Who is Old Major in Animal Farm?

is the "prize
Middle White boar" who had a strange dream about which he wanted to tell his fellow farm
animals.

His real name is really Willingdon Beauty, but he goes by Old
Major. He is quite "highly regarded," and so everyone is willing to come and listen
after their daily chores are done. He has a "wise and benevolent appearance," and he
calls the others "comrades," a word very much associated with Communism and the dream
of equality. He describes the "hunger and overwork" that the animals endure under the
leadership of Mr. Jones, the farmer, and his family, and he argues that the humans are the only
creatures that consume without producing. Why then, Old Major asks, should humans rule over the
animals? He points out how every group of animals on the farm contributes by producing
something. Old Major convinces the animals that "All animals are equal" and that
humans are the enemy, and he inspires the animals to plan a rebellion, throwing them "into
the wildest excitement"...