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Impact of World War 1 and 2 on literature
World War Two effect on literature
Writing style George Orwell
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Recommended: Impact of World War 1 and 2 on literature
The language an author chooses to comprise the work he or she is creating can provide a deep look into his or her thoughts. For example, the writing style present in George Orwell’s 1984 expresses, not only the writer’s fears following his observations of the Second World War, but also the negative experiences with authority figures he had as a child. Furthermore, language can be utilized to identify specific faults with society. For instance, The Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut identifies the danger of nuclear war, especially in a society whose leaders are not concerned for the common man. However, the use of language to relay certain messages or ideas is not limited to fictional literature. In particular, the rhetoric present in legal documents,
“I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” (Zusak 528) Words and the power they possess is a common theme that is heavily mentioned throughout the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Throughout this book, rhetoric affects multiple characters in both positive and negative ways. There are instances in this book in which one can see how words have the ability to tear people down, educate and inform, and to inspire individuals to follow their dreams.
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.
For many readers, the ending of George Orwell’s 1984 is a kick to the gut. Throughout the novel George Orwell teases the audience with the idea that there was going to be some sort of happy ending, and that Winston as an individual could live his life without control of the Party. In the end, he becomes brainwashed just like every other member of society. However, as readers we should have been able to pick up that the real end came in the beginning. When Winston began writing in that journal it was the beginning of the end for him and although he claims he won the victory over himself, the only real victor, in reality, is the Party. Orwell uses the book, and specifically the last chapter, to give a warning of what it would be like to live in a totalitarian society under complete control of the government.
I strongly agree with Fromm’s viewpoints and interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 text. He warns that the future federal powers will dehumanize society and leave everyone alienated. Thus, I agree with Fromm to the extent that he acknowledges the fact that humanity can indeed cease to exist as a result of our own self-destruction as well as the effect of our actions. Many of his opinions and warnings expressed by Orwell to an extent appear in contemporary society.
Symbols that Orwell uses pose as natural occurrences, but these symbols are those that would be considered aspects of a “normal world.” They are normal but in 1984 the symbols serve as symbolism that serves a justly purpose. These symbols are important to the theme of a dystopian society. The language is a symbol of the manipulation of the lower parties in 1984. The development of Newspeak completely rule...
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.
Contemporary Writers No Longer Feel Duty Bound To Follow Major Historical And Social Changes The world after 1930’s has witnessed a number of changes and upheavals. World’s rich history gives plethora of details on such changes due to a number of factors including World War, scientific break-through, invention of scads of unbelievable sophisticated machines, mass genocide through nuclear bombings and all that. In fact, the sky is the limit. Despite such innumerable changes that took place after 1930’s, a number of literary masterpieces and best-selling written material seem as if they have no concern with the changes occurred in such periods. The famous authors and writers who are behind such writings seem to be quite callous with the prevailing miseries all over the world. In fact, they are just confined into shells of their own ego. As our thesis statement, “Contemporary writers no longer feel duty bound to follow major historical and social changes”, this paper reviews Cat’s Cradle written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s Cat's Cradle demonstrates the particular effectiveness of the genre as an instrument of social criticism. A close study of Kurt Vonnegut's fiction reveals his interest in the epistemological question of mankind's ability to distinguish between reality and illusion. In Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut's attempt to resolve this question is basically pragmatic and pluralistic. Vonnegut's novel, Cat's Cradle, is his most detailed treatment of the epistemological problem, and in it he once again appears to be presenting a pragmatic approach to a pluralistic universe. Its very title suggests the difficulty in distinguishing between reality and illusion. Since Cat's Cradle is narrated by John, Kurt Vonnegutist, deal...
When navigating through the banalities of human life, there are a number of inescapable experiences one must undergo in order to appear normal and function adequately. Especially essential is the ritual of “first impressions”, which sets the tone and dynamic of one’s future relationships. Every twitch of the eye, every hint of connotation and slighted remark must be considered and evaluated to commence a favorable relationship. Because of this, some consider first impressions to be frustrating and delicate rituals. Trapped in the confines of their own perspective, however, these people forget there are plenty more ways to make this seemingly common ritual more complex. George Orwell takes this challenge of the complex first impression to the extreme in his dystopian novel 1984. Trapped in the confines of a totalitarian regime, Orwell’s characters
Every government around the world is slightly different, nevertheless they all have one of many concerns in common known as confidential information. The government around the world and the government described by George Orwell in 1984 are unquestionably similar in countless of ways. In both governments described there is classified information mysteriously held from the public. This secluded information is held from us on the grounds that the government believes, they are protecting us from something terribly disheartening or catastrophic.
In this passage, Orwell uses symbolism, imagery, and similes to show the effect the Party has on one’s individual thoughts. “Behind his screwed-up eyelids, a forest of fingers seemed to be moving in a sort of dance, weaving in and out, disappearing behind one another and reappearing again. He was trying to count them, he could not remember why.” Orwell uses the fingers to symbolize the lies the Party tells it citizens by having O’Brien force Winston into believing there are an untrue number of fingers present. Like O’Brien, the Party forces untrue mottos down its members’ throats. “a forest of fingers seemed to be moving in a sort of dance, weaving in and out, disappearing behind one another and reappearing again.” The personification
In the story 1984 by George Orwell, orwell uses literary device such as manipulation, to control and take over the minds of a dystopian society. In the novel there is a middle class man named Winston that lived in a apartment with a big screen in his living room watching his every move with everything he does so that the government makes sure that he doesn't break the law by thinking,writing, and reading. “Big brother is watching you”( Orwell 3). In the story they call the big screen “big brother” because whatever you do big brother is watching you so if you break the law you will be punished for what you have done. Now ask yourself this if you lived in a home would you want to be watched constantly with no privacy? No one should be in there
George Orwell is very straightforward with his analysis of the English language in "Politics and the English Language." Immediately, in the second paragraph, Orwell gives a very quick assessment on the topic. He says, "[The English language] becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts" (Orwell, para. 2). He believes that the language has bad habits, like slang words or run-on sentences, that are imitated over and over again. Orwell states that if we get rid of these our thoughts will be more clear, the first step to political regeneration. To go further, Orwell includes five passages written by other authors. His point by adding these is to show these habits are contagious and
In 1984, George Orwell portrays language as the essential means of power. Language allows for the Party to maintain absolute power over its citizens; however, in order to establish such dominance, the regime must remove any if not all, written records. Newspeaks effort to remove words, seeks the purpose of depriving words so it will be impossible to formulate ideas other than those proposed by Party. Like many other civilians, Winston's job is to rewrite the past, which serves as a means of the Party to condition their citizens to believe what they say true and simply facts. Such efforts to alter the past will eventually control thoughts. Nonetheless, records have an essential role in 1984 by allowing the Party to create a new language; Newspeak,
“Political Language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.” So states George Orwell; an English novelist famous for his essays and numerous novels such as 1984. Though his essay Language and Politics was written as far back as the mid 1940s, his ideals and perspectives on political language still ring true in many of today’s current events. He discusses the vagueness that political writers use in order to sound better to their audience, as well as basic rules to follow when writing to prevent repetition. Then there’s also Daniel J. Boorstin; an American historian at the University of Chicago, who wrote the essay Pseudo-Events that stressed arranged news articles to gain publicity in certain areas of media. He discussed
Good morning, my name is Jasmine Rielly and I am a professor of Fine Arts at the University of Queensland and welcome to the Brisbane Arts Festival. Today we will discuss the complicated relationship between literature and society, and how it reflects the continual clash of beliefs, values and worldviews which are inherent in human society. (NEXT SLIDE)Following the political upheaval and struggle for power after the Second World War, George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel 1984, cautions against the dangers of totalitarian and communist governments. Totalitarianism is defined as a “centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life” (dictionary.com). The