Old Major- Leadership + Communism

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

• potential of communist system to address inadequacies of capitalist system under Jones
• Idealistic view of leader represents hope for animals
• Allegorical rep of Lenin
• Socialist ideology informed by Marx’s ideas
• Believed capitalists exploited proletariats- revolt is justified
• Advocates for a utopian society- ultimately unachievable and unrealistic
• advocates a system that is easily manipulated and exploited by tyrannical leaders e.g. Napoleon.
• Orwell highlights how being ignorant to potential factors that could undermine a socialist utopia creates a perfect environment for a Machiavellian leader to take control.

Question 2

PG 1

Answer 2

• Advocates fair, equal system achievable by revolting against man’s tyranny
• Suggests the possibility of a utopian system based on communist ideals
• Vilifies the actions of humans as being morally corrupt in order to provide impetus for the rebellion – simplicity in consideration of causes.
• Discuss the premise of communism (lacks checks and balances) Communism aims for a society with no classes whatsoever – everyone would be equal
• In a truly Communist society, all decisions would be made for the good of everyone, not just a few individuals.

Question 3

PG 1 Quotes

Answer 3

‘Our lives are miserable, laborious, and short’

‘forced to work to the last atom of our strength’

Question 4

PG 2

Answer 4

• Old Major’s premise of a rebellion exposes the weaknesses in leadership that naïve, unrealistic, idealistic viewpoints can foster.
• Ignored the realism of the fact that a vacuum of power will necessarily need to be filled – due to the nature of human beings.
• Napoleon and his power is generated and sustained through a system advocated and suggested by Old Major.

-Intellectual inferiority / naivety of the proletariat is not
recognised by Old Major.

Question 5

PG 2 Quotes

Answer 5

‘produce of our labour will be our own’

Easy manipulation by Pigs / Napoleon: “milk and apples”;

Question 6

PG 3

Answer 6

(Legacy of Leadership) Old Major’s system does not encourage questioning, and is without checks and balances.

By the end of the novella, Old Major and his original ideas are completely forgotten and the animals no longer have an understanding of the system he sought to establish.

Question 7

PG 3 Quotes

Answer 7

Original Beasts of England is banned signifying the impossibility of equality; no longer an idea that the pigs wish to achieve: “There had also been a strange custom of unknown origin”

Old Major’s skull left in the dirt represents a symbolic death of his communist ideals: “marching every Sunday morning past a boar’s skull which was nailed to a post in the garden”. (Old Major ceases to be important; his legacy does not endure)

Question 8

Conclusion

Answer 8

• Old Major is shown to have noble goals (for the wellbeing of the animals) however his goals are overtly idealistic as exemplified through the inevitable failure of the revolution.
• Old Major’s simplification of the animals’ suffering encourages the lack of questioning/critical thinking from the animals. Orwell highlights the importance of questioning the motives of leaders – whether they are self-serving or benevolent?
• The death of Old Major’s ‘legacy’ reinforces the inevitability of the revolution’s failure (and the fact that his ideas are never fully realised) due to the fact that this opinions/views/arguments do not and cannot endure.