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General theme of George Orwell's 1984
General theme of George Orwell's 1984
The nature of george orwell 1984
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Winston's memory of his mother and his sister serves to give the reader more insight into Winston's past and thus more insight into his character as an adult, into his motivations and why he does the things he does. He remembers a time when a gesture, such as embracing a child, could be done merely for the sake of itself, without catering to a political purpose. This memory reminds him of the proles, who do things just to do them, unlike Party members, who do things only because of their duty to Big Brother. Winston feels that the proles are the only hope for society to regain its humanity. Winston's thoughts about the proles lead to one of the most important conversations between Winston and Julia. They discuss what they will do when caught.
Julia instructs Winston how to return to London. The two arranged meetings where and when they would meet again. Julia reveals that she is not interested in the revolt. Although, she is a personal rebel. Winston reveals information to Julia about his wife Katherine which he decided weather to not killer her or not. Winston returned to Mr. Charrington’s offer: he had rented the room above his shop in order to spend some private time with Julia. Winston reveals his fear of rats.
Winston’s and Julia’s meeting in the woods signifies breaking the totalitarian ways of the party. Here Winston feels free from observation, and gets a glimpse of the freedom that the party opposes. It is a place for lovemaking, a utter horrendous crime in their state. Here there are only Winston’s and Julia’s eyes,
Prior to meeting Julia, Winston frets constantly about life and essentially has nothing to look forward to. Julia’s arrival into his life not only gives him
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.
“WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” Part 1,Chapter 1,pg. 6. These three principles were repeatedly emphasized throughout the book and helped lay the foundation of the dystopian society George Orwell imagined in his novel 1984. Fear, manipulation, and control were all encompassed throughout this dystopian society set in the distant future. The freedom to express ones thoughts was no longer acceptable and would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Humankind was rapidly transforming into a corrupt and evil state of mind.
As Winston states, talking about his affair with Julia: “But you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act” (126). Winston is unique, and was able to create a relationship with Julia. However, although it might last for a while, at some point it will fall and they will be caught by the party. None but a few party members partake in sexual actions, besides for reproduction, showing how effective the party has been at making their citizens ignorant. The Inner party’s propaganda campaigns have prevented their members from forming meaningful relationships, thus allowing the party to have complete control. The party distracts the general public by preying on their fear, which prevents them from creating resistance against the party. The Outer party is incapable of opposing the Inner party, as they allowed the rise of the Inner party, and are now forced to turn a blind eye, out of fear. Winston also thinks: “If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the party ever be generated”(69). The proles only worry about their simple life, and not their government. As Winston stated, the proles are the only ones who have the power to rebel and destroy the party. By ignoring the actions of the party, they help keep the Inner Party in power, and keep themselves enslaved. Since both the proles and the Outer party are incapable of opposing the Inner party’s fear tactics, they are left to mellow in ignorant bliss, while the
It is of mixed opinions as to the popularity of modern society and that of the current government. Some believe the United States is, frankly, the best and most free country. They are those who enjoy the freedoms granted by the government and indulge themselves into the American culture. Others are not as fond; always searching for an excuse to criticize the current happenings, whether they be in the government or on the streets. In previous decades, such as the 1940s, the majority of citizens shared the more patriotic view. When comparing the current United States as a whole to that of a dystopian society, it becomes clear that the former faction may be looking through rose colored glasses. The dystopian motifs in George Orwell 's 1984 stemmed
In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, his relationship with Julia proved to be an outlet for his rebellion and hatred towards the Party. The affiliation between Winston and Julia didn’t contribute to his everlasting fate, but assisted him in his quest against the Party. He never experienced true fun until he met Julia – for once in his life, he escaped the regime of daily routine of doom and gloom and finally had a chance to enjoy his life, but was eventually brainwashed into liking the Party, the Ministry of Love and the Ministry of Truth. He develops a sense of hatred towards Julia and eventually his fate had been decided by the Party, through torture and belittling of Winston. His own will-power to know the past, engulfs his rebellion and revolt to the Party, also playing a significant contribution of his destiny.
He knows there is nothing he, nor Julia, can do to take down the Party or even make Oceania the place it was before the revolution. He looks to the proles for a solution. They are a group of people that are disregarded from the rest of society. “Winston is looking forward to a popular prole uprising that could not possibly include him, made by people ‘who had never learned to think’” (Kerr 72). The proles are able to live a life free from thoughtcrime, telescreens, ministries, and Big Brother. They are clueless, but they are happy, and Winston is jealous of that. The proles have not been corrupted by the Party, and therefore are able to think and act with freedom. They are still humans when the rest of society are the puppets of Big Brother and the Party. The proles have not had the Party breathe fear down their necks, therefore they are able to live life the way they feel it best for
In the 2nd part of 1984 Winston is meets a girl named Julia. At first Winston believes Julia will turn him in for committing Thought Crime. Then Julia passes Winston a note and they meet each other. The Party also does not allow association that is not goverernd. This is the start of an affair between the two, because they are not married and free love is not allowed. Winston is rebelling fully by his association with Julia. The 2nd section Winston fully rebels, he joins an underground resistance, and he believes that his life is better because The Party is no longer controlling him. At the end of this section Winston learns that he has been set-up and followed by the Thought Police the whole time. He and Julia believed that they were resisting and rebelling but had actually been entrapped by the Thought Police.
His primary one being his curiosity; as the Party essentially holds the control of the public’s knowledge, Winston repeatedly expresses his confusion and desire to know more. Which can be seen with him questioning how we truly “know that two and two make four” (7,80) and pondering “if the mind itself is controllable…what then?”(7,80). As can be seen Winston is confused by his own knowledge, especially living in a society where freethought is considered a crime. Therefore the thirst for knowledge or more so for the freedom of it is his primary motivation. His secondary motivation is his desire to reconnect with the past. Throughout the novel, it becomes clear that Winston had a desire to reconnect with the past. Winston takes a risky measure by going into a prole pub to ask an elderly man who can “remember what it was like in the old days, before the Revolution”(8,89) for his memories. Through taking a risky action, Winston demonstrates his desperation for the past, part of this is likely rooted for his thirst for knowledge as well. Winston also has an affinity for old objects such as the paper weight or the diary he bought; which is his biggest crime of all. Lastly his third motivation was the want for individualism. Although this is not something Winston continually expresses his desires about; it is visible with his actions. For example the purchase of the diary; a place to document his inner thoughts.
Throughout the novel, Winston’s humanity starts to immerge and the basic human instincts of desiring love and relationships start to surface. He has distant memories of his mother and ‘knew [that] in his dream[s] that in some way the lives of his mother and his sister had been sacrificed for his own.' (p35) These vague memories serve to demonstrate what a traditional family used to be like and just how distorted the concept of family has become in Oceania. Through the Party’s need to control the past, present and the future, the current memories that Winston holds are distorted. The memory holes placed throughout Oceania forbid members to keep written records of their lives and mandates that any photographs or documents are to be destroyed. 'His mother's memory tor at his heart' (p35) as he could only think of what hardship he brought upon her. The imagery of water which is associated with Winston’s memories and dreams about his family alludes to these memories being hard to grasp leading him to be unsure whether they are real or not. The party asserts their control by distorting his memories of his family to make him focus on the party. To the members of Oceania, the party is your family, Big Brother is your brother. The Party redirects his human need for love and family to sole commitment and unquestioning love to the
The setting is important to the overall novel studied because it helps highlight major themes in the novel, it further characterizes the motivations of the characters, and helps explain the overall message of the novel. In 1984 by George Orwell, the overall setting of the novel is in London, which is called Airship 1 in Oceania.
Winston can't speak with the proles. Their lives and his are altogether different, and his is in his way as restricted as they seem to be. He endeavors to get some answers concerning reality of the past by conversing with an old man, yet neglects to comprehend what he is being told, in light of the fact that it is not conveyed to him in the structure he needs to listen. Little pieces of information—like the old man alluding to having worn a top cap (authoritatively the "identification" of the industrialist)— entirely escape him. In any case, the same occurrence demonstrates the peruser that there are conspicuous, "ordinary" individuals in this horrible
Everything is a symbol. Everything has a deeper being in which it represents once it is unlocked. The father of deconstruction, Jacques Derrida, was quoted in an interview saying that deconstruction is “to not naturalize what is not natural”. Therefore symbolism is deconstruction in its rawest form. Symbols beg to not be taken at their natural face-value, but rather dived into to reach their deep inner-core of true meaning. One must use every element of deconstruction to unlock the true meaning of a symbol. Symbolism in literature allows the author to express his thoughts and motives in a way that is engaging and entertaining to the reader. The reader must dissect every bit of knowledge presented in order to reach the full fountain of knowledge that can be expressed by a symbol. Symbols are a beautiful thing. It allows the reader to make his own connections to the author’s expressions. The reader can especially be engaged in George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel 1984. Symbolism is important in 1984 because the reader can find connections to today’s government in Orwell’s message of control, propaganda, and oppression within the symbols that Orwell creates.