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Research papers on 1984 george orwell
Research papers on 1984 george orwell
Literary contribution of george orwell
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George Orwell’s 1984, published in 1949, tells the story of Winston and his fight against an oppressive government, referred to as the Party. Through the novel, Winston meets and eventually trusts O’Brien, a powerful member of the Inner Party. Winston and the reader are kept completely in the dark on O’Brien’s actual beliefs and his involvement in the government. When the audience finds out he will be Winston’s torturer for speaking out against Big Brother, his beliefs are still questionable. Today, it is easy to have doubts about the politicians we have elected into office, and it is easy to question if they are voting in the interest of the country or of their political party.
From the moment Winston meets O’Brien he believes that he is a rebel against the Party. “He felt deeply drawn to him, … it was
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because of a secretly held belief … that O’Brien’s political orthodoxy was not perfect” (Orwell 14). O’Brien’s belief is questioned throughout the novel, and even when he is torturing Winston, Winston firmly believes that O’Brien is fighting for the rebels. What is interesting is that O’Brien does not do anything that would convince Winston to trust him. He never speaks out or questions the Party, and the only reason Winston trusts him is because he thinks O’Brien talked to him in a dream seven years prior. “He had dreamed that he was walking through a pitch-dark room. And someone sitting to one side of him had said as he passed: ‘We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.’ … He couldn’t remember when he had first identified the voice as O’Brien’s. But … It was O’Brien who had spoken to him out of the dark” (Orwell 32). This quote shows that even without meeting and talking to O’Brien, Winston already thought he could have been against the Party and it’s views on society. Winston questions this dream and his belief of O’Brien later in the novel, “For what evidence had he in reality that O’Brien was any kind of political conspirator? Nothing but a flash of the eyes and a single equivocal remark: beyond that, only his own secret imaginings, founded on a dream” (Orwell 214). Eventually, O’Brien’s remark of seeing Winston in the place where there is no darkness comes true, as they meet again when O’Brien tortures Winston for his crimes against the Party. It’s impossible for the reader to truly know if O’Brien believes in Big Brother.
This answer is never stated in the novel, but using context clues and what O’Brien says, it should be clear that he is a believer. Why do readers not believe him? I believe that the reader is so entrapped in Winston’s mind and the way he thinks that they met O’Brien as a believer and are unable to change their viewpoint on him. Take the quote mentioned earlier from page 14, explaining Winston’s secret belief of O’Brien’s lack of political orthodoxy. As this is the first mention of O’Brien in the novel, from the very beginning the reader is led to believe that he is a rebel against Big Brother, and as many people know, the first impression of somebody (real or fictional) is very important in defining that person. I also believe that since O’Brien at once did doubt the power of the government, that it is easy to believe that the doubt still exists in his brain. When I was reading it though, I didn’t see that as a big reveal to Winston about O’Brien’s current beliefs but as a way that O’Brien could connect to Winston and show him that past nonbelievers can always start believing
again. In today's political landscape, it might be hard to find any similarities to the oppressive regime that Big Brother holds. The American Government is not perfect, but is generally believed by many to be beneficial. However, this does not mean that we have perfect politicians. Like O’Brien, it is easy to find politicians that do not vote and work in favor of their personal beliefs for the country, but just work to push their political party’s agenda. This practice is so common today that when someone finally votes against their party, it becomes national news. Just earlier this year, when Senator John McCain voted no against a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, he sent a clear message to the Republican Party that he was going to start voting for the good of the people, and not just to make his party happy. This instance is reminiscent of O’Brien, but is actually opposite. O’Brien tells Winston that at one point he was thinking about rebelling against the government, but was corrected, and now sees the future that Big Brother can bring the people. O’Brien went from being able to think on his own, to following his party closely. Today, we all need to start holding our politicians to higher standards. We all need to make sure that every single person representing us in Washington, but also at home, are actually representing their constituents and not their own political views. We need to hold them accountable for their actions, and know if what they voted for helped or hurt ourselves or our neighbors. On top of holding them accountable, we also need to think about the actions we take. As voters, first of all, we need to ensure that we are actively participating in the government, and allowing our elected politicians to know our views on current issues. Second of all, we need to fully research each candidate in an election and vote for our views and not vote for a specific party. All of these things should be done in today’s political world, and should have been done in 1984 to ensure that the government is held to a higher standard and is actually representing the people.
In “1984,” Orwell uses Winston to portray a single individual’s attempt to take action against a powerful government, culminating in his failure and subjugation. His individual efforts failed tremendously due to the overarching power of the Party to control every aspect of social life in Oceania. Orwell uses Winston’s deeply seated hatred of the Party to portray his views on power and social change. Winston’s actions show that even in the direst of situations ...
O'Brien - The protagonist Winston Smith, living in a dystopian society governed by the Party, feels strangely attracted to Inner Party member O'Brien. Winston suspects that O'Brien is secretly opposing the Party. Eventually O'Brien approaches Winston with some leading remarks which seem to confirm Winston's suspicions. Winston finds the courage to approach him and openly declares himself an enemy of the totalitarian state. Winston's intuition seems to be correct: O'Brien presents himself as a member of the "Brotherhood" seeking to overthrow the Party.
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
“ It was as though their two minds had opened and the thoughts were flowing from one into the other through their eyes. 'I am with you,' O'Brien seemed to be saying to him. 'I know precisely what you are feeling. I know all about your contempt, your hatred, your disgust. But don't worry, I am on your side.” (1.1.33) In this quote we learn that Winston was able to overcome his fear of discussing rebellious acts with o’brian and for a moment felt relieved when O’brian played along with
In a novel by William Styron, a father tells his son that life "is a search for justice," and in 1984 by George Orwell, Winston is in search for justice in Oceania. In 1984, Winston is a worker at the Ministry of Truth where he has to rewrite events, so that they coincide with what the Party says. The Party in Oceania manipulates everything, so that they seem like they are always right and never get anything wrong. No one in Oceania is free to live the life they want to live, they all live in suffrage without them even realizing it because of the psychological manipulation that the Party has done to them. Everyone is watched 24/7 with telescreens which prohibits them to be free; they are watched to see if they are talking against the government, thinking about betraying the government, and even thinking or doing something that the government does not approve of such as keeping journals just like Winston; keeping a journal was a thoughtcrime that was illegal and could cause you to be killed or disappear. Winston is not like the rest of the civilians in Oceania, he notices things that other who have been poisoned by the Party cannot see. As Winston begins to question things about the government he starts to search for away to search for justice that Oceania needs. Winston begins to search for justice, but in the end he fails to complete his search for justice.
Firstly, O’Brien, a member of the inner party, uses technology to accomplish complete control over the public through the means of telescreens, hidden microphones and torture machines, ‘Any sound that Winston made… could be picked up by [the telescreen]. [Winston] could be seen as well as heard’. This emphasises to the reader the extent of control that the party can exercise over the public, enabling them to eliminate any potential rebels. Furthermore, this loss of freedom and individuality exterminates any real friendship, family or love forcing the public to turn to Big Brother for companionship. This in turn minimises the chance of rebellion as everyone views Big Brother as a figure of comfort and security, ‘As he seemed to tower up, an invincible, fearless protector…’ O’Brien also uses a torture machine on Winston, ‘[He] had never loved [O’Brien] so deeply as at this moment’. This machine enables O’Brien to manipulate Winston’s views, personal opinions and even feelings. O’Brien is able to make Winston view the world as he wants him to, even to the extent of making Winston love him, his tormentor, the person inflicting the pain. ...
The conflict between Winston and Big Brother starts from the beginning of the novel when Winston begins to keep his secret diary about Big Brother. Winston Smith is a third-nine years old man who is a member of the 'outer-party'--the lower of the two classes. Winston works for the government in one of the four main government buildings called the ministry of Truth where his job is to rewrite history books in order for people not to learn what the past used to be like. Winston's occupation is the major factor which lets him to realize that Big Brother is restricting people's freedom. However, Winston keeps his complains about Big Brother and the party for his own secret because the party will not allow anyone keeping a rebellious thought. The tension between them gets serious when Big Brother becomes suspicious of Winston. Winston is therefore watched by O'Brien, an intelligent execute at the 'Ministry of Truth', who is a member of the 'inner party'--the upper class. Without doubting Big Brother's trap, Winston shares his ideas with O'Brien. O'Brien mentions a gentleman named Emmanuel Goldstein whom he claims to know the leader of the rebels against the party. O'Brien also promises to help winston, and promises him a copy of Goldstein's book. But O'Brien betrays him as Big Brother has planned.
loss, it's to do with futility. For all he did, for all the rules he
O’Brien tortures Winston due to his acts of thoughtcrime, Winston is told that the Party will be satisfied with nothing less than Winston completely giving in. O’Brien explains, “We are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us; so long as he resists us we never destroy him” (210). Winston is tortured for the goal of eradicating the cause of Winston’s fight, to consider himself happy and free. O’Brien wants to destroy any possibility of Winston becoming a martyr for his cause. The use of the telescreens, microphones, and all other sources of the government spying on its people ensures a lack of freedom: “Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull” (26). The members of this society are monitored at all times for the sole purpose of government control, with constant monitoring they are able to discover the most they can about individuals and later use it against them to gain an upper hand in controlling any possible uprising. Fear is used as another tactic to gain control. Winston is aware of the fact that “More
Throughout the passage, Orwell displays the fear of being judged through the character O’Brian. When Winston makes eye contact with O’Brian, “O’Brian seemed to be saying […] ‘I am on your side!’” (Orwell paragraph 8) and then his face became “inscrutable as everybody else’s.” (Orwell paragraph 8). This shows that although O’Brian had a different opinion just like Winston he changed his facial expression quickly to fit in with the rest. He felt that if he had said done something against the protesters, he would be attacked. This happens a lot in society, people hide their emotions because they do not know how others will react to their opinion.
The constant theme of betrayal in 1984 is being used by George Orwell to show how hopeless Winston’s struggle against the Totalitarian system is, giving the reader an idea of how bad this type of government is. The reader is introduced to this dark time and given hope in the form of the rebellious protagonist, Winston. However, the reader soon realises how hopelessly alone Winston is in his silent battle when they see that the government is against him, he has no support or allies, and that even his own mind can be turned against him. The message is clear and makes readers who live in a democracy happier with what they have.
There are three specific methods that O’Brien uses for Winston’s understanding to occur. The first method O’Brien uses is physical torture-- specifically electrocution, to force Winston to obey his demands, "‘remember throughout our conversation, that I have it in my power to inflict pain on you at any moment and to whatever degree I choose?’" (3.2.30-108). O’Brien's first use of physical torture is to initially force Winston into submission. Once Winston demonstrates that he is listening, O’Brien electrocutes him less frequently, and puts on a parental/mentor-like mask. As Winston becomes more complacent, O’Brien switches to psychological manipulation. At this point Winston’s personality is slowly breaking, and he begins to "understand" what it is to be citizen of Oceania: "His mind contained Winston’s mind. But in that case how could it be true that O’Brien was mad? It must be he, Winston, who was mad. … ‘Do not imagine that you will save yourself, Winston’" (3.2.46-108). All of O’Brien’s manipulation impacts Winston psychologically, as he begins to doubt himself, and believe that O’Brien may actually be the sane one. Finally, O’Brien succeeds in completely shattering Winston by taking him to room 101, "‘for everyone there is something unendurable… Courage and cowardice are not involved. …rats. For you, they are unendurable… a form of pressure that you cannot withstand’" (3.5.88-108). He slowly
In the novel 1984, George Orwell predicts the world’s future, when human rights, such as freedom of speech, do not exist anymore. Everyone has to obey the government. The government controls its citizens’ lives. No one speaks up against the government yet because they do not even have a chance to make up a thought about it. The government dominates the citizens’ thoughts by using technologies and the thought polices to make sure no one will have any thoughts, that is against the government. George Orwell wrote:“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows,” (Orwell.2.7.69) the government tries to control Winston knowledge and change it to fit into the purpose of the Party. To Winston, O’Brien said: “Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.” (Orwell.3.2.205). As a citizen, no one get to look at or tal...
George Orwell uses Winston to represent truth in a deceptive world in his novel 1984. In Oceania, Big Brother is the omnipotent and all powerful leader. Everything the government dictates is unquestionably true, regardless of prior knowledge. Even thinking of ideas that go against Big Brother’s regime, or thoughtcrime, is punishable by death. Winston serves as the dystopian hero, longing for freedom and change. Orwell uses Winston to emphasize the importance of individual freedoms, as they give us the ability to fulfillingly lead our respective lives.
“Immediately beneath the telescreen, in such as position that anyone who was watching at the other end could read what he was writing, he scribbled an address, tore out the page and handed it to Winston” (165-166). O’Brien gives Winston his address on a piece of paper right in front of the telescreen, which indicates that O’Brien has privileges since relationships, especially private ones, are frowned upon by the Party. Nevertheless, Winston immediately accepts the invitation and visits O’Brien’s house with Julia even though the mere act of visiting O’Brien’s house is enough to get them arrested. This is odd considering Winston has heard no verbal confirmation of the Brotherhood existing. He simply assumes that O’Brien is a member of the Brotherhood and is a rival. Moreover, when Winston visits O’Brien’s flat, O’Brien is able to turn off the telescreen. This is a power showcase in front of Winston since it is illegal and impossible for anyone who is not in the Inner Party to turn off telescreens in Oceania. Winston is automatically drawn to O’Brien’s charisma and ability to take action even though it involves severe