us from starving and keeps the rest for himself. He is very selfish he is our enemy. He spoke of Rebellion and how we must fight when the time came for future generations to carry on the struggle until it is victorious. Little did we know the Rebellion was going to start so soon. 1th March Napoleon and I decided to hold meetings during the, week to discuss and prepare for the Rebellion if it was to happen. Today I was talking to my comrades about how we

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Does "Animal Farm" fit the definition of a fable?

Does "Animal Farm" fit the definition of a fable? A fable is a story with animal characters which teaches a lesson or has a moral. The animals speak like humans and normally have a specific quality, such as the slow tortoise and the speedy hare. A famous fable writer was Aesop. Characters do not develop much in the story and humour is often used. Fables are made-up stories but often make important points about real life. The fable (In Greek language "Muzos" which you can literally translate as "myth") has its own evolution over time, according to the development of the people expressing it and their culture. "Animal Farm" is written by George Orwell. The animals of Manor Farm overthrow their human master and look forward to a new way of living, one with peace and freedom, but when the pigs of the farm take control of Animal Farm, they create havoc and all animals are soon back to their old ways and conditions of starvation, overwork and intimidation. The animals have not succeeded in their desire to be equal. This is shown when Benjamin reads out on a wall, "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others". This story fulfils many of the characteristics of a fable. The characters do show many human strong points and also display human weaknesses and faults such as greed, pride and vanity. This case can be seen in two pigs who personify greediness

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Animal Farm essay

Animal Farm Animal Farm is the most famous work of political fable ever written. In it; the animals take over the running of a farm, and everything is perfect for a while - until the pigs get out of hand. It's a brilliant description of what happens when a revolution goes astray. True appreciation of Animal Farm requires an understanding of the history of the Russian revolution, but those without it will still get the point. And Animal Farm can even be appreciated as a story by children with no understanding of the political message at all! As Churchill said: "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely". This is vividly and eloquently proved in Orwell's short novel. "Animal Farm" is a simple fable of great symbolic value, and as Orwell himself explained: "it is the history of a revolution that went wrong". It tells a good story that aims to prove that human nature and diversity prevent people from being equal and happy, or at least equally happy. The novel tells the simple and tragic story of what happens when the oppressed Manor farm's animal's rebel, drive out Mr. Jones, the farmer, and attempt to rule the farm themselves, on an equal basis. What the animals seem to have aimed at was a utopian sort of communism, where each would work according to his capacity, respecting the needs of others. The venture failed, and "Animal Farm" ended up being a dictatorship

  • Word count: 872
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Trace the course of rivalry between Snowball and Napoleon, and narrate the circumstances in which Snowball was expelled from Animal Farm.

Q1 Trace the course of rivalry between Snowball and Napoleon, and narrate the circumstances in which Snowball was expelled from Animal Farm. Immediately after Old Major's death, the two main characters, Napoleon and Snowball, were introduced: Napoleon was introduced as a "large, fierce-looking Berkshire", "not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way"-usually by force. Snowball, on the other hand, was "more vivacious", "quicker in speech" and "more inventive", although lacking Napoleon's "depth of character". This marked difference in their characters brought about clashes between the two. Right after the Rebellion, when the animals went to the harness room, they saw all the tools of torture and slavery used by Jones. Snowball threw the ribbons into the fire, considering them clothes, which were the marks of a human being, and that all animals should go naked. In this way, he had subtly declared himself leader, with the issuing of this decree. Meanwhile, Napoleon went to the store-shed and distributed more rations of food to everyone. This sparked off Snowball and Napoleon's rivalry as they both yearned to lead the animals. During the Meetings, where all the animals assembled, debates were being held. The work of the coming week was planned out and resolutions were put forward and debated. However, in view of Napoleon and Snowball's situation, it was

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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When and where was the Intuitionist? Colson Whitehead

Rahul 1 Rahul Shah Sharon Warycka Writing & literature I 5th November, 2002 Essay # 3 - When and where was the Intuitionist? In Colson Whitehead's, "The Intuitionist" there is no particular set time or place that the story takes place in. The plot could be placed anywhere in time; in the past or in the distant future, the events of the story could just as well be occurring in the present in any one of the many metropolitan cities in the world. "The Intuitionist'' is set in "the most famous city in the world,'' which is never named outright, but somehow resembles New York to quite an extent as would be depicted in a 1930's noir detective movie. Another reason we can say that the book could have been about past times is that it differentiates people as "colored" and "whites" as was done in the past. But then we see the enormously tall glass and steel walled skyscrapers, that the characters live and associate their lives with, with the compact cars and normal city life as can be seen today and also possible in the future. The book by Colson Whitehead has been written so brilliantly in the sense that he has not given any particular character more importance than another, not written in a manner which would cause for attachments with any character in particular however high the degree of their pain was. For example, the description of the man who's fingers were being cut of

  • Word count: 1041
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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