Figurative Language In George Orwell's '1984'

534 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Winston's personality in 1984

The effect the Party has had on Winston’s humanity can be seen in his mental deterioration shown through his thought process and his physical being. Orwell uses a great deal of figurative language to further evidence the appalling situation Winston has found himself in. “His mind sagged round and round on the same track, like a ball falling again and again into the same series of slots.” The simile comparing Winston’s mind to a ball on a pointless journey into the same slots is used to show the futility of Winston’s thoughts against the party; no matter how hard he may try to plot against the Party he will always end up imprisoned, having no effect on the world. This forced inaction by the Party is one way Winston is robbed of his humanity, as it is a human right to voice one’s opinions in a …show more content…

“ He only had six thoughts. The pain in his belly; a piece of bread; the blood and the screaming; O’Brien; Julia; the razor blade.” Winston is so beaten down by the Party that he can only manage to think about six things, however, these objects are used to symbolize what Winston yearns for from the world. “The pain in his belly; a piece of bread;” Winston longs for the security of having three meals a day once more. The bread symbolizes the comfort and stability he sacrificed to fight against the Party’s ideals, as he was given bread at each meal when he conformed to the Party’s every wish. “O’Brien;” is used to symbolize the unlikely savior Winston secretly hopes will come to rescue him. O’Brien symbolizes the friendship the Party never allowed Winston to have, as O’Brien was the only non-romantic person Winston truly opened up to and shared his ideals with. “Julia” symbolizes the love the Party robbed Winston of, condemning him to death, in part, because he pursued Julia. “the razor blade” symbolizes the freedom Winston yearns for. Suicide seems like the only option where Winston will ever be truly free from the Party’s confines and able to escape their

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Diction In 1984 By George Orwell

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Case for Free Will

    2065 Words  | 5 Pages

    Winston’s conversion is troubling for the adherent of the existence of free will. Winston’s conversion, facially, seems to show that outside forces determines a behavior and not the self. Our actions are determined by mechanistic laws that one can manipulate to result in a specific action. In fact, Winston’s conversion to the party ideas has provided a firm arguing point for the determinist who believes all our volitions are caused by an external event and thus do not truly belong to us. In a scene between O’Brien and Winston, O’Brien shows Winston four fingers demanding Winston to tell him that there were five fingers. At first, Winston denies that there are five fingers even as O’Brien gradually turns up the dials that inflict an excessive pain on Winston. O’Brien hurts Winston so badly that Winston cannot take it anymore and exclaims, “Five, five six- in all honesty I don’t know” seemingly surrendering his free will to O’Brien replacing his own beliefs with O’Brien’s beliefs (Orwell ...

    Read More

  • 1984 Theme Essay

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Struggle is Imminent

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    Winston is confronted with struggle throughout the entirety of George Orwell`s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Living within a totalitarian regime subsequently causes Winston to seek approaches for dealing with such abundant oppression; he finds liberation through self-awareness, understanding and ultimately rebellion. First, Winston realizes that “if you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself”, alluding to the notion of thoughtcrime (162). This recognition exemplifies the complete cognizance that Winston has regarding the oppressive society displayed throughout the novel. Next, Syme states “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words”, alluding to the idea of Newspeak (28). This statement directly correlates to Winston speaking with other party members to gain knowledge about how others feels about policies deployed by the government. This information-seeking also connects with Winston`s rebellion, as he actively searched for others to join his uprising, which is shown when Winston tells O’Brien “We want to join [The Brotherhood]” (171). Winston’s attempt to join a rebellious organization exhibits his evident desire to release his suppressed emotions. Winston devises a very methodical approach to deal with the problematic society he resides in.

    Read More

  • Satire in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

    429 Words  | 1 Pages

    Everything about Winston's life drives him closer and closer to a. suicidal point each day. What makes things worse, the Party makes. Winston thinks that he is crazy for wanting to be free to think and for wanting to remember. These simple things are taken for granted today. George Orwell devilishly illustrates the brutality that man can be.

    Read More

  • Loss Of Humanity In 1984 George Orwell

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    Orwell's sets the mood of the book as one of hopelessness for the future of humans.  He contrasts this mood with a popular philosophy: belief in the progress of humanity and the ability of people to institute peace and justice in the world.  These contrasting views set up the premise for the life of Winston Smith, who is one man caught in a society devoted to conformity.  Orwell's warning to this is that if people cannot change the way things are going, our society will lose their human qualities.  They will become soulless machines and not have a clue as to their new world they created.  This is the world in which Winston Smith is caught in.  He is different from the others and in a civilization which does not approve of individuality, Winston is targeted by the government from the beginning.  Being different in this populace only means rebellion and that exactly is what Winston sets out to do.  Winston believes that although he must conform on the outside, that no one can take his individual thought away.  Winston's individuality is the only hope for human nature for he questions the most basic principles of the regime, a thoughcrime.  One doctrine Winston questions is the concept of freedom-

    Read More

  • George Orwell's Symbolism In 1984 By George Orwell

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    O’Brien is the darkness, and Winston is the hope and desire for the darkness to be lightened. Orwell is showing us wrongful and displaced trust through Winston, by warning his audience not to trust everything you hear, feel or see. Most people would see the relationship between these two men as unhealthy, and rightfully so. This symbolizes the connection between government and the individual. One always has more power, no matter how you look at it. However, the individual in numbers is worth far more than the singular concept of government. In the end, what characteristic marks true value of one 's life? Inner Party vs Outer Party? Party member vs Proles? None of these labels matter, and Orwell wants us to see

    Read More

  • Analysis of George Orwell's 1984

    4217 Words  | 9 Pages

    War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength. The party slogan of Ingsoc illustrates the sense of contradiction which characterizes the novel 1984. That the book was taken by many as a condemnation of socialism would have troubled Orwell greatly, had he lived to see the aftermath of his work. 1984 was a warning against totalitarianism and state sponsored brutality driven by excess technology. Socialist idealism in 1984 had turned to a total loss of individual freedom in exchange for false security and obedience to a totalitarian government, a dysutopia. 1984 was more than a simple warning to the socialists of Orwell's time. There are many complex philosophical issues buried deep within Orwell's satire and fiction. It was an essay on personal freedom, identity, language and thought, technology, religion, and the social class system. 1984 is more than a work of fiction. It is a prediction and a warning, clothed in the guise of science fiction, not so much about what could happen as it is about the implications of what has already happened. Rather than simply discoursing his views on the social and political issues of his day, Orwell chose to narrate them into a work of fiction which is timeless in interpretation. This is the reason that 1984 remains a relevant work of social and philosophical commentary more than fifty years after its completion.

    Read More

  • Characters, Themes And Symbolism In George Orwell's 1984

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    eorge Orwell’s 1949 classic 1984 is a hauntingly original entry into the dystopian science fiction genre. The main elements that elevate Orwell’s novel into a masterpiece are its setting, characterizations, theme, and symbolism, which will be discussed in this paper. The theme and main idea of 1984 is rebellion from a totalitarian regime.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In 1984 By George Orwell

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Under the spreading chestnut tree; I sold you and you sold me; There lie they, and here lie we; Under the spreading chestnut tree” (77). This quote seems meaningless, until one knows the meaning behind its perplexing symbolism. The novel 1984, written by George Orwell, is a novel that is based on a strict government rule. Yet, the way that the novel is written is what makes it a political warning and a timeless treasure at the same time. George Orwell has such a writing style that his irony and symbolism may easily go unnoticed until the end of the novel when everything is being pieced together. 1984 is about a man, Winston Smith, in which he lives in a strict government rule in which he is not free to think how he wants to. He commits a series of crimes against the rule, also known as big brother, including having relations with a woman named Julia. The two eventually get caught and sell each other out to stop their horrendous torment. The quote above was said to be a nursery rhyme, yet, it turned out to be a gruesome truth to how they denounced each other to the party that enforces the rule under Big Brother. 1984 is a perplexing novel because of its constant use of symbolism, irony, and imagery.

    Read More

  • Euphemism In George Orwell's 1984

    599 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Winston’s dystopian world he is under 24/7 surveillance anywhere, everywhere. ‘Big Brother’ and the Inner Party watches Oceania through what used to be televisions are now telescreens. In the modern society however, how we live our everyday lives is not stricted like 1984, and we are free in many aspects compared to Winston’s way of living. “The rule here is simple: if you are invoking 1984 in a country in which 1984 is available for purchase and can be freely deployed as a rhetorical device, you likely don’t understand the point of 1984” as Moynihan states. Living in the society of 1984 you are prohibited to your own freedom, and you are brain-washed so much you believe anything ‘Big Brother’ says is the truth which will always be the truth. ‘Big Brother’ and the Inner Party uses manipulation, repression, and euphemism to confuse the mind to believe two plus two equals five, and going against the fact will end your life. However, 1984’s society does exist as Moynihan says, “Such states exist, like the truly Orwellian slave state of North Korea, where all apartments are fitted with radios offering a single government station and no switch, but they bear little resemblance to contemporary America.” In other words our world has no correlation to Winston’s world.

    Read More

  • George Orwell 1984 Literary Analysis

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    This literary essay will provide further analysis of the book “1984” by George Orwell. The novel takes place in air strip one known as London in 1984, a man named Winston Smith whom currently works at the Ministry of truth falls in love with a young rebel woman named Julia. They have a love affair but gets caught by big brother and are tortured until they lose their will and love big brother. Through the character of Winston Smith, Orwell reveals how irony plays an important role in the novel: (1) how the characters are being portrayed (2) how the reader is benefitting from a third-person narrative, (3) how the use of symbolism can provide a deeper meaning to things that may seem unimportant.

    Read More

  • Freedom In George Orwell's '1984'

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    Winston’s image of a perfect world and his memories of the world before Big Brother, and free of Big Brother, is held within the pages of his very illegal journal. He holds his whole life of thoughts, and feelings inside the journal. Once it was exposed to the Party members, his perfect world is shattered, along with himself. Winston journal was his last hope for society to be an actual society again, free of any dictator. This simple thing dictated Winston’s life. Guiding him on what to believe in and fight

    Read More

  • Winston Against The Party Essay

    603 Words  | 2 Pages

    This goes along with the notion that the Party tries to bestow on the people, that they are powerless and they will prevail in the end. Winston thinks, “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside his skull.”(27) This shows free thinking was severely limited in expression. However, Winston continues to write, acknowledging that he has a great chance to be caught once he puts words to paper. Winston keeping a diary is the start to his rebellion. Another instance where he questions the Party is when he says, “Not a word of it could ever be proved or disproved… even the things that one accepted without question, was pure fantasy.” (74) This is a turning point in Winston’s life as he is looking for physical means to go against the party. This leads to him living life without care and living like it doesn’t matter. Winston and Julia, his sort of girlfriend, elope as a means to defy the Party and escape the strict control of the Party. Through Julia he finds that he isn’t the only one defying the Party and isn’t the only one who has stopped thinking for

    Read More

  • 1984 George Orwell Interpretation

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    While the song sounds like a sweet and seemingly mellow love ballad, it is anything but. Every breath you take / Every move you make / Every bond you break / Every step you take / I'll be watching you”. The lyrics could be interpreted not as a love song but the motivations of a stalker, who is watching "every breath you take/every move you make". This text is about deception. This can be confirmed if we further examine the back story of the setting.

    Read More

More about Figurative Language In George Orwell's '1984'

Open Document