Trying to define what is “good” literature and if it is a “must-read” is a difficult task to do because good literature can be must-reads, but not all must-reads are considered as good literature. It’s like trying to define why all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. It doesn’t work the other way around. There are countless number of ways to define “good” literature and which ones are “must-reads”. It could be defined as having a strong theme, a lot of figurative language, imagery, if it questions the reader, not a plot-driven story, if it is enjoyable or not, or even by popularity. However, for some readers good literature isn’t always pleasing for them, nor are some must-read pieces of literature. For, me I believe …show more content…
Themes related to our society or even about a universal thought can be strongly questioned by the readers. By doing so, the readers can relate how the theme affects their life and question why the author wrote about this certain theme and the method that they wrote about. For example, one of the themes in Brave New World was about totalitarianism in a dystopian society. By containing questionable themes such as these, it makes us wonder things like what would actually happen if our society today was a totalitaristic society or if we ever created a dystopian society, what kind of society would we …show more content…
Personally, having a scene with vivid imagery allows me to imagine the scene more clearly and have that part of the story stick in my mind more than the others. For instance, the dramatic scene from Hamlet when Hamlet finally dies has stayed vividly in my mind for three years now, “HAMLET: O, I die, Horatio./The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit/.../The rest is silence./O, O, O, O. (dies)” (5.2.352-357). Compared to The Great Gatsby or Pride and Prejudice with its descriptive language, 1984 was the opposite. Although George Orwell didn’t use descriptive language, such as those books, he used short and direct sentences that told us about his dystopian society in an eerie way that allowed him to get his point across in a detached manner. By writing his novel this way, it allowed me to imagine his society in the bleakest tone possible for that
When you read, especially fiction, you experience a broad sweep of human life. You gain access to the thoughts of others, look at history through another person’s eyes and learn from their mistakes, something that you otherwise would not be able to experience.
The reader at this point sees more and more that the quality of life is low and almost akin to that of a prison. This strategy used by Orwell is a strong pathos argument as it plays to the emotions of the reader to cause the association of The Party and negativity in the mind of the reader. 1984: A Rhetorical analysis 2 1984: A Rhetorical analysis 5 The way that The Party, Big Brother, and many of the other foreign concepts are referred to are quite vague at first which Orwell does on purpose.
When a person reads a book, they should read it as to amuse them, but also look between the lines for the purpose of the book. Every author, whether they’re writing fiction of non-fiction, has a moral behind their story. Every book is like a picture, a piece of art. Yes, you admire it, but you would have to squint a little bit, twist your head in any angle, and try to find what message the author or painter was trying to send out with their piece of work.
Many people argue whether George Orwell’s 1984 was written purely to criticize, or if it portrays society today. I believe that George Orwell wrote 1984 in order to express his feelings about how society is governed. There are many examples of irony that support my position. 1984 is a political satire, the Orwell used to criticize man’s use of power. The slogan of Oceania is War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength. These three phrases reflect some of the disturbing factors of our society today, which is why I believe that 1984 resembles Orwell’s dystopian creation.
The novel 1984 is one that has sparked much controversy over the last several decades. It harbors many key ideas that lie at the root of all skepticism towards the book. With the ideas of metaphysics, change, and control in mind, George Orwell wrote 1984 to provide an interesting story but also to express his ideas of where he believed the world was heading. His ideas were considered widely ahead of their time, and he was really able to drive home how bleak and colorless our society really is. Orwell wrote this piece as a futuristic, dystopian book which contained underlying tones of despair and deceit.
This is an important example of the foolishness of writers that do not understand the metaphors, similes, and symbolic expressions to help the reader understand their ideas in the writing. I also agree that writers do not use words “precisely”, which can confuse the reader. Many writers are not fully aware of the meaning of the words they choose, which Orwell breaks down in the writings he is analyzing. Clarity in the writing process is conveyed with great accuracy by Orwell to make this second point.
...the emotion does not speak for itself. In the end, the tyranny of 1984 only becomes repugnant while Animal Farm is tragic. But in spite of Lewis’s harsh criticism towards the novel, 1984 is a remarkable novel itself alone, possessing a strong voice in politics. According to Deutscher himself, “Few novels written in this generation have obtained a popularity as great as that of George Orwell’s 1984. Few, if any, have made a similar impact on politics” (Deutscher 500). However, like Lewis, Deutscher also dismissively criticizes the novel for its too much horror and lack of originality. The former causes the reader to focus only on the horror-stricken events of the story and not the main idea of the author’s political views. The latter is taken from Deutscher’s claims that the Orwell only borrowed the elements of the story of 1984 from the book We by Evgenii Zamyatin.
Orwell wrote 1984 a few years after the end of WWII, trying to combat totalitarianism at a time when many nations were beginning to take it on. Totalitarianism was and is a form of government with a single dictator that doesn’t require, but almost always involves, censorship. Totalitarian dictators use this censorship to control the people, and cover up the dictator’s evil-doings. Many people were afraid that totalitarianism was going to spread all over the world, and tried their hardest to stop it from happening. George Orwell was among the many that were deathly afraid, so he wrote 1984, doing his part to prevent it from spreading. 1984 takes place in Orwell’s far future (but our
By using words such as “mediocre,” and other words, Prose shows that in her own reasoning, the literature is not so much literature, but a waste of time that is taking attention away from actual good books that have content will instill a love for reading. Prose destroys the idea that the books provided to the students in the educational system should be deemed best sellers because she explains that the only reason this books are so well know, is because of the fact that they are forced down the throats of innocent teenagers. She also explains that teenagers are incapable of reading such stories because of the “overuse” of metaphors, and that we cannot read line for line books. If we cannot read a book line for line, than what should we
Themes are central to the plot of any story. In fact, themes are the purpose to an author writing anything. By definition, a theme is the subject or topic of a work. Some themes, like that in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” are more obvious, while others, such as, “Hills Like White Elephants” are less clear and require readers to do some deep reading and critical thinking in order to identify the purpose of it, and through strong reading techniques, audiences will find valuable lessons embedded within the themes can enlighten and even revive our thinking.
Loyalty to another person can cause people to act without thinking. Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare is a dramatic play about two lovers and the quest for love. Many of the decisions that were made throughout the play were bad decisions and affected Mercutio and Juliet’s outcome greatly. While Mercutio and Juliet both make decisions out of lack of impulse control, Mercutio also makes decisions that are influenced by violence, and Juliet makes decisions that are influenced by suicidal actions.
The writer uses imagery, because he wants to let the readers into his mind. By describing the scene for the readers, makes the readers fell like they were there. Therefore, it gives us a better ability to emphasize with him.
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.
Dystopian novels are written to reflect the fears a population has about its government, and they are successful because they capture that fright and display what can happen if it is ignored. George Orwell wrote 1984 with this fear of government in mind and used it to portray his opinion of the current government discretely. Along with fear, dystopian novels have many other elements that make them characteristic of their genre. The dystopian society in Orwell’s novel became an achievement because he utilized a large devastated city, a shattered family system, life in fear, a theme of oppression, and a lone hero. Orwell’s novel begins with a horrid description of the living conditions of his main character, Winston.
Given a flexible definition of greatness, what is great literature? Is it literature that has meaning (doesn't it all), invokes thought, is it defined by being likable, or achieving the authors goal, is it marked by the span of time and influence that the story has, or is a broad equation encompassing any or all, perhaps even none, of those characteristics?