...and Juliet’ and ‘1984’. Introduction What is love? What are the main similarities and differences between the presentation of forbidden love in 1984 and Romeo and Juliet? Relate briefly to the contexts of both texts. Paragraph 1 Why does Romeo love Juliet? Why does Winston love Julia? Look at how Romeo is attracted to Juliet for being beautiful and compare it to how Winston loves Julia for her lack of purity. Explore this idea. You could use the quotes: ‘The brightness of cheek would shame those stars’ – Romeo about Juliet, page 53, Romeo and Juliet “Listen. The more men you’ve had, the more I love you. Do you understand?” “Yes, perfectly.” “I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.” – Winston and Julia, page 144, 1984 (part 2, chapter 2 end) Paragraph 2 What is the connection between hate and love? What similarities do you notice between the two texts? Look hatred has become an important element of each relationship. You could use the quotes: ‘My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself’ –Romeo, page 55, Romeo and Juliet “As soon as I saw you, I knew you were against them.” Julia says this about Winston, page 140, 1984. Paragraph 3 How is sex presented in both texts? Is sex a natural or unnatural act? Look at how sex is shown to be unnatural in 1984 – birds singing, etc. Effect is that the reader sympathises with Winston and Julia. Birds singing...
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...literal meaning. Analyze a symbol in George Orwell's 1984, and write an essay demonstrating how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot. In 1984 George Orwell uses many symbolic objects such as the paperweight, the prole's, big brother, and telescreens to assist the readers in a deeper understanding of the book and its purpose. When Winston Smith, the main character, purchases the glass paperweight he represents the struggle in reconnecting with his past. This simple object essentially defines Winston's development as a character and symbolizes his unpleasant fate throughout the novel. This object is perhaps the most important symbol that resides throughout 1984. It represents many aspects of Winston's rebellion towards the party, symbolizes many characteristics of his secret life, and represents the perfect world Julia and Winston envisioned. Throughout the novel, Winston becomes very intrigued with Mr. Carrington's antique shop and the coral. Orwell states that the object "is a little chunk of history they forgot to alter", just like how rocks are unaltered object as old as earth itself. That being said, the paperweight symbolizes his desire to return to a simpler time, one in which man's only relationship was to earth itself. At the present, human nature relations have been supplanted by a strictly human to human relationship. Therefore, man only lives according to how man...
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...Loyalty and Rebellion in 1984 Loyalty and Rebellion are the root of nearly every civil war ever fought. The two opposites rival each other as one side remains loyal to the governing power, and the other side rebels against the loyalist ways until all out war is fought. George Orwell's incredible novel, 1984, exemplifies these two ideas but in a slightly different light. In the book, Winston Smith and his lover Julia come together as two rebels against the overbearing Party that ultimately leads to their emotional destruction. In the throes of their love they profess their undying loyalty to each other, bringing the wrath of the Party down on them. By tying their loyalties to somewhere other than the party, Winston and Julia rebel against the party. Loyalty is Power. In 1984 the only goal of the Party is to have complete, absolute, pure power. O’Brien explains this to Winston saying, “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power... Power is not a means, it is an end” (Orwell 263). He later explains that the Party's total domination will create a world of fear and torture, “There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother” (Orwell 267). In this way, O’Brien shows that loyalty to anyone else would mean a divergence from the power of the party, a rebellion. Since...
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...conform to an almost universally accepted, but still unspoken, code of ethics relating to the basic treatment of our fellow man. It is this inherent value that we place on others and expect others to attribute to us that make us different from animals and it is also what is missing to a large extent in Orwell’s “1984” and Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go”. The futility of relationships in these works is part of what makes the worlds in which they are based seem so bereft of hope and consequently, dystopic in nature. Never Let Me Go is a supreme dystopian example of a modern day 1984 because the authors give hope to the characters and the audience, they both have an intrinsic human emotion to hold on to, and the people’s future isn’t clearly explained. The vision of humanity’s future, the only truly acceptable thing to ‘love’ is Big Brother. The Party restricts all other love so as to break down the ties between family, friends and lovers whilst transferring this loyalty to the Party itself as a form of control. The Party is said to have, “cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and women.” This does not just show the breakdown of relationships, but the reduction of the self. The Party is removing the essential links that allow humanity to be more than a collective of individuals and instead uses this to its own ends, although what these are, beyond a desire for control, we never truly discover. It is partly this lack of knowledge of the Party’s overall...
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...attention, only to later reveal that Winston is an anti-hero causing the readers to come crashing back to reality. During the duration of the novel Winston actively rebels against the Party by writing bad thoughts, buying an apartment among the proles, and even joining the Brotherhood, a group that attacks the Party. This is typical of an anti-hero according to “The Anti-hero in Modernist Fiction”, “Weak, ineffectual, pale, humiliated, self-doubting, inept, occasionally abject characters — often afflicted with self-conscious and paralyzing irony, yet at times capable of unexpected resilience and fortitude”(Neimneh 78). The resilience shown by Winston keeps the reader rooting for him even when he is captured for his thought crime. This hope, further developed as Winston defies O’Brien as he is being tortured, is short lived when the reader is awakened to Winston’s failure in the end. According to Tim Adams, educator from TED Ed, “All too often though the anti-hero is killed or brainwashed to return to conformity with the masses”(TED Ed). In accordance with the anti-hero archetype, Winston is brainwashed and later killed. When Winston is caught for his thought crime, he is taken to the Ministry of Love, where he is tortured and brainwashed back into conformity. Orwell writes, “But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (Winston 298). The brainwashing of Winston is a powerful statement created by...
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...In George Orwell’s “1984”, reality is not always what you perceive it to be. Orwell uses a theme that is comprised of the horror of a totalitarian dictatorship, which is demonstrated throughout the novel in the laws, and leaders of “The Party”. There is also a Big Brother character that helps to accentuate the totalitarian theme and brings a reality to the reader that the world is hidden behind this figure. The theme of reality versus appearance is a theme that is displayed throughout the novel in many different ways, such as characters, slogans and war. I will examine a couple of examples of reality versus appearance in George Orwell’s “1984” over the next several paragraphs. We are introduced early in the novel to a character by the name of Julia. Julia’s relationship with Winston mixes love and partnership in the strife against Big Brother. Julia is a survivalist and a rebel, she is a Party supporter, and very sexually promiscuous. Julia says, “Have you done this before? Of course. Hundreds of times – well, score of times, anyway.” (Page 104) In this quote from Julia it is first presenting to be another foolish drone of the party but Julia is uncovered to be an insurgent that uses her sex appeal and anatomy as a way to rebel....
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...1984 Symbols In 1984 by George Orwell, there are a few examples of important symbols throughout the book, all meaning different things depending on how they are looked at. The book follows the story of a man named Winston Smith. His life is not very exciting until he finds himself in the middle of a rebellion against the party, or so he thought. The party is the political group that is in charge of the country, Oceana, its leader is Big Brother. The party's goal is to make everyone dumb so they do not recognize that they are being controlled. When Winston finds himself having an affair with a girl, also part of the party, Julia, he decides he needs somewhere to stay so they will not be found. He rents a room above a little antiques shop, run by Mr. Charrington. It is in this room where the most important symbols of the book are found. When he first enters the little shop he finds a coral paperweight, Winston likes the way it seems out of place and decides to buy it. “Winston immediately paid over the four dollars and slid the coveted thing into his pocket. What appealed to him about it was not so much its beauty as the air it seemed to possess of belonging to an age quite different from the present one.” (Orwell 81). Even before his affair with Julia started, Winston knew that the paperweight was different, maybe part of him knew it would mean something more to him at some point. Later when he puts it on a shelf of his new room he realizes why he liked it so much...
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...prominent motif in 1984. It is portrayed as a restriction; a law in which to love is to commit a crime. This restriction arouses the concept of forbidden love, where two people in love are prohibited to meet each other or be with each other. Forbidden love is seen primarily as thought-crime in Big Brother's empire Oceania. Thought-crime is basically when a person simply thinks of committing an action that would cause harm to the society or lead to the start of the revolution. The best example of forbidden love is seen when Julia wanted to meet Winston. For them to communicate out of work would have been thought-crime so to cope with it they meet in Victory Square. There, without any eye contact, Julia informs Winston where they can meet secretively. This sort of meeting is forbidden love because previously Julia had given Winston a note saying "I love you" which directly shows the love and thought-crime is the equivalent of forbidden (Orwell 108). The fact that Julia and Winston met in Victory Square also hints forbidden love because two lovers had to inform each other as to where they could meet in secrecy thus showing the restrictions of Oceania. Another example where forbidden love is seen is in Mr. Charrington's house. He is a prole, people of Oceania who are said to be equal to animals and have no contact with the real working class of Oceania, and his house supposedly has no telescreen. This poses as a great opportunity for Julia and Winston to meet without being...
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...Orwell's novel 1984 serves as a precaution to all readers that if we do not question government or tread into the future with caution our voices could potentially be lost. This fiction novel takes place post World War II in a totalitarian government, where Big Brother controls everything. Throughout this novel Orwell tries to warn readers that complete control within any community results in the deprivation of people’s basic freedoms, such as through, sexual relations, and speech. Throughout the novel Orwell uses Winston as an example of what mistakes could lead to a dystopia ran by a tyranny. Winston, the main character of the novel, lives in a country where organic thought is banned, only the leader, Big Brother, has a voice that matters....
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...native peoples of the West. Later explorers added to the colorful picture of the West. However, as the realities of the West changed, so did the focus of writers who used the West as subject and symbol. Land became less available and the uses of land came into question. The environmental movement led to a reevaluation of humanity’s relationship to nature. As the region was settled a mix of cultures came into play. Writers now have come to emphasize the complexity of Western life, rather than its simplicity. Contemporary Westerns sound with more diverse voices than ever before. In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, he writes about his dark vision of the future. It may not just be of the future of the West, but the way of thinking and system portrayed are particularly Western in nature. A lot of terms coined in this novel are also use widely already in the modern day English language. It is a chilling depiction of how the power of the state could come to dominate the lives of individuals through cultural conditioning. Perhaps the most powerful science fiction novel of the twentieth century, this apocalyptic satire shows with grim conviction how Winston Smith's individual personality is wiped out and how he is recreated in the Party's image...
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...Novel Notes “1984” Step 1: Dean, Michael, and George Orwell. 1984. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2003. Print. * George Orwell was born in Bengal, India as Eric Arthur Blair. Orwell is a novelist, essayist, and critic. * He had strong opinions and addressed some of the major political movements of his time. * Orwell’s father was stationed in India and stayed there when George, his mom, and his sisters moved to England. Orwell and his father never had a strong connection. * Orwell composed his first poem around the age of 4, he then struggled in the years to come with getting his writing career off the ground. * Also wrote Animal Farm, a novel attacking Stalinism. * Once graduating from the university he became very interest in political matters, which led him the writing of 1984. Step 2: What is the significance of the novel’s title? Orwell originally envisioned the title to be "The Last Man in Europe." But his editor, Frederic Warburg told Orwell he should change it. Therefore it became 1984, as we know it today. But there is much speculation as to where 1984 came from. There are two ideas I learned about. 1. Orwell, in 1948, may have thought a simple, two-digit end switcheroo would be a good title. 2. Or named it after his wife’s poem, "End of the Century, 1984." What is the novel’s setting in time and place? Does setting influence characters or actions? How much time is covered in the story? * Setting Time & Place:...
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...Throughout the novels of 1984 and Frankenstein, the protagonist from each work shares similarities with one another. Within George Orwell’s novel, 1984, the protagonist is Winston Smith. Within Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the protagonist is Victor Frankenstein. Winston Smith and Victor Frankenstein each experience similar life lessons as well as similar feelings; however, differences can be uncovered as well. The act of rebellion is an act that both Victor and Winston encounter. Victor was a man of rebellion, beginning to end. Victor Frankenstein would turn his back on society and the rules in which they abide. He had created a creature. He had created a creature far from the ordinary human. Creating a human, even attempting to create...
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... In Orwell’s novel 1984, Winston is an anti hero archetype because of his poor physical state, and his pusillanimous nature. To begin with, his poor physical condition comes to bite him many times in this story. Winston is an average guy who drinks, smokes and sits in an office all day. He sounds like an old uncle and one of the first lines in the story states, ¨Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly up the landings, resting several times on the way.¨ Winston gives off the image that he won't be the action hero we hoped for, but it makes him more relatable this way. He hates working out, likes to write and has coughing fits. Another quote even says that ¨Winston’s greatest pleasure in life was in his work,¨ so we know that we are going...
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...watching. George Orwell’s novel 1984 springs to life with this stage adaptation presented by the highly entertaining theatre company Shake and Stir. In the totalitarian society of 1984, lies, myths and false information dictate the population and this is portrayed beautifully in the theatrical presentation of the novel. 1984 tells the story of Winston, a man with no hope, the party controls his life, his not his mind. He believes that the party is spreading false truths to retain power over the people, and to rebel, he commits ‘thought crime’ by thinking and writing about taking down the party and destroying the power that they possess. Little does he know, the party is onto him. Orwell uses this as a comparison to the real world. It is his view that the If communist governments take over the world there will be no escape from their supreme rule. He instead believes in democratic socialism where there are still free elections. Socialism stops privatization by establishing collective ownership of major factors of production. And if there is no privatization the theory is there will be no corruption. Well executed dramatic elements of role, mood and symbol, as well as the set and costumes of 1984 are what make it an outstanding piece of theatre and one that is effectively designed, not only through live presentation but with the aid of audio and visual pre-recordings. Like Shake and Stir’s previous Orwell reboot, Animal Farm, 1984 is presented through elements of realism...
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...Love in George Orwell’s 1984 Love can play many roles in society. It can bring many people together happily or it can tear families apart so they will never speak to ach other again. Love can also be a political force. It can be an act of rebellion by individuals. It can also be a means to control individuals. This is what has occurred in George Orwell’s book 1984. George Orwell was born on June 25, 1903 as Eric Arthur Blair, in Bengal, India. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, was an administrator in the Opium Department of the Indian government. (Mullen 3) Eric, his mother, Ida Mabel Limouzin Blair, and his older sister left India for England in 1908. (Flynn 9) In England the family lived as a “shabby-genteel family,” in his own words, at Henley on Thames. This was a happy time in his life and an inspiration for some of his writing, such as the essay, “Such, Such Were the Joys.”(Mullen 3) Also at this time Eric first showed signs of poor health. His mother recorded in her diary her concern for his bronchitis and a weak chest. (Flynn 11-12) In 1911 Eric went to St. Cyprian’s prepatory school. He was eight. (Flynn 19) Eric’s family kept him there at a great sacrifice to his family but at reduced fee because the headmaster hoped Eric would be able to win a scholarship. At the age of thirteen Eric went to Eton College after winning two scholarships. Eric was at Eton from 1917 to 1921. (Hopkinson 276) Eric praised Eton by complimenting its tolerant and civilized atmosphere...
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