Poster Analysis Essay On 1984 By George Orwell

In George Orwell’s 1984, Orwell uses violent and aggressive diction to emphasize the subconscious control the government possesses over Oceanian residents’ hatred against the enemies of the party through the proles’ reaction to the Eurasian soldier poster. A new Eurasian picture, which Orwell portrays as “monstrous, expressionless, and enormous Mongolian faces”, emerges all over London and the image outnumbers the posters of Big Brother. By Mongolian faces outnumbering the face of Big Brother attention is brought to the Eurasian poster. Consequently, the proles, normally apathetic about the war, elicit a powerful, aggressive, and patriotic response towards the new poster. Orwell utilizes negative descriptive word choices, such as monstrous,

As demonstrated by the proles’ reaction, “There were further angry demonstrations, Goldstein was burned in effigy, hundreds of copies of the poster of the Eurasian soldier were torn down and added to the flames, and an old couple who were suspected of being foreign extraction had their house set on fire.” (Orwell 149). The fact that the proles, who are normally apathetic about the war, respond strongly to the new illustration stresses the impact the party has on their actions through the poster because the enemies of the party are their only target. Orwell uses the words “angry demonstration”, “burned in effigy”, “poster…torn down”, and “their house set on fire and perished in suffocation” to emphasize the proles violent and aggressive action against those who are enemies of the party. For example, the burning of Goldstein (heretic of the party) and tearing down the posters of the Eurasian, and especially burning down the house of an old couple who were suspected of being foreigners demonstrates the impact of the Eurasian soldier poster as the proles start to target foreigners and those who oppose the party after the many posters