...George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four tells a story about a futuristic dystopian society that is ruled by the seemingly omniscient Big Brother. Winston Smith lives within this rule of Big Brother and the Party where all he does is strictly limited. As time progresses, Winston begins to make secret relationships without the Party’s knowing and begins to do what he wants to do. George Orwell’s use of intriguing characters, a strange, utopian social setting, and a riveting yet slow plot makes Nineteen Eighty-four a great piece of literary work. George Orwell’s use of fascinating and believable characters makes the story an interesting read. The story revolves around Winston Smith, an ordinary Party employee who works for the Ministry of Truth. Under the power of the Party, Winston does not have the freedom to think his own thoughts unless they...
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...George Orwell’s use of language in Nineteen Eighty-Four Eric Arthur Blair, better known as George Orwell, has been called one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. In his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell provides readers with a look into what would happen if the government controlled every aspect of people’s lives, even their own thoughts. Orwell uses language to influence the mindset of the citizens of Oceania. Orwell’s use of language shows how people can be manipulated and deceived and led to obey their government and accepting all of its propaganda to be true. Orwell was a very productive writer. He wrote six novels, and hundreds of essays as well as four documentary studies in less than twenty years. “Orwell’s greatest influence beyond his two classic novels was as a prose stylist...he probably influenced the writing of prose more than anyone else in the first half of the 20th century.” (Rossi 1) Orwell’s use of language has inspired many other writers as well. “Sylvia Ramsey’s novel, An Underground Jewel, is set in the future and centers on a terrorist organization that wants to alter language, it’s based on George Orwell’s 1984.” (Martin)...
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...The Novel Project Your name: Giselle Gonzalez Your Novel: 1984 – George Orwell 1. Explain how the novel represents two or more concerns of its historical time period; these concerns may be economic, political, cultural, social, or moral concerns. Clarify the author’s view on one of the following as s/he presents the concerns: right vs wrong; conservative vs radical, or elite vs commonplace. Orwell published “1984” in 1948 just after the end of World War II. Although at this time, Hitler’s reign was brought to an end, Joseph Stalin, another ruthless leader was still in power. Though they were adversaries during WW II, both men shared acute similarities in their success towards creating a totalitarian government much like the one seen in “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” The ghastly, but impressive ease with which each ruler rose and remained in power is possibly what caused Orwell to focus so heavily on political concerns in his novel. While there are no direct allusions to the Adolf Hitler or Stalin, the political devices used by the Party to control Party members in Oceania are undeniably parallel to the manipulation and brutality that each ruler used to control government. Big Brother for instance, is a fearless leader who is loved by all of the Party members. Though it is never confirmed whether or not he is a real person or just an idea, citizens praise him almost instinctively, posters of him are found in every building, and badmouthing him is not only an act of audacity, but punishable...
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...The Works of George Orwell The Literary Canon is an authoritive list, as of the works of an author. To enter or actually be entered into the canon is to gain certain obvious privileges; it is governed by influential critics, museum directors, and their board of trustee’s as well as scholars and teachers. To appear in the Norton or Oxford anthology is not a sign of greatness but a status of accessibility to a public reading. Belonging to the Literary Canon confers status; social, political, economic, and aesthetic, belonging to the canon is a guarantee of quality. George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair, to English parents Richard Walmesley (a civil servant) and Ida Mabel (Limouzine) Blair in Motihari, Bengal (now Bihar) India in 1903 and died a year after writing Nineteen Eighty Four in 1950. He graduated from Eton College in 1921. His political beliefs follow those of a democratic socialist. His interests include fishing, carpentry, gardening, and raising animals. He served in the Spanish civil war as well as World War II where he held the rank of sergeant. George held many jobs during his career as a writer he was a police officer in Burma, a dishwasher in Paris, a teacher in England, as well as a shopkeeper, he also produced educational radio programs for the BBC. Among his writing accomplishments he wrote fiction as well as nonfiction novels his two most famous being “Nineteen Eighty Four” and “Animal farm” both of which have been adapted for film. In “Animal Farm” and...
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...Eric Arthur Blair, with the pen name George Orwell, was a young man when he went to serve in the Imperial Police Force which was his firsthand look at colonialism (Larkin). After about five years, he abruptly decided to leave Burma and become a writer, and his first novel was actually set in the north of Burma. People from Burma think to believe that Orwell’s best works, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, are about the country itself (Larkin). While they may be about Burma, they were not just about the country, but how colonialism was affecting their society. Colonialism, as Orwell observed, was very harmful to the colonists and caused it’s people to become oppressed and hateful (Sobel). Because he was in authority he felt that he, even...
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...The Hell of Nineteen Eighty-Four. ). Did Orwell realise quite what he had done in Nineteen Eighty-Four? His post-publication glosses on its meaning reveal either blankness or bad faith even about its contemporary political implications. He insisted, for example, that his 'recent novel [was] NOT intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party (of which I am a supporter)'.(1) He may well not have intended it but that is what it can reasonably be taken to be. Warburg saw this immediately he had read the manuscript, and predicted that Nineteen Eighty-Four '[was] worth a cool million votes to the Conservative Party';(2) the literary editor of the Evening Standard 'sarcastically prescribed it as "required reading" for Labour Party M.P.s',(3) and, in the US, the Washington branch of the John Birch Society 'adopted "1984" as the last four digits of its telephone number'.(4) Moreover, Churchill had made the 'inseparably interwoven' relation between socialism and totalitarianism a plank in his 1945 election campaign(5) (and was not the protagonist of Nineteen Eighty-Four called Winston?). If, ten years earlier, an Orwell had written a futuristic fantasy in which Big Brother had had Hitler's features rather than Stalin's, would not the Left, whatever the writer's proclaimed political sympathies, have welcomed it as showing how capitalism, by its very nature, led to totalitarian fascism? With Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is particularly necessary to trust the tale and not...
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...As a young boy, George Orwell had always loved writing and literature. He began writing poems before most kids today can even spell their name. This love lead him to receive scholarships and become an authorauthur. It did not all come easy for him though, and he had many obstacles in his way, including some life threatening ones. By looking at Animal Farm, one can see that George Orwell included the themes of the corruption of sSocialist ideas and the danger of a naive working class because he was very opposed to the cCommunistic ways of the Soviet Union. George Orwell, who was born Eric ArthurAuthur Blair, was born on June 25, 1903, in Motihari, India. He was the son of, Richard WalmesleyWalmasley Blair, a British civil servant officer, and...
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...George Orwell’s political views have been developed throughout his life based on personal experiences, although some may argue Orwell had no political label, due to his many different facets and aspects. Orwell witnessed Stalin’s Soviet Russia, the dictatorships of Mussolini and Hitler, the Spanish civil war and World War 2. Orwell’s literary works such as 1984 and many others, touch on aspects of imperialism, anarchism, socialism, Nazism, capitalism and totalitarianism. “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical” in 1984, is a text within a text that Winston reads to understand many things about the totalitarian world he lives in. The purpose of the text within a text is to parallel the corrupt socialist world of 1984 with that of Stalin’s USSR, expand on Orwell’s ideas of imperialism, and to sound an alarm to warn readers of what a worst case scenario totalitarian world could be like. Firstly, “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical” was to provide greater insight, for Winston and the reader. Goldstein’s text takes apart each section of the party’s slogan “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is strength” (Orwell, 1), and explains what they mean to the party. After reading the text, Winston learned some new things, but the text mostly just reinforced things he already assumed or knew. Secondly, when thinking from a political standpoint, one could say that the point of this text within a text was to parallel the corrupt socialist world of 1984 with that of Stalin’s USSR...
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...Shooting an elephant - By George Orwell Imperialism is the appellation for a policy, where a ruler in a country attempts to oppress another country. This is mainly the theme and point in the essay “Shooting an elephant” The story is written by the author George Orwell, and centers about this problem which was going on between the British and the Burmese. The essay is written as a metaphor describing the British imperialism, and gives the readers an insight in how George's opposition against the imperialism is expressed. Another theme in the story is the meeting between two cultures – in where it describes the burmese, that despise the British. Apart from that, George himself is going though a process of self-deception, which is showed clearly in this story. George Orwell was born on 25th June 1903, and was a well known English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. George Orwell was one of the most influential English writers in the 20th century, and is mostly known for the novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and the novella “Animal Farm”. George Orwell was working in The British Imperial Police from 1922-1927, where he wrote the essay “Shooting an elephant” as a reflection about the British imperialism in India. The setting is in Moulmein in Lower Burma in the 1920's, and is taking place in a poor city. “It was a very poor quarter, a labyrinth of squalid bamboo huts, thatched with palm-leaf, winding all over a steep hillside.” (Page 112, line 12-14) The society...
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...Solove uses his expertise in the art of rhetoric by focusing his introduction on ethically appealing to the audience. By managing the rhetorical distance between himself and the audience he builds a relationship and establishes his authority, while not portraying himself as a superior. He establishes his credibility and portrays his scholarly credit through his citations of literature and quotations from privacy experts. He then concentrates on logically appealing to the audience throughout the body of his essay. By displaying the weaknesses of the deductive reasoning that makes up the nothing-to-hide argument, Solove is able to build his inductive argument. In addition, Solove presents the audience with two analogies enabling them to make logical conclusions. In an effort to make a lasting impression on the audience, Solove reserved his emotional appeals for the conclusion. Through the use of dramatic and emotional language, Solove was able to appeal to the audience’s sympathies and imagination and leave them with the reminder that “in the end, the nothing-to-hide argument has nothing to say” (Solove, para....
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...the Western hero and the Lewis and Clark Expedition written in the early nineteenth century gave readers some of their first visions of the landscape and 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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...Amrhein, Lexie SR “Shooting an Elephant” Background Eric Arthur Blair is the real name of the author in “Shooting an Elephant.” George Orwell was Blair’s pen name. He was born June 25th, 1903 in Motihari, India and died January 21st, 1950 in London, United Kingdom. His role models include Charles Dickens and Aldous Huxley. The British novelist and essayist also became a teacher at Hawthorns High School in Hayes, West London in April of 1932. Orwell’s publications include Burmese Days (1934), Animal Farm: A Fairy Story (1945), Why I Write (1946), and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). His work mainly focuses on controversial topics, such as imperialism, fascism, and...
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...Big brother isn’t watching you A riot mostly occurs in reaction to a perceived grievance or simply out of dissent. Void and community spirit has since forever been in an everlasting fight because of the human mind and its diversity. When rioters act it is due to a feeling of being mistreated in a divided society where an inability to provide success for all human beings is valid. But instead of labelling rioters as mindless, we need to ask ourselves why they are led to the conclusion that starting a riot is the only way of gaining attention. That is why Russell Brand, English comedian, actor, radio host, author and activist, who now lives in Los Angeles, California, commentates on English riots and why they occur. His commentary is posted in the British newspaper called “The Guardian”, where he also tries to explain the rioters’ motive for the 2011 UK riots. First Brand starts of by explaining how he no longer lives in London and how some may find it bizarre for him to comment on matters in his homeland. However, Brand feels strongly connected to native country and finds it necessary to comment on the 2011 UK riots, as he himself feels deeply afflicted by them. In addition to his attachment to his homeland and therefore the rioters, he initiates his commentary with an explanation of how he never actually had interest in the fictitious theatrics in reality TV. Expect when he was working for Big Brother, a reality game show, where contestants are continuously monitored...
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...the same conclusions to a stories ending. It’s up to the reader to “see” how it should play out. However, amid such freedom and range evolves readers of criticism and/or bias opinions towards various styles of literature. An author whose work has been of much negative criticism could be due to a reader of some ignorance towards the understanding of the context. Deficient to connect with a piece of literature, judgments of society, lack of critical thinking and understanding makes for a category of controversial authors. Among controversial authors’ such as, J.D. Salinger’s The Cather in the Rye, Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, J.K. Rowling’s The Harry Potter Series, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Hasan, 2008), George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, so is Anthony Burgess’s most controversial novel A Clockwork Orange. Over the past fifty years, readers have deemed Burgess’s novel taboo disgusted with the unbolted image of sex, drugs, violence, and politics. In result, his work had been banned from several locations internationally. Meanwhile, open-minded readers will consider Anthony’s work as a piece of art, creative, raw and extraordinary, over more they can come to some understanding of the underlining thoughts Burgess had towards politics, discipline,...
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...of respective society. This is similar to the 1984 narrator where Winston is never truly aware of what goes on when he wasn’t physically present. But, it could be for this exact reason that in 1984 the dystopian genre inclines towards the powerful, highlighting the hold over the powerless. Contrary to this, The Handmaid's Tale (THT) has blurred lines as to whether the dystopian fiction prevalent in the novels are more or less about the powerful. This is majorly due to conflicting plotlines and enigmatic characters, significant in both of the books. For example, the character of Nick could be characterized for the powerful and powerless. Nick behaves with Offred in a manner which confuses the reader about his loyalties. Ultimately, this essay will aim to prove an option that is a fusion between the two rivals of dystopian fiction offering the complex concept of the powerful powerless. The powerful in both the books have an overbearing presence practising similar tactics to gain control. Language is used to manipulate the people through brainwashing, not initially by force. It resonates the idea that dismantling the critical thinking structure is more effective as a means of control than forceful obedience, only when this imposition is disobeyed that ‘thought crime is death’....
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