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Old Major (also called Willingdon Beauty, his name used when showing) is the first major character...

Old Major (also called Willingdon Beauty, his name used when showing) is the first major character described by George Orwell in Animal Farm. This "purebred" of pigs is a kind, grandfatherly philosopher of change. According to one interpretation, he could be based upon both Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. However, according to Christopher Hitchens: "the persons of Lenin and Trotsky are combined into one [i.e., Snowball], or, it might even be truer to say, there is no Lenin-pig at all". Old Major proposes a solution to the animals' desperate plight on Manor Farm under the Jones administration (representing the tsar and autocracy) and he inspires thoughts of a rebellion of sorts among the animals. The actual time of the revolt is unsaid; it could be tomorrow or several generations down the road. Old Major's "Barn-Yard Speech" at the very onset of the story could be a reference to the Communist Manifesto. The animals are stirred up by this speech, and set to work immediately on the bringing about of the Rebellion. Shortly after his death, the animals rise in revolt and oust the humans from power. This rebellious act is so quick that many don't realize it happened until it is over. The