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The Role Of Rats In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984

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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 …show more content…
The fear of rats is very common phobia. In room 101 O’Brien explains that they use people’s greatest fear to finally break them and make them love Big Brother. “They were rats. ‘In your case’ said O’Brien ‘the worst thing in the world happens to be rats’ A sort of premonitory tremor of fear of he was not certain of what, had passed through Winston as soon as he first glimpse of the cage.” (Book 3-part 5 page 297) Rats symbolize Winston’s biggest fear. Everyone has someonting they fear and in Winston case it’s rats. O'brien knows this and wants to use Winstons fears to manipulate him and create a new being in the image of big brother. The memory of his childhood haunts him. The way he found his apartement covered in rats and totally empty lead to him to make the assoication between abandonment, loss and rats. As Orwell illustrated Winston refuses to loose the connectiom iwth the psat which is tied to the abandoment he face as a boy. So infact Winston is not acutally afraid of rats he is pertrafided of the loss they remind him

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