Analysis Of 1984

Analysis of 1984

In 1949, an Englishman named Eric Blair published the novel 1984. Under the pseudonym, George Orwell, this author became one of the most respected and notable political writers for his time. 1984 was Orwell’s prophetic vision of the world to come. This creation of “Negative Utopia” was thoroughly convincing through Orwell’s use of setting and characterization. The theme conveyed by Orwell is that no matter how strong an individual a communist society would destroy any hope that that soul had of surviving, and that no matter the reasons told to the society, that power that the Party seeks is for no gain except for power.

The story begins in April of 1984, in a grim, industrialized city called London. London was “chief city of Airstrip One, itself the third most populous of the provinces of Oceania." The dwellings that the people live in, called Victory Mansions, are depicted as “…rotting nineteenth-century houses, their sides shored up with balks of timber, their windows patched with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron….” The setting creates a mood of devastation and hopelessness, fabricated by the Inner Party to suppress its followers. These people live in a society that is ruled by totalitarianism, and the aim is to give the greatest good to the smaller number. As indicated by “Cliffs Notes,” on pages 34 and 35, the main character, “Winston, like others, is expected to do his job efficiently and receive no reward but the opportunity to live austerely for the greater good and self-perpetuation of the Inner Party.”

Told in third person limited, the reader is only allowed in-depth knowledge of the protagonist, Winston. Winston Smith, a thirty-nine year old man with a varicose ulcer, is a member of the Outer Party. He has “a smallish, frail figure, the meagerness of his body merely emphasized by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the Party. His hair was very fair, his face naturally sanguine, his skin roughened by course soap and blunt razor blades and the cold of the winter that had just ended.” Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, which is concerned with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. He is employed in the Records Department, where his tasks consist of writing and rewriting scripts to fit the present and past which unceasingly fluctuate and add to the dominion the Party had over its members, and the history they believe in.