George Orwell’s 1984 makes very efficient use of a combination of many plot styles. Chiefly 1984 follows a progressive plot structure, however, Orwell also makes use of in media res and flashback by starting his novel in a world that has recently changed drastically. He even manages to throw in a dash of episodic plot with his subplots. It is this remarkable blend of plot structures that gives 1984 its unique feel. With 1984, George Orwell is trying to prove a point. To get his point across he tells a story, and that story largely follows a progressive structure. After the reader meets Winston, days go by and the story progresses toward a climax. Every day Winston goes to work or even gets up in the morning brings him one step closer to the inevitable: his own arrest by the Thought Police. But Orwell takes this time to set the stage and familiarize the reader with the world he envisions. It is debatable whether the first three quarters of the book is rising action or exposition, but either way the climax arrives when Winston is finally arrested and tortured. The story’s resolution is Winston’s assimilation, acceptance of the Party and love for Big Brother. But where is the inciting incident? The inciting incident occurs before the beginning of the book, making 1984 an in media res plot. Again, exactly which event the inciting incident takes the form of is a topic for discussion, but it is likely before the story begins. The inciting incident is the moment conflict between Winston and the Party becomes inevitable. It could be the moment Winston bought the book from Mr. Carrington, it could be the event that originally caused the Party to watch Winston closely some seven years before, it could even be the war that brought the Par... ... middle of paper ... ...aken control, he puts the reader not only in suspense from the future, but also as to what has happened in the past. By giving flashbacks, he explains who Winston is and how the Party rose to power. After flashbacks he continues moving the plot ahead as though it were a simple progressive plot, but throws in side characters to create episodic plots off to the side. The end result is that the reader gets a very clear idea of how horrifying Orwell’s world is, and also how to avoid it. Orwell’s ideas about totalitarianism are brilliantly shown in 1984. His use of multiple plot structures allowed him to keep the reader engaged while spending copious amounts of time explaining every aspect of life in London. Ultimately, 1984 is a progressive plot, but it also makes good use of in media res, flashback, and episodic plot structures to bring the reader into Orwell’s London.
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 ...
The novel 1984 is one that has sparked much controversy over the last several decades. It harbors many key ideas that lie at the root of all skepticism towards the book. With the ideas of metaphysics, change, and control in mind, George Orwell wrote 1984 to provide an interesting story but also to express his ideas of where he believed the world was heading. His ideas were considered widely ahead of their time, and he was really able to drive home how bleak and colorless our society really is. Orwell wrote this piece as a futuristic, dystopian book which contained underlying tones of despair and deceit.
Today I am going to be writing an essay on the book, 1984 by George Orwell. This book is about Winston Smith and Big Brother where an external conflict arises between the two. The internal conflict that also takes place in this book was between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism. The reason this novel was written was to show society what it could and or would become if things continued to go down the worse of the paths: Orwell sensed of the expansion of the great communism when he was thinking of this novel. The conflict that took place between these two ideas in the year 1945 created the two characters, which were the two characters above Winston Smith and the Big Brother, in his mind. The Big Brother is head of the totalitarian
Things to know: 1984 was a book written about life under a totalitarian regime from an average citizen’s point of view. This book envisions the theme of an all knowing government with strong control over its citizens. This book tells the story of Winston Smith, a worker of the Ministry of Truth, who is in charge of editing the truth to fit the government’s policies and claims. It shows the future of a government bleeding with brute force and propaganda. This story begins and ends in the continent of Oceania one of the three supercontinents of the world. Oceania has three classes the Inner Party, the Outer Party and the lowest of all, the Proles (proletarian). Oceania’s government is the Party or Ingsoc (English Socialism
[41] "the enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil. torture and death" (Orwell 34). In this quote Winston is talking about how the party can make anything in the past never happen again, they can do the same with people, "tracking down and deleting from the press.to have existed" (Orwell 42). [43]There are also the spies, in the story, Winston thinks that one of the girls that he sees all of the time is a spy. [44] "His earlier thought.who was the greatest danger of all" (Orwell 61-62).
Upon my reading of the novel 1984, I was fascinated by George Orwell’s vision of the future. Orwell describes a world so extreme that a question comes to mind, asking what would encourage him to write such a novel. 1984 took place in the future, but it seemed like it was happening in the past. George Orwell was born in 1903 and died in 1950; he has seen the horrific tides of World War ² and Ï. As I got deeper into this novel I began to see similar events of world history built into 1984.
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.
1984 was written in 1948 and published in 1949 by Eric Arthur Blair under the pen name ‘George Orwell’. It is set in the year 1984 in Airstrip One, which is a province in the country of Oceania. The world is in a constant state of war between Oceania, and the other two countries, Eurasia and Eastasia. Oceania is controlled by English Socialism, or INGSOC in Oceania’s language, Newspeak. The powerful Inner Party controls the country using omnipresent surveillance, and manipulation.
Dystopian novels are written to reflect the fears a population has about its government, and they are successful because they capture that fright and display what can happen if it is ignored. George Orwell wrote 1984 with this fear of government in mind and used it to portray his opinion of the current government discretely. Along with fear, dystopian novels have many other elements that make them characteristic of their genre. The dystopian society in Orwell’s novel became an achievement because he utilized a large devastated city, a shattered family system, life in fear, a theme of oppression, and a lone hero. Orwell’s novel begins with a horrid description of the living conditions of his main character, Winston.
George Orwell’s haunting dystopian novel 1984 delves into the closely monitored lives of the citizens of Oceania as the Party tries to take control of society. In totalitarianism, propaganda and terrorism are ways of subjugation with a main goal: total obedience. He aimed to create a “what if” novel, what would happen if totalitarian regimes, such as the Nazis and Soviets, were to take over the world. If totalitarianism were to happen, the leader would be the brain of the whole system. Orwell emphasizes the theme of individualism versus collective identity through Winston, the protagonist, and his defiance to the Party and Big Brother, with a frightening tone, surreal imagery and a third person limited point of view.
The first idea that is consistently shown in this novel that supports theme is torture. In the last part of the book especially torture is used to break Winston down until he is nothing but skin and bone. “They slapped his face, wrung his ears, pulled his hair, made him stand on one leg, refused him leave to urinate, shone glaring lights in his face until his eyes ran with water; but the aim of this was simply to humiliate him and destroy his power of arguing and reasoning.” (Orwell 241) Torture
In the novel 1984, Orwell produced a social critique on totalitarianism and a future dystopia that made the world pause and think about our past, present and future. When reading this novel we all must take the time to think of the possibility that Orwell's world could come to pass. Orwell presents the concepts of power, marginalization, and resistance through physical, psychological, sexual and political control of the people of Oceania. The reader experiences the emotional ride through the eyes of Winston Smith, who was born into the oppressive life under the rule of Ingsoc. Readers are encouraged through Winston to adopt a negative opinion on the idea of communist rule and the inherent dangers of totalitarianism. The psychological manipulation and physical control are explored through Winston's journey, and with Winston's resistance and ultimate downfall, the reader is able to fully appreciate O'Briens reasoning, "Power is not a means, it is an end."
Orwell's 1984, Winston is aware that his rebellious thoughts and actions will ultimately bring upon his
Authors often use their works as a way to express their own opinions and ideologies. However, it is the skill of the author that determines whether these ideas are combined with the plot seamlessly, making a creative transition of ideas from the author’s mind, to the reader’s. There is no doubt that George Orwell is a masterful writer, and one of his most popular works, 1984, clearly expresses his negative views of the Totalitarian government. A common theme in the dystopian society in 1984 is betrayal: The Party is very intolerant towards any form of disloyalty, and anyone who plots against them or Big Brother will eventually either betray their own mind and accept Big Brother as their leader, or be betrayed and revealed to The Party by one of their so-called comrades. Overall, Orwell is using this constant theme of betrayal to show how alone and alienated the protagonist (Winston Smith) is in his quest against Totalitarianism, thus showing how flawed and hopeless the political system is.
George Orwell’s intent in the novel 1984 is to warn society about the results of a controlling and manipulative government by employing mood, conflict, and imagery.