...The totalitarianistic control that the Ingsoc government exercises over its citizens relies on the alteration of historical documents, terror, and brainwashing. In 1984, by George Orwell, the entire plot revolves around Winston and Julia’s actions to defy the Ingsoc government and attempt to enlighten the citizens and retake their freedom. The main opposition they face is is Big Brother’s influence over the citizens and themselves. Big Brother employs brainwashing tactics such as constantly stating altered and fake information over telescreens throughout the day, Hate Week, and limiting the amount of words people know to prevent them from any sort of free thought. These actions continuously oppress the citizens with just words. The Party...
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...This passage, taken from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, describes the work that typically befalls the protagonist, Winston Smith, in his profession of tampering with documents and news bulletins in order to convince the masses that everything is well within this society and that Big Brother, the ruling dictator, is always seen as inerrant and infallible. Much of the passage reflecting the worries of the time such as the rising influence of the Soviet Union and the memory of Nazi Germany as well as featuring many tropes of dystopian fiction (some originating from the novel itself). An element of the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four that is built upon in this passage is the language of Newspeak. Language and created languages are a common theme amongst dystopian novels because they represent the abolition of the old world and the complete control of society by the dictatorial government. Winston receives his orders for the day in ‘abbreviated jargon’ which consists ‘largely of Newspeak words’. This shows that although Newspeak hasn’t been adopted fully by the population yet, the government...
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...More times then not a dystopian society shows a rather gruesome future hoping to warn us of our impending world. Nineteen Eighty-four portrays this rather well, he created a filthy place with torn down buildings and rats everywhere. Rats are often portrayed as dingy disgusting creatures aligned with fear as well as betrayal and it is no different in George Orwell’s nineteen eighty-four. Winston’s fear of rats is constantly overwhelming for him, not to mention that rats appear almost foreshadowing betrayal and lastly rats represent the extent of the control the party possesses over the population of Oceania. Orwell explores then many diverse ways rats can influence the characters in the novel. Betrayal: The expression that someone is a 'rat,' is often used to illustrate the meaning that he or she is...
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...Firstly, Winston can be looked at as a potential hero in the world of Nineteen Eighty Four, he regularly disagrees with the principals presented by the party and often struggles with mutability the past. To start off, Winston despises Big Brother and does not adhere to the laws set by the Party. Winston begins by obtaining a diary from a local shop, and also in the process Winston obtains an ink pen. Furthermore he illustrates his hate for Big Brother and the Party by writing “Down with Big brother” in his diary. The Party is run by Big Brother and George Orwell describes Winston’s hate toward the party and his desire for freedom. In addition to this, Winston feels the need to join the brotherhood. O’Brien, a person who Winston believes to...
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...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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...Winston Smith, Hero in Disguise: In George Orwell's dystopian, modernistic world of 1984, there are no true heroes or villains. There are no white knights and even the book's antagonist, O'Brien, is not clearly the main source of immorality. Yet, through all this the reader is rooting for Winston Smith. We want him to succeed and even when he ultimately fails, we have sympathy for him. In spite of his failing mind and body, we still search for that glimmer of hope in a hopeless world which probably does not exist. Winston Smith is an unconventional hero, and despite his failures he retains this status for defiance against all odds. When Winston Smith is introduced to the reader Orwell makes a conscious effort not to present him as a hero in the usual sense. At the very opening of the book in the second paragraph Orwell points out the "varicose ulcer above his right ankle" (1), setting him apart from being a glamorous protagonist. Despite this, the audience is still drawn to Winston as the book continues along. So what earns Winston his deserved status as an unconventional hero? The answer lies in his ideology. Winston is a philosophically driven person and this allows the reader to see past his flaws. In Orwell's world of 1984 Winston is completely unique in this sense. No other character is driven in the same way as him. Take for example Julia; she is largely motivated by personal gain. Julia participates in public services only to avoid being caught breaking the law. When...
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...Huang English 103 Professor Joseph 5/7/2013 The Major Themes of Orwellian Imagine living in an environment under the surveillance of a big power, imagine being manipulated and controlled for every thought and action. The act of obeying orders from the big power leads to survival, and the rebellion for freedom leads to the most devastating punishment. Would you give in to the big power or would you fight? The novel Nineteen-Eighty Four written by George Orwell portraying through the view of the protagonist, Winston Smith, describing a nation called Oceania being under the ruling of the antagonist, a totalitarian Party or the Big Brother. In addition, it presented various methods such as constant surveillance, unending propaganda, distortion of language, historical revisionism, fear, torture, perpetual war, and lack of habeas corpus to characterize an oppressive and authoritarian government. The Party utilizes these methods to keep its citizens living in a state of fear, making them developing a feeling of dependency of the party. The novel Nineteen-Eighty Four has its significance today because all of the methods that characterize a totalitarian government are still presence, especially being currently utilized by the government of the United States. Once upon a time, the U.S used to be a land of unparalleled freedom. However, ever since the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, the U.S government, primarily under the management of the bush administration, has been taking...
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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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...”Nineteen Eighty-Four” – Pages 1-40 If there is any doubt of the persistent power of literature it should be banished by the novel “1984” by George Orwell. There is much that reasonant for most of us in Orwell’s dystopia in the face of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA; the totalitarian State of Oceania, its menacing Big Brother, the history-erasing Ministry of Truth and the sinister Thought Police with their everpresent telescreens. Eventhough the novel “1984” was read by its readers in 1949, the novel was meant to represent a very real threat in near future: a totalitarian regime within the next thirty years. The threat against privacy is, in Orwell’s opinion, one to be fought against. Looking at “1984” while pondering over the ideological criticism, one would find traces of certain ideologies in the artifact and the artifact in this particular case being the literary work “1984” by George Orwell. The primary target when doing a ideological reading, is to discover or locate the dominant ideology or the ideologies embedded in the literary work and perhaps the ones that are muted in it. The political ideology of Big Brother in “1984” is shown through a third person narration that clearly understands what Winston experiences living under a totalitarian regime. The style that Orwell appropriates in relaying this political ideology is one of fear and control. The ‘telescreens’ are constantly watching you and listening in on your conversations; “The telescreen...
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...February 13,2014 Born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, Bengal, India in 1903. He is famous for his two novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four (1984). A year later after he was born, his mother brought both him and his sister to England in which his father, a British civil servant stayed in India because he was stationed there. Even as early as a child, he was already battling with the flu and bronchitis although at an early age, he was already into writing. When he got older, he went to school but then was set back a few years for college because his family couldn’t afford it so he ended up joining the Imperial Police Force in 1922. After five years, he resigned and decided to continue his journey as a writer. He came up with his first book Down and Out in Paris and London which was about how life was living in the two cities. He didn’t want to embarrass his family’s name so he decided to use his pseudonym ‘George Orwell’ as the author for his future works. Orwell then wrote about his other experiences overseas, British Colonialism in Burma and part of the country’s Indian empire. In 1937 he married Eileen O'Shaughnessy and then later on went to Spain to battle in the Spanish Civil War. He got badly injured being shot at the neck and arm. After being partially healed, he later on battled another sickness-tuberculosis in 1938. Despite battling his sickness, he still decided to keep writing to support himself. Orwell found himself acting as a propagandist to advance the...
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...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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...Mastroianni Professor Marilyn Boyle-Taylor EAC 236 Monday November 2nd 2015 1984 By George Orwell There are vast amounts of ideas regarding utopia and several authors who have contributed their work which have been studied for many years (decades) in literature. Utopia is something that is imaginary; it is an ideal state of command and vision of political or social perfection. 1984 by George Orwell is one of the most widely read books based on a tale for our future society that involved nothing less than extinction of humanity itself. 1984 is based on a totalitarian government, which is a type of government that tries to take over all aspects of life without any other parties or opinions that can conflict with the exercise of it. This novel is a story based out of London where the city is very run down and dirty, there is not a lot of food to go around and mostly everything is disgusting regardless. The main character, Winston Smith, is a man who works for the government and hates the way he lives in this society he is forced to be a part of. Every day he repeats the same routine and tolerates what is expected of him or follows the consequences if he stepped out of societal boundaries. One day, a woman named Julia, who worked in the same building as him, turned his life around ever so quickly. They both wanted to rebel against “Big Brother”, the party which controlled their lives. Behind 1984 there is a sense of injustice; man versus a political system that targets individuality...
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