George Orwell Works: Nineteen Eighty-Four (England, 1948)


Figure 1.--Of all of George Orwell's works, it is Nineteen Eighty-Four that had the greatest impact. We are introduced to Winston Smith who works in the Ministry of Truth (Mintrue). We also learn about Newspeak. It is the invented language used by the media to follow the arbitrary dictates of Big Brother, the virtually divine Party leader who rules through a omnipresent cult of personality, Nothing of course could more closely describe Hitler and Stalin. Orwell sets his novel in Airstrip One (once known as Great Britain), now a a province of the superstate Oceania. The world is locked in a state of perpetual war and Oceania is a state of omnipresent government and Party surveillance and absolute public manipulation.

Of all of George Orwell's works, it is Nineteen Eighty-Four that had the greatest impact. We are introduced to Winston Smith who works in the Ministry of Truth (Mintrue). We also learn about Newspeak. It is the invented language used by the media to follow the arbitrary dictates of Big Brother, the virtually divine Party leader who rules through a omnipresent cult of personality, Nothing of course could more closely describe Hitler and Stalin. Orwell sets his novel in Airstrip One (once known as Great Britain), now a a province of the superstate Oceania. The world is locked in a state of perpetual war and Oceania is a state of omnipresent government and Party surveillance and absolute public manipulation. The govrning system is called English Socialism (Ingsoc). Big Brother is at the head of a privileged Inner Party elite that attemps to destroy all individualism and independent thinking in a kind of futuristic Spnish Inquisition. Such aactions are labeled 'thoughtcrimes' Smith conforms outwardlly, but can not help but have treasonable thoughts. He keeps a diary expressing his inner-most thoughts--a very dangerous step. He falls in love with Julia, a woman of the Party. Julia is both beautiful and brave. They both know they are doomed, but Julia sweats, "They can make you say anything -- anything --but they can't make you believe it. They can't get inside you." The timing of the book is interestng. By 1948 when the book was published, t was becoming increasingly evident that the socalist enterprise launched by the Labour Pary was not working. Threevyears after the War, raioning was still in effect and nationalizing major industris was a serious mistake. The ambiance in Winston Smith's Oceania is not unlike the grey existince in post-War London. No one knows why Orwell chose 1984. Part of the reason is of coirse he wanted a future dayte, but not in the far future. One source describescfactors like, " ... the fact that the year 1984 was featured in books by authors Orwell admired, like Jack London in The Iron Heel and GK Chestersons's The Napoleon of London. But the most telling is the fact that his wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy (who died in 1945) wrote a poem called 'End of the Century, 1984'.







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Created: 9:19 AM 12/19/2014
Last updated: 9:19 AM 12/19/2014