George Orwell 1984 Language Analysis

17. Author’s Craft: Authors use a variety of literary techniques to reveal the message (or theme) of their works. Choose one of the following and explain how Orwell uses it to enhance the meaning of the work as a whole: Imagery, Foreshadowing, Flashback, Motivation, Irony, Contrast, Symbolism, Point of View, or Allusion.

In 1984 by George Orwell, the author highlights symbolism to illustrate that manipulation occurs only when one allows it. In 1984, the people are constantly under surveillance, are surrounded by propaganda and trust a totalitarian government that is demanding them to think and do as they are told.

The author uses Big Brother as a symbol to magnify that manipulation occurs only when you allow it. Big Brother is the face of

the party and the leader of the citizens. Big Brother is a tool of propaganda because the people feel comfort towards him, but he is also an open threat. Posters surround the people saying “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”. The people have succumbed into this manipulation and believe that Big Brother does exist because they have been told all their life that he is watching. If one is told all throughout their life that they are always being watched, would they not believe it is true? Also, children have been brainwashed to expose their parents if they break the laws of the Party and Big Brother; these children are considered child spies. “‘Who denounced you?’ said Winston. ‘It was my little daughter,’ said Parsons with a sort of doleful pride. ‘She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying, and nipped off to the patrols the very next day. Pretty smart for a nipper of seven, eh?’”(Orwell 245) The focus of the Party would be the children because they are the future and as children, they are more easily brainwashed because they do not have much experience. To further elaborate, Big Brother could be symbolized as God in 1984 since he is always watching. Since the Party controls all aspects of the people’s lives, religion isn’t seen throughout the book. People also constantly ask themselves if God exists and Winston repeatedly wonders if Big Brother does exist. “Does Big Brother exist”(Orwell 271). Furthermore, in most religions, God is expected to be loved, but also feared, as is Big Brother.
Orwell also uses the glass paperweight as a symbol to show that when allowed, manipulation will occur.

The glass paperweight highlights that Winston is not manipulated. Winston acknowledges that the Party has repeatedly altered the past to their liking and Winston has always wondered what life was like before the Revolution. The paperweight is a symbol that Winston wants to be reconnected with the past rather than manipulated by the Party. “What appealed to him about it was not so much its beauty as the air it seemed to possess of belonging to an age quite different from the present one”(Orwell 99). As seen throughout the novel, Winston has an obsession with the past. The reason why is because Winston has no knowledge of what the past was like, due to all the alterations. Symbolically, when Winston is arrested at last, the glass paperweight shatters. “There was another crash. Someone had picked up the glass paperweight from the table and smashed it to pieces on the hearth-stone”(Orwell 232). This symbolizes that Winston will no longer have the need to be reconnected with the past, as he always has. Ultimately, Winston loves Big Brother and has allowed himself to be manipulated.

George Orwell highlights that manipulation only occurs when one allows it by utilizing symbolism in the novel 1984. Throughout all the fighting Winston put up, he allowed himself to love Big Brother and gave himself up entirely to the

Party.