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1984 by George Orwell Development of a theme across the novel essay
1984 by George Orwell Development of a theme across the novel essay
Analyse George Orwell's 1984 work
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Winston was a normal lower class worker for the government and would go along on with his normal day. He did the mandatory exercises, he attended the two minutes of hate, and worked to the best of his ability. He always thought that there was something in him telling him that life had not always been this way before. "He tried to squeeze out some childhood memory that should tell him whether London had always been quite like this” (Orwell). One day Winston purchased a notebook that he held onto but never wrote in. "At the time he was not conscious of wanting it for any particular purpose. He had carried it guiltily home in his brief-case. Even with nothing written in it, it was a compromising possession" (Orwell). One afternoon Winston decided
In “1984,” Orwell uses Winston to portray a single individual’s attempt to take action against a powerful government, culminating in his failure and subjugation. His individual efforts failed tremendously due to the overarching power of the Party to control every aspect of social life in Oceania. Orwell uses Winston’s deeply seated hatred of the Party to portray his views on power and social change. Winston’s actions show that even in the direst of situations ...
Returning to his diary, Winston then expresses his emotions against the Party, the Thought Police and Big Brother himself; he questions the unnecessary acts by the Party and continuously asserts rebellion. Winston soon realized he had committed the crime of having an individual thought, “thoughtcrime.” The chapter ends with a knock on Winston’s door. Significant Quotes “From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 7). “But there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston knew— yes, he knew!
I strongly agree with Fromm’s viewpoints and interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 text. He warns that the future federal powers will dehumanize society and leave everyone alienated. Thus, I agree with Fromm to the extent that he acknowledges the fact that humanity can indeed cease to exist as a result of our own self-destruction as well as the effect of our actions. Many of his opinions and warnings expressed by Orwell to an extent appear in contemporary society.
He purchased a small journal from a shop and began to write in it out of view of the telescreen in his house, which allows anything in front of it to potentially be seen or heard. At first he had some difficulties as he could only manage to write jumbles of some of his memories, but then he began to write things like “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER (Orwell, page 18).” He later had an encounter with one of his fellow coworkers, O’Brien, which got him thinking that there might be others out in the world who see things the way he does, including O’Brien himself. Winston eventually decides that his diary will become a sort of letter to O’Brien, and to a future or past where things might have been different. In these diary entries he wrote things such as, “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone—to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone…(Orwell, page 28).” This refers to how citizens think and act the same and previous events are not written as they happened, but altered to Big Brother’s benefit. He also wrote, “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death (Orwell, page 28).” This can be further explained by Winston’s previous thought, “The consequences of every act are included in the act itself (Orwell, page 28).” Winston
Furthermore, In 1984 Winston uses the Brotherhood book to learn how to destroy Big Brother and ultimately gains control. As Winston is learning about what Brotherhood is, he is showing contentment for the rebellious act that is taking place by him. “The blissful feeling of being alone with the forbidden book… had not worn off… The book reassured him…”(177). The information that he is reading in the book gives him trust, hope and motive to eradicate Big Brother. This shows the extent Winston goes to risk his life so he can overthrow Big Brother and live a life with books, individualism and not worry about doublethink and thoughtcrime. However, although Winston is able to rebel and gain control of what he is doing with his life for a period of
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
The author of the novel 1984 utilizes the element of conflict to portray the evils of psychological manipulation amongst characters. Throughout the novel, the author George Orwell uses the conflicts between The Party and the people which this particular variety of government controls. An example of this would be the external conflict between Big Brother and Winston because he likes to express himself in his diary and have human interaction. However, for people in this society this is not possible since, “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell 3) constantly. Despite the fact that expression is not allowed it is only human nature to have an interest towards those topics, creating Winston’s grievances with The Party. The constant overviewing from
The first section of the novel explains the world where Winston Smith lives. Anxiety is most common in this section of the book. Winston has heard of people being vaporized and that they become non-people but he has never seen this happen. Winston did things or thought things that made him anxious. However he also knew there were things allowed by the Party that were not within the law but sometimes you could still do. Winston bought a book for a diary, this was wrong and he hid the book from the Party. This action is noted when Winston went to the corner and thought about the book, “But it had also been suggested by the book that he had just taken out of the drawer.” (Orwell,9) Buying the book was not a serious crime. Winston still didn’t want anyone to know about the book so he hid in a corner of his room when he did his writing. Winston had bought the book so he could write on the smooth pages, write thoughts about the government, and about Big Brother. Nobody in the Party was allowed to free-think and writing was a form of free-think. He knew this and he still started writing in the book. “Party member...
In 1984 written by George Orwell there are many different types of characters that play many different rolls. In 1984 George Orwell has many different major characters he uses to show the readers what it is like to live in a world of totalitarianism, he mostly shows the readers this by telling the story through Winston Smith’s thoughts. As being a reader of this book a main issue that comes to my head is, is Winston Smith actually who we thought the author made us believe who he was. A question that I had while reading this book was did Winston actually love Julia or was he in love with the fact of lusting with her.
he is a man with a tragic flaw. Winston's fatalism, selfishness and isolation ultimately lead him to his
Yet the government controls what we place in our body, what we watch on TV, what we hear on the radio, and how much we get paid. But while our government can violate our rights, it also functions as the protest of our rights and freedoms as well. In 1984 the Party destroys all sense of independence and identity. Everyone puts on the same clothes, eats the same food, and lives in the same grungy apartments. Life is uniform and neat. No one can stand out, and no one can be unparalleled. Precisely like in the book there are times when the government enables us to effectively protect our rights and freedoms. We blindly follow the government and what it instructs us to serve. The entire government exists solely for the purpose of protecting the
“Winston had dropped his habit of drinking gin at all hours. He seemed to have lost the need for it. He had grown fatter, his varicose ulcer had subsided, leaving only a brown stain on the skin above his ankle, his fits of coughing in the early morning had stopped. The process of life had ceased to be intolerable, he had no longer any impulse to make faces at the telescreen or shout curses at the top of his voice.”
As the man’s lips grasped the edge of the cup and slurped the hot drink, the reflection of two eyes in the darkened coffee grew tremendously. The man immediately puckered his lips and placed the cup atop the wooden surface with dissatisfaction. His hairy arm was revealed from underneath his cotton shirt as he reached for the glassware containing packets of sweet crystals. He picked up the packets labeled Stalin, Hitler, and World War II, and dumped them into the caffeinated drink. Within seconds, a thick, redolent cream labeled, ‘Totalitarian Governments’ crashed into the coffee with force. A tarnished spoon spun around the outer edges of the cup, combining the crystals and cream together, and, unknowingly creating the themes for the book in which Big Brother would become a regime—this was the cup of George Orwell. Written in 1944, the themes in 1984 are reminiscent of the fascist and totalitarian governments formed in the early twentieth century.
Winston learns that he can't show any kind of individuality or speak his own views. He must follow what everyone else does. He wakes up at the same time everyday. He pays ridiculous amounts of money to the government for the mandatory items. He dresses in the same clothes everyday. He eats the same rationed and terrible food everyday. These mind control methods are forcing the society in...
George Orwell uses Winston to represent truth in a deceptive world in his novel 1984. In Oceania, Big Brother is the omnipotent and all powerful leader. Everything the government dictates is unquestionably true, regardless of prior knowledge. Even thinking of ideas that go against Big Brother’s regime, or thoughtcrime, is punishable by death. Winston serves as the dystopian hero, longing for freedom and change. Orwell uses Winston to emphasize the importance of individual freedoms, as they give us the ability to fulfillingly lead our respective lives.