sample commentary!

Here's a sample commentary to look at as a resource as you're finishing your final:

One Voice to Rebel

The passage is from Major’s speech in which he discusses his prophetic dream and unifies the animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm.   The passage comes at the start of Major’s speech when he establishes the human’s oppressive treatment of the animals, creating a common cause and the motivation for the animal rebellion against human control.  Orwell’s organization of the argument establishes Major’s authority on the subject.  Along with creating Major’s credibility, Orwell creates images of communal misery, which provides the animals with an emotional connection.  

Orwell persuades the animals to believe in the credibility of Major’s argument by opening the speech with a complex question and then providing a direct answer.  The opening question: “What is the nature of this life of ours?” revolves around a complex idea: one’s “nature” or internal features that make an animal who she is.   By using the word nature, the question suggests a complex answer discussing multiple components that make up a life of an animals.  Where one would expect Major to expound on the “nature of life,” Major offers only three short phrases “miserable”, “laborious” and “short”  (2).  The concise response suggests clear ideas and precise thoughts.  Offering definitive answers to the complex question leaves little room for the animals to argue against his claims, establishing Major as the expert on the animals’ lives. 

Along with establishing Major’s credibility, Orwell uses images of misery to persuade the animals that they are all victims.  Major’s first image discuses the limited amount of food available to the animals: “[...] we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies [...]” (3-4).  In the statement, Orwell takes the power away from the animals by using the word “given” (3).  Orwell furthers the powerlessness of the animals face by suggesting that the amount of food barely sustains their lives.   Along with creating a connection between the limited food the animals receive and death, Orwell also links their death to hard labor: “ [...] forced to work to the last atom of our strength” (6).  By linking another aspect of a daily routine to death, Orwell suggest that most aspect of the animal’s lives lead to death.  The final image of death solidifies the miserable situation the animals face, as death does not offer means to escape the cruel aspects of their master.  Once the animals’ “usefulness” ends, they “are slaughtered with hideous cruelty”(8).  By finalizing the depiction of the animals’ lives with a violent death, Major suggests the unavoidability of the misery the animals face.  Without offering a means of hope during the lifespan of the animals, Orwell unifies the animals as the victims of a miserable life.

Although the animals must face a miserable existence the credible source of Major explains how they are not in the horrible situation alone.  In this opening passage, Orwell establishes how the motivation for a rebellion occurs: one credible voice clearly expressing the misery common man faces.  If that one voice can project itself over the tumult of other voices, then rebellion is inevitable.

Good luck with your writing!