'Winston Smith Needs O'Brien' in the novel 1984 by George Orwell.
Roumyana Mihailova 11/2 30th November 2003 'Winston Smith Needs O'Brien' In the novel 1984 George Orwell pictures a monstrous world of tyranny. One of the themes he explores deals with the way an individual perceives his life in such a world. In the world in 1984 loneliness meets despair, hatred allies with brutality, and one has no choice but to find a way out of that nightmare in order to survive. Winston Smith, the main character, chooses self-delusion as an escape from the horrible reality. In the beginning O'Brien is just an object of Winston's attempt to believe that there is someone like him, another man who is surreptitiously against the Party. Smith thinks that O'Brien will understand him and help him change his life. Ironically, O'Brien really saves Winston from the nightmare of reality, by making him accept it and even love it. Winston Smith is a concealed outcast. He behaves as a Party member while hating the principles and doctrines of the Party. In his consciousness Smith is alone against society - a thinking individual facing a deceived mass of people who (za mass may e that ama ne sam ubedena)blindly love the(misliq che ne trqbva da go ima izob6to) Big Brother. Winston realizes that to be an outsider in a world in which individuality is a crime is dangerous. He asks himself if he is "alone in the possession of memory" because he does not want to believe
Discuss the presentation of Big Brother in '1984'. Refer in
Alex Gill Discuss the presentation of Big Brother in '1984'. Refer in Detail to Orwell's use of language in your answer. Big Brother plays a huge part in the society of Oceania. Orwell introduces Big Brother in the second paragraph; he does this by describing a poster with the supposed face of Big Brother. The face has a striking appearance: a man with black hair, black moustache and eyes that are hypnotic with the uncanny knack of following you around. Below the face were the words 'BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU'. The face and the words combined make you feel frightened and uneasy, thinking that this man is watching you day and night, while the term 'brother' suggests a cozy, comrade-like companion. This could not be farther from the truth. In essence, Big Brother is a god-like being who dominates his followers. This poster is much like the recruitment poster of 1914 on which Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of War declared 'Your Country Needs YOU!' Orwell Uses Big Brother as a symbol of powerful dictators, such as Stalin, Hitler, Franco and Mussolini. Big Brother's role in society could be described as a kind of religious god because Big Brother is followed by many, yet no one has ever seen him which is similar to nearly all of today's religious gods, who are worshipped and followed by many but again they have never been seen. For party members he has the power to incite
How does Orwell use the fable form to explore ideas about power in Animal Farm?
How does Orwell use the fable form to explore ideas about power in Animal Farm? Remember to write about the society in which the stories are set. Orwell wrote this play to illustrate the Russian revolution. He used the animals to symbolise the main characters in the Russian Revolution. The moral of this fable is that power can corrupt anyone if they are not careful. Animal Farm is used to represent Russia in the time when Stalin was ruling Russia. Orwell represents the populations of Russia through the animals. Boxer is used to represent the community of Russia that did just as Stalin liked and didn't question his word. When the dogs attacked him he held them down with his hoof with ease. "Boxer looked at Napoleon to know whether he should crush the dog to death or let it go." He doesn't understand that the dogs were sent to attack him by Napoleon. This shows just how imprudent Boxer is. He is not as clever as Napoleon at all. If Boxer had a brain as good as a pig he would have been a great leader of the farm. Snowball is meant to symbolise Leon Trotsky and how he tries to do good for the country. Snowball has many attributes. He is a very helpful character and tried to help all the animals on the farm." He formed the Egg production Committee... the clean Tails League..., the wild Comrades' Re-education Committee" This shows that Snowball is dedicated to spreading the
Does the rest of the story show the fulfilment of the ideals and aims expressed in Old Major's Speech?
Does the rest of the story show the fulfilment of the ideals and Aim expressed in his speech? Give a full commentary on what takes place. Personally I do not agree that Old Major's ideals and aims were achieved by the other Pigs and animals. The pigs are shown to take control from the very beginning making up rules and then changing them to suit themselves even before the speech the pigs have taken the front seats in the meeting. The ideals and aims are peace, unity, equality, fraternity, fairness and justice. These are the concepts behind the animal commandments (Listed previously in this essay). The pigs have already learnt reading, writing and language to get ahead of the other animals allowing them to change the rules without confrontation. Language is fundamental to the pigs gaining power. The exclusion of the pigs from day to day work on the farm marks the beginnings of power for the pigs. This is no longer going to carry along with Old Major's ideals of a classless society. The pigs resemble management in a place of work, which again violates Old Major's rules "remember that also in fighting against man we must not come to resemble him." There is not perfect unity between the animals because of the pigs telling the other animals what to do and when to do it. This does not unite them it drives them apart because deep down they know that they have a leader. The
How does Major seek to persuade the animals in chapter one of Animal Farm?
'How does old Major seek to persuade the animals in Chapter 1 of Animal Farm?' There are many ways in which Orwell uses rhetoric in order to persuade the audience (the farm animals). Old Major wants to create an animal utopia, and in order to do this, encourages rebellion within the farm. Techniques such as pathos and rhetorical questions are used effectively with a wide variety of other techniques e.g. antithesis, anaphora and ethos being used, though perhaps not as widely or as well as the two devices mentioned previously (pathos and rhetorical questions). The other main persuasive method was via structure, which was also used successfully. Pathos and emotive vocabulary is used extensively in the speech. For example,'...our lives are miserable, laborious and short...' this phrase is very good because he (Old Major) refers to himself as one of his audience which makes them listen to him. This is also an example of emotive vocabulary because Orwell could have written 'our lives are sad, tiring and short' but he didn't he used his vocabulary to make the reader really think about what he was saying. The broken repetition of the word 'man' also adds to the emotive atmosphere, and as old Major becomes more and more heated throughout the speech he begins to repeat the word more and more whi8ch, by the end, perhaps even evokes the word as a 'bad word' a word that should not be
Focusing on THREE key incidents, explore the extent to which language is an effective method of control in "Animal Farm".
IGCSE English Literature Coursework - Animal Farm 4. "The pen is mightier than the sword" Focusing on THREE key incidents, explore the extent to which language is an effective method of control in "Animal Farm". Animal Farm is a fable, and all fables have meanings. This fable, "Animal Farm" has a very strong meaning and that is that the pen is mightier than the sword, which means that language can alter many things that violence can't. In Animal Farm, we can see violence but we also see a small character who could "turn black into white" by his language. He changes everything that happens in the farm only in language, and all the other animals believe him. His name is Squealer and he was one of the cleverest pigs in the farm. We first see him in the novel when George Orwell describes the pigs. "All other male pigs on the farm were porkers. The best known among them was a small fat pig named Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice. He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail which was somehow persuasive. The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white."(p.9) Here with only his first description we can see that Squealer was a very good talker, and he was good at arguing things. In the story, Napoleon gets advantage of
Animal Farm: Compare and contrast Napoleon and Snowball. What methods do they use for their struggle for power?
English GCSE Coursework: Animal Farm Compare and contrast Napoleon and Snowball. What methods do they use for their struggle for power? George Orwell (25 June 1903 - 21 January 1950), whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair, was an English writer and journalist. His birth in India, schooling in England, and adult life in India, Burma, and later Spain encouraged an eye for critique and review, and this was put to good use in his staunch disapproval of British Imperialism, a politic which was further refined into socialism whilst living in Paris, and continued to the birth of his 'anarchist theory', detailed in "The Road to Wigan Pier". As mentioned, though, it was by no means politics alone which received his attention and review; he was equally vociferous when it came to the Art of literary writing, providing six rules for writers in "Politics and the English Language". It is, then, no surprise that he painted such a picture of Napoleon and Snowball in "Animal Farm", as he himself could be said to have been rather dictatorial in his ways, even when the subject and cause of his attentions, was so noble and deserving. Animal Farm is said to be an allegory and a satire, meaning that two coherent stories run throughout the piece, and that the attacks made upon the subjects give the appearance that they are worthy of our contempt. The allegorical nature of this piece ensures that
Animal Farm - Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
In 1887, Lord Acton told his friend in a letter, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." In 1945, George Orwell published the short novel Animal Farm, which was as allegory to Soviet totalitarianism, in which he made his views about several topics clear. Many of the characters in the book are corrupted by power, particularly the pigs, as they begin to manipulate their position of leadership to exploit the other animals, showing that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Firstly, it can be seen how power corrupts the pigs in Animal Farm simply by their actions, which include the changing of the commandments and their manipulation of the other animals. The actions of the character Napoleon are a particular case in this argument. In the fifth chapter of the book, Napoleon ousts Snowball from the farm during one of the regular debates with the aid of his trained dogs. Napoleon, not being satisfied with the amount of power that he currently had, decided to expel Snowball from Animal Farm with the support of his trained dogs. He did this in blatant disregard to the second of the Seven Commandments of Animalism. "Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. (Chapter 2)" The law is written so that every animal is considered a friend. However, Napoleon chose to treat Snowball as an enemy because Snowball's
Shooting an Elephant - Orwell's insecurities prompted the murder of a defenseless animal.
Jordan Fife 1 English 1 David Zehr 03-01-03 Shooting an Elephant: Orwell's Insecurities Prompted the Murder of a Defenseless Animal The short story "Shooting an Elephant", by George Orwell, is a narration that subtly discusses Orwell's motives for killing an escaped elephant. As a sub-division officer for imperialist Britain in 1936, Orwell attempts to keep the favor of the native townspeople where he is stationed and to avoid humiliation. The townspeople of Burma neither favored nor respected Orwell until an event occurred that would allow a character opinion to be made. The event was a disruptance where he had to shoot an elephant for the alleged safety of the public. Orwell is not motivated to kill the elephant for the safety of the public, but by his fear of his own insecurities that plague him. Orwell is uniquely susceptible to peer pressure and pressed forward to action through humility. Upon initial assessment of the situation that would test the strength of Orwell's character he concludes "at that distance, peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow. I thought then and I think now that his attack of "must" was already passing off; in which case he would merely wander harmlessly about until
Overview of Animal Farm
Overview of Animal Farm George Orwell (who's real name is Eric Blair) wrote animal farm in 1943 to describe how he felt about dictators and leaders during revolutions. A good example of this is Russian revolution (the events of which are paralleled in Animal Farm), Orwell believe that once leaders had achieved their goal, they should resign and let the community take over and a committee should make the decisions. However in the Russian revolution Josef Stalin (the leader in this case) did not resign and (in my words) became corrupt, as he thought that Capitalism no longer communism was the best way to go, the idea that the original plan that even was equal got thrown out the window after the revolution. People greed and hunger for power is overwhelming and each time someone has obtained this power it has been met with by conflict. The only way the human race has progressed (shall we say) is by the slaughter of one another. Most wars are a good example of this. However when someone does come to total power (totalitarianism) the community don't realize what power they have in these situations. If one worker refuses to do his duty then he is met with conflict and is set t death or another form of punishment, but if the mass of them form together and protest then there is little that the person with total dominance can do, he has to met the problem with another solution than
