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Symbolism of novel " 1984 " by George Orwell
Symbolism of novel " 1984 " by George Orwell
Women oppression in literature
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The past is filled with insight on what the future holds. It offers a warning of what is to come, whether that be positive or negative. There are obvious warnings, such as caution signs along with subtle things like the calm before a storm. Many warnings are given in George Orwell’s novel, 1984, which presents a story of oppression and control of government over its people. The novel offers a warning to society about the danger of allowing government too much power, the harm of no relationships and the potential threat of technology.
The novel provides a serious warning about the potential danger of how the government can utilize their power. The Party in 1984 has the people of Oceania under control because they were given too much power.
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The government controls the population as explained by Winston when he says: “In principle a Party member had no spare time, and was never alone except in bed” (Orwell 85). This quote demonstrates how powerless Outer Party members like Winston are. The Party requires its people to be working for them every waking hour. As one loses control of their own life, it must be a warning that the person or people in control, have too much power. Essentially the Party is using its people as slaves. The Party only gives the bare necessities of life and it uses the circumstances of war to manipulate the Party members and the proles into thinking that life is getting better. “As short a time ago as February, the Ministry of Plenty had issued a promise ... that there would be no reduction of the chocolate ration during 1984. Actually, as Winston was aware, the chocolate ration was to be reduced from thirty grammes to twenty at the end of the present week” (Orwell 41-42). This quote makes it evident that the Party manipulates its people. Afterwards, Winston alters history and adds in a speech that the chocolate ration decrease was predicted long ago. A clear warning of abuse of power is the way the government is always right. The proles and Party members are blind to what is going on and humanity is becoming weak. In 1984, the harm of not having personal, intimate relationships are evident.
Personal relationships are forbidden in Oceania and citizens will be vaporized if they are caught by the Thought Police. Relationships are built off trust and when trust is broken in a relationship, it is a warning that the relationship is no longer a positive one. In the novel no one trusts another person as O’Brien says “No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer” (Orwell 280). When no one is trusting of one another, relationships are ruined. Humans are made to be in community with one another and without interaction, loneliness sets in. Loneliness leads to depression and mental health issues. The people of Oceania are living out of fear and hatred, there is no love or joy. The things that a human needs to thrive are not present. Winston and Julia approach love but, after being together Winston says “No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred” (Orwell 133). When Winston cannot experience true positive emotions such as joy and love, it is a clear warning that not being able to have relationships in his life are ruining him. Once Winston finally enjoys a relationship with Julia and begins to love her, his life changes. “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 fits of coughing in the early morning had stopped” (Orwell 157). This quote makes it evident that …show more content…
personal, intimate relationships with people, improves quality of life significantly. Without Julia, Winston had nothing to live for, his love for Julia gives him something to live for and enjoy. Whether it be a partner or a friend, people need other people. The novel gives a warning on the potential hurt that being lonely with no relationships in life can cause. However, the Party in Oceania forbids these relationships and ensures that citizens are devoted to Big Brother rather than each other through the technology implemented. Technology has potential to be threatening and controlling in the wrong hands.
The telescreen in 1984 controls the population by watching and listening in at all times; this should be a warning to the people of Oceania as the technology is used for spying on them. Winston is always worried about how he acts when he says: “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away” (Orwell 65). This quote makes it increasingly evident that people like Winston were always self-aware about how they looked. The Party could arrest anyone for facecrime, as it was called in Newspeak, which was looking as though someone was not in favour of the Party. The Thought Police were always watching, waiting for someone to rebel so they could take them to the Ministry of Love to torture them and most likely vaporize them. While telescreens are obviously positioned in a way where everyone in the area can see them and not avoid them, there are also hidden telescreens and microphones. As Winston says: “In general you could not assume that you were much safer in the country than in London. There were no telescreens, of course, but there was always the danger of concealed microphones by which your voice might be picked up and recognized” (Orwell 123). When the presence of someone or something is always looming because of advanced technology, it should be a warning that the power of technology
itself is too great. Winston and Julia are afraid to speak because the technology available can recognize them and have them arrested. There is also a hidden telescreen in the room above the shop owned by Mr. Charrington. This telescreen captures the affairs of Winston and Julia and is highlighted in their capture. The technological advancements present in the novel offer a warning about the potential uses of automation in the world and the power they can hold. The novel, 1984, provides a warning to humanity about risk of giving a government too much authority, the damage that no personal connections can cause and the possible menace that technology can impose. The warnings concerning government and politics involve blindness to the ways of Party in the novel. Relationships are a very positive part of one’s life as evident with Winston and 1984 demonstrates the possible harm that no personal connections as the novel progresses. The warning that comes from technology offers a look at how spying can be made easy with advancements in future computers. In summary, 1984 is a warning to society about the future and there is no better place to look than the past as it is filled with understanding of what is to come.
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.
Deception and a blatant contradiction of facts in the spirit of impunity form the foundation of the construct of modern dictatorship and draconian governance. Leaders with this attitude treat the public office and nation as personal property and deploy the state resources at their disposal for selfish use. Their behavior takes the form of frivolous “surveillances, monitoring, and other control structures founded on lies and ambiguities” (Dean and Orwell 23). The same scenario is exactly what happens at Oceania. The nation is governed by the party headed by the big brother (“Gordon State College” n.p.).
In Oceania all of the people are surveyed by telescreens. This is to make sure that they are not speaking against the government. They also do not allow assembly for descent in public. Cameras in public have significantly increased in number, the government today claims it is to make us safer. In 1984 Winston (the main character) is constantly thinking about telescreens and if they are watching him. Today there is great example in Britain. There in the city of Britain alone is one camera for every 14 people. This is getting very close to 1984. This is the closest that society has got to 1984 in the regard of government surveillance. Winston is constantly aware of telescreens acting like someone that Big Brother wouldn’t consider a threat, since they are constantly watching his every move, “He thought of the telescreens with its never-sleeping ear. They could spy upon you night and day, but if you kept your head you could still outwit them” Page 166. One example in today’s world is the law of workplace harassment. To one’s first reaction this would be “oh, that sounds good”, But is it really? Taking a deeper look into this law this law it is completely unconstitutional and quite absurd. An example of workplace harassment includes having a religious themed article. And Sexual harassment accusations can be made on verbal insults, art such as prints of Francisco de Goya paintings,and pictorial images. This
Through out George Orwells 1984, the use of telescreens is very efficient and effective for the Party. On the other hand it plays a very hard role on our main character, Winston. Through out the novel, he lives in fear of the telescreen and is ultimately taken by the mighty power that is the Party, all in help by the telescreen. The watchful eye of the telescreen is not totally fiction though, in many places it all ready exists.Winston is a worker who's job is to change history to make sure that its "correct" by the Parties standards. He meets a lovely girl Julia and falls in love. They together try to find life and happiness together, and also they want to find the resistance, or the group of people that they figured existed that will help see the end of the Party and Big Broth...
It is clear that the government of Oceania in 1984 is self-serving, existing not to benefit its citizens or the elite Party members, but existing purely to exist and grow. Perhaps the most clear indication of this was O’Brien explaining the Party’s motives while torturing Winston. O’Brien explains that “the Party seeks power only for its own sake” and that “the object of power is power.” (185) This clearly indicates that the government of Oceania, a totalitarian state, seeks power not to improve the lives of citizens, but for power
Human beings are renowned for both their benevolent and malevolent qualities. However, when it comes to a human being and their self, it is a different story. It varies among individuals, some of them are exceptionally confident with themselves whereas others suffer from low-esteem. The way a person perceives themselves determines how they apply their personal beliefs. However, in many cases, when a person is presented with a dilemma, they will often try not to adapt to a situation and attempt to keep their character. Even when going through intense pressure, individuals will attempt keep their personalities in order stay true to themselves. George Orwell, a prominent English literary
Totalitarianism is one of the main themes in 1984. In WWII Europe, Oceania became the ruling power with the so called “Party” ruling everybody and have the “Big Brother” at its head. Some examples of totalitarianism is how they make people workout, they put tele-screens everywhere to monitor the peoples actions, also they refuse to allow any sexual intercourse outside of marriage. “Winston kept his back turned to the tele-screen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing” (Book 1, Chapter 1). This quote represents how fearful Winston is that he ...
The telescreens in 1984 served two purposes, surveillance and mind control. Unlike the televisions of our present day, the telescreens in 1984 also served as a device constantly monitoring the citizen’s actions by means of an integrated camera and microphone in addition to broadcasting continuous p...
There is a powerful quote stated by Bob Dylan “No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.” This rings especially true in the fictional land of Oceania, one of the three super continents envisioned in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Orwell depicts a land where no one is free and everyone is part of a brainwashed biomass of people. This unknowing public is constantly bombarded with propaganda such as the two minutes of hate, which as Winston Smith describes “creates a hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness” that turns “one even against one’s will into a grimacing screaming lunatic” (14) it is not surprising that the members of the Party and even those who are not become passive followers. This
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."
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, is a superb novel with outstanding themes. One of the most prominent themes found in this novel is psychological manipulation. Citizens in this society are subject to ever present signs declaring “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 1). Along with psychological manipulation, physical control takes place. The Party not only controls what people in Oceania think, but what they do as well. Technology is another important theme. Without the constant telescreens, microphones, and computers, the Party would be all but powerless. Big Brother is the main figure of the Party. The main symbol that drives these themes is the telescreens. It is representative of the party always watching and controlling everyone at all times.
These examples display the inevitable fact that all over the world subtle but significant events are taking place that appear to signify a shifting toward a totalitarian government, much like the one present in 1984. This is extremely disturbing because most people will agree that the life lived by the characters in 1984, is not one of any value. Though they are “protected” from several of the problems that many of the free world citizens and officials face, they have no control over their thoughts or actions. This leads to unbearable uniformity. It is chilling to know that though George Orwell’s book was written as fiction, portions of it are becoming factual.
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.
The idea of the future has been explored for as long as writers have been writing. The interesting concept about the future is that it will always remain a mystery. The future is always changing and never ending. In George Orwell’s 1984, Orwell ruminates on his thoughts and ideas of what the future will be like. Orwell wrote the book around 1950 during the writing era of postmodernism. Postmodernist books often expressed thoughts of the future, as well as other themes. 1984 describes the future as a place where the Party has taken over and controls everything and everyone. The residents of Oceania have no control over their bodies, their relationships, or even their thoughts. Oceania is a place of war and control. The protagonist in 1984 is a middle-aged man named Winston. Winston is one of the only living people who realize that the party is changing the facts, and he wants to do something about it (Orwell). Winston deals with the struggles of hiding from the law and who to trust. In 1984, George Orwell uses the themes of physical and mental control, forbidden love, and a “big brother” figure to exhibit characteristics of postmodernism.
prostitute. Now we wouldn't be tortured for it today but we can serve jail time