Examples Of Diction In 1984 By George Orwell

Austin Barnhill

Diction: While George Orwell used fairly simple and uncomplicated diction to tell the story many of his words still have a very powerful diction. In the first chapter the protagonist Winston is attack by the smell of “boiled cabbage and old rag mats”. This is the first indication to the nature of the living conditions of our protagonist. However, Orwell also uses his diction to create the atmosphere of Oceania with lines like “the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything”. These lines contain powerful words like cold, torn, and harsh and these worlds help paint the picture of what kind of story we are reading.

Imagery: The novel gives the world a rotting smell in the first page by having Winston go home to smell old rag mats which shows the world we are going to see is exactly a rose patch. Also the most powerful imagery is the poster of Big Brother who watches over all as we can see in the line “the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.” The imagery in this line

A good example would be the line “He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly.” Winston is explaining why he believes Syme will one day be eliminated by the party, but he is not dramatic or shocked he says it like he was saying he is eventually going to get a hair cut. That is the most terrifying aspect of 1984’s writing style as when talks of someone’s death sound like something you say around the water cooler during break there is something wrong with your