Editing Old Major (section)

{{Short description|Character in Orwell's novella "Animal Farm"}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Major
| image = File:Middle_White_Sow.jpg
| caption = A Middle White sow, the same breed as Old Major is described as in the book
| first = ''Animal Farm''
| creator = [[George Orwell]]
| voice = [[Maurice Denham]] ([[Animal Farm (1954 film)|1954 film]]) <br/> [[Peter Ustinov]] ([[Animal Farm (1999 film)|1999 film]])
| nickname = Willingdon Beauty
| species = [[Middle White|Middle White boar]]
| gender = Male
| occupation = Revolutionary Leader of Animal Farm   
| family = 
| relatives = 
| based_on = [[Karl Marx]], [[Vladimir Lenin]]
}}

'''Major''', also called the '''[[Willingdon, East Sussex|Willingdon]] Beauty''' during [[Show (animal)|showings]], is the first major character described by [[George Orwell]] in his 1945 novella ''[[Animal Farm]]''. An elderly [[Middle White]] boar, his "[[purebred]]" of pigs is a kind, grandfatherly [[philosopher]] of change.<ref name=balkumari>{{cite journal |title=Animal Imagery in George Orwell's novel 'Animal Farm' |first=Sushil |last=Ghimire |volume=10 |issue=1 |journal=Journal of Balkumari College |doi=10.3126/jbkc.v10i1.42105 |issn=2467-9321 |location=Bharatpur, Nepal |pages=68–72 |date=1 June 2021 |url=https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/jbkc/article/view/42105/32029 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=fajrina>{{cite journal |publisher=[[Syiah Kuala University|Universitas Syiah Kuala]] |publication-place=Banda Aceh, Indonesia |title=Character Metaphors in George Orwell's Animal Farm |first=Dian |last=Fajrina |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=79–88 |date=1 March 2016 |url=http://www.jurnal.unsyiah.ac.id/SiELE/article/view/3391/3177 |doi=10.24815/siele.v3i1.3391 |issn=2355-2794 |journal=Studies in English Language and Education  |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Major proposes a solution to the animals' desperate plight on Manor Farm under the [[Jones (Animal Farm)|Jones]] administration and inspires thoughts of a rebellion.<ref name=kata>{{cite journal |title=The Nature of Revolution on Animal Farm |doi=10.9744/kata.21.1.17-23 |issn=1411-2639 |volume=21 |issue=1 |date=1 June 2019 |publisher=[[Petra Christian University]] |publication-place=Surabaya, Indonesia |first1=Goran Omar |last1=Mustafa |pages=17–23 |url=https://ahec-aupf.petra.ac.id/index.php/ing/article/view/19253/18652 |first2=Rebin |last2=Najmalddin |journal=K@ta |doi-access=free }}</ref> He does not specify a time for the rebellion; it could be tomorrow or several generations down the road.<ref name=kata/><ref name=guocheng>{{cite journal |title=Symbolism in the Absurdity of Animal Farm |volume=2 |issue=3 |doi=10.25236/FSST.2020.020308 |first=Ma |last=Guocheng |journal=The Frontiers of Society, Science and Technology |issn=2616-7433 |pages=35–37 |url=https://francis-press.com/uploads/papers/jOBQQTpMPqvw46VjSsx398D6JUtic7VmjAzVtzns.pdf |date=22 May 2020 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }}</ref> But when he dies three days after delivering his speech, the animals immediately set to work on bringing about the rebellion,<ref name=fajrina /> driving Jones and the farmhands off the farm and removing many of the implements of his rule.<ref name=guocheng />

The [[Seven Commandments]] that [[Snowball (Animal Farm)|Snowball]] transcribes, which are supposed to encompass Major's general [[philosophy]], are gradually altered and deformed under [[Napoleon (Animal Farm)|Napoleon]] until they have entirely different meanings from those originally intended. "[[Beasts of England]]", the song that came to Major in his dream, is later banned on Animal Farm by Napoleon and replaced by "Comrade Napoleon", a hymn composed by Minimus the pig that pledges allegiance to Animal Farm and to work to protect it.<ref name=guocheng />

Major's skull is dug up and saluted by the animals every day, even after the rebellion, as a sign of respect that the animals remember their roots and the roots of the Rebellion.<ref name=kata /> Later, after Napoleon decides to accept the humans and strike bargains with them, he announces that the remains are to be disposed of because they represent the old days when Animal Farm was "violent and primitive" toward humans; toward the end of the story, Napoleon announces that he has reburied the skull.<ref name=guocheng />

In both film adaptations, Major dies while provoking the animals into rebelling. In the [[Animal Farm (1954 film)|1954 adaption]] (voiced by [[Maurice Denham]]), he dies suddenly while the animals are singing. In the [[Animal Farm (1999 film)|1999 version]] (voiced by [[Peter Ustinov]]), Farmer Jones slips in mud while investigating the sounds coming from the barn, setting off his shotgun and indirectly hitting Major in his backside so that he staggers backward and falls from the top of the barn to his death.

Major is broadly based on [[Karl Marx]] and [[Vladimir Lenin]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Characters - Revision 2 - GCSE English Literature |website=BBC Bitesize |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zqxhn39/revision/2 |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=3 December 2019}}</ref><ref name=balkumari /><ref>{{cite journal |title=All Propaganda is Dangerous, but Some are More Dangerous than Others: George Orwell and the Use of Literature as Propaganda |url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1483&context=jss |journal=Journal of Strategic Security |volume=8 |issue=3 (Supplement: Eleventh Annual IAFIE Conference) |pages=149–161 |first=Samantha |last=Senn |jstor=26465253 |doi=10.5038/1944-0472.8.3S.1483 |date=22 September 2015 |location=Tampa, Florida|doi-access=free }}</ref>