How is Orwell's attitude towards totalitarianism personified through the characters of Winston and O'Brian in this extract?
How is Orwell's attitude towards to totalitarianism personified through the characters of Winston and O'Brian in this extract? George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four presents a negative utopian picture, a society ruled by rigid totalitarianism. The government that Orwell creates in his novel is ruled by an entity known as 'Big Brother' and in contrast to this, Winston Smith represents a rebellion, one which doesn't accept this ideology fed to him. Thus leading to his entrapment and confrontations with the complex character, O'Brian. Although the action deals in the future, there are a couple of elements and symbols, taken from the present and past. So for example Emanuel Goldstein, the main enemy of Oceania, is, as one can see in the name, a Jew. Orwell draws a link to other totalitarian systems of our century, like the Nazis and the Communists, who had anti-Semitic ideas, and who used Jews as so-called scapegoats, who were responsible for all bad and evil things in the country. Emanuel Goldstein somehow also stands for Trotsky, a leader of the Revolution, who was later, declared as an enemy "Within twenty years at the most, he reflected, the huge and simple question, 'Was life better before the Revolution than it is now?' would have ceased once and for all to be answerable". Another symbol that can be found in Nineteen Eighty-Four is the fact that Orwell divides the
Some readers have felt that, even allowing for the bleakness of the times in which he lived, Orwell's vision in Nineteen Eighty Four is excessively grim and pessimistic. Explore various aspects of the novel from this perspective.
Some readers have felt that, even allowing for the bleakness of the times in which he lived, Orwell's vision in Nineteen Eighty Four is excessively grim and pessimistic. Explore various aspects of the novel from this perspective, explaining how far you would agree with such a view. Orwell's views throughout '1984' are grim and pessimistic in relation to his personal experiences and how he interprets the world, as we know, and what it may become. The possibility of a totalitarian society, which he so fears, is the reason that his views in the novel are as bleak as they are, and why he has created this dystopia for the reader to fear. From the first page of the novel it is already clear in the readers' minds Orwell's bleak picture of the places he describes. The continent of Oceania entails only sordid living conditions and strict government controls, a situation far away from the world that we live in today. There are very few positive images in the novel, and even then these are ambivalent. Julia is described as beautiful, but previously in the novel Winston thinks about her; "Winston had disliked her from the very first moment of seeing her". It is clear that Orwell was intent on setting a grim tone for the novel to reflect the highly grim content. I believe he created this world to reflect the mood of the time as realistically as possible. The Second World War had only
Animal Farm - Snowball's Diary
Animal Farm Snowball's Diary 8th March Old Major died in his sleep today. He had known that his time was near. He gathered us all into the barn only 3 days previously and spoke openly of the wisdom he had gained over the years and of the strange dream that he had. He spoke of how we are all comrades. He asked what kind of life do we have? 'Miserable, laborious and short.' We are given only so much to eat that will keep us breathing and give us the strength to carry out a days work and no more. We are pushed to the limits and when we are not capable of carrying out our duties we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. Most animals do not know the meaning of happiness because they do not live beyond 1 year. The life of an animal is misery and slavery. Remove man from the scene and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever. Man is lord of all the animals, he makes them work, gives food enough to prevent us from starving and keeps the rest for himself. He is very selfish he is our enemy. He spoke of Rebellion and how we must fight when the time came for future generations to carry on the struggle until it is victorious. Little did we know the Rebellion was going to start so soon. 1th March Napoleon and I decided to hold meetings during the, week to discuss and prepare for the Rebellion if it was to happen. Today I was talking to my comrades about how we
George Orwell ResearchEric Arthur Blair was born in 1903 at Motihari in British-occupied India
George Orwell Research Eric Arthur Blair was born in 1903 at Motihari in British-occupied India. While growin up, he attended private schools in Sussex, Wellington and Eton. He worked at the Imperial Indian Police untill 1927 when he went to London to study the poverty stricken. He then moved to Paris where he wrote two lost novels. After he moved back to England he wrote Down and Out in Paris and London, Burmese Days, A Clergyman's Daughter and Keep the Apidistra Flying. He published all four under the psuedonym George Orwell. He then married Eileen O'Shaughnessy and wrote The Road to Wigan Pier. Orwell then joined the Army and fought in the Spanish civil war. He became a socialist revolutionary and wrote Homage to Catalonia, Coming Up for Air, and in 1943, he wrote Animal Farm. It's success ended Orwell's financial troubles forever. In 1947 and 48 despite Tuberculosis, he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. He died in 1950 (Williams 7-15). This essay will show and prove to you that George Orwell's life has influenced modern society a great deal. BIOGRAPHY In 1903, Eric Arthur Blair was born. Living in India until he was four, Blair and his family then moved to England and settled at Henley. At the age of eight, Blair was sent to a private school in Sussex, and he lived there, except on holidays, until he was thirteen. He went to two private secondary schools: Wellington(for one
Who is the hero of Animal Farm?
Who is the hero of Animal Farm? The novel Animal Farm was written in 1945 by author George Orwell. George Orwell was the pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair, he was a British writer born in Motihari, India in 1903. Animal Farm is a novel based on the lives of a society of animals living on the Manor Farm. Although the title of the book suggests the book is merely about animals, the story is a much more in depth analysis of the workings of society in Communist Russia. The animals are used as puppets to illustrate how the communist class system operated, how Russian citizens responded to this, how propaganda was used by early Russian leaders such as Stalin and the effect this type of leadership had on the behaviour of the people of Russia. Mr. Jones' principles and harsh mistreatment of the animals that Napoleon adopted proves to the reader that communism is not equality, but just another form of inequality. What qualities make a hero? Are they a large number of good deeds or something to do with one extraordinary event/achievement? Could it be the stereotype-cliché superhero meaning, maybe it's someone we admire? Perhaps it's someone who puts his or her own life on the line to save others- a someone with an aura of invulnerability. Many people would say that you have to be brave, fearless and courageous. Usually, in a book or film the protagonist is the hero. Boxer, Snowball
A Contrast between Winston's Relationships with Katharine and Julia and why they ultimately failed
A Contrast between Winston's Relationships with Katharine and Julia and why they ultimately failed Christianity has done a great deal for love by making a sin of it. -Anatole France Julia, 26 years old, is Winston's lover. Her name is very carefully chosen; it suggests Juliet, the Shakespearean character whose name has been connected to love. At the beginning of the book Winston hates her yet at the same time is attracted to her. A good example of this is on page 7: "A narrow scarlet sash, emblem of the Junior Anti-sex league, was wound several times round the waist of her overalls, just tightly enough to bring out the shapeliness of her hips." This extract shows that Winston hated all that she stood for; she was a Party zealot, a member of the Junior Anti-sex League, a bigoted adherent and a swallower of slogans. Even though Winston perceives her to be like that, he cannot deny his sexual attraction to her when he notices the shapeliness of her hips. Although Julia carries this atmosphere around with her, Winston's perception of her was wrong: she gives him a letter containing the words, I love you. Winston soon realises that she leads a double life; she is a member of the Ministry of Truth's fiction department yet she revels in her sexual escapades. They had an extremely shallow relationship based on their hatred for the party and their sexual desires.
''Nineteen Eighty-Four' as an extent of the Dystopia fiction
In this essay I would like to review the novel-made film ''Nineteen Eighty-Four' as an extent of the Dystopia fiction and outline some of the futures use by authors, which are typical for this genre. Nineteen Eighty-Four is Michael Radford's film based upon the novel of the same name by George Orwell. The novel treats about a bleak vision of a dystopian future where one's thoughts and action were controlled by totalitarian government. According to Wikipedia On-line Dictionary 'A dystopia is any society considered to be undesirable, for any of a number of reasons. The term is most usually used to refer to a fictional (often near-future) society where current social trends are taken to nightmarish extremes. [...] Dystopias are frequently written as warnings, or as satires, showing current trends extrapolated to a nightmarish conclusion. [...] A dystopia is all too closely connected to current-day society.'1 Dystopian genre includes films such as The Matrix, Brazil, Judge Dredd, Runner Blade and Mad Max. Genre means nothing different than a kind or style. 'In all art forms, genres are vague categories with no fixed boundaries. Genres are formed by sets of conventions, and many works cross into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. The scope of the word "genre" is usually confined to art and culture.'2 Michael Radford's film is one of the
What do you find disturbing about George Orwell's vision?
What do you find disturbing about George Orwell's vision? George Orwell's books are not conventional. They use extremely vivid and alarming descriptions to support thought-provoking subjects, and their endings are far from happy. I felt a strong sense of despair at the end of both 1984 and Animal Farm, even though I found them gripping and fascinating. George Orwell, being a socialist, was strongly opposed to totalitarian rule, and his books are clearly a warning as to how political movements can backfire. The books are influenced by events of his time, the most obvious being the Russian Revolution symbolised by Animal Farm. There are hardly any lasting aspects in either 1984 or Animal Farm that are pleasant; the themes of both books are worrying. I think that one of the worst aspects of George Orwell's vision is the systematic perversion of our feelings, emotions and instincts. In my opinion, the worst action of 'The Party,' the ruling political power in 1984 is the way it frowns upon love, a natural human instinct, and tries to completely suppress it. This is a cold, tyrannical act that destroys such a pure, selfless instinct. Love brings joy that - as Winston Smith, the main character in 1984, experiences - makes life worth living. Without love, Oceania's inhabitants are reduced to a pointless, miserable, isolated existence. I think the most depressing event in the story
Conception of the Future in 1984
Conception of the Future in 1984 "I do not believe that kind of society I describe (in 1984) necessarily will arrive, but I believe... that something resembling it could arrive. I believe also that totalitarian ideas have taken root in the minds of intellectuals everywhere". George Orwell,1949 The conception of the future portrayed by Orwell in 1984 is one of grim cautionary warning. The world of 1984 is vague enough to, still today, cause a feeling of dread at what might be. The future of 1984 is one vastly different from many previous attempts to predict the future for it does not give the future the present's prejudice about many things such as expected technologies or events. The world is recognizable using no outlandish inventions to give across the idea of a future; instead the future is represented by society and the individual. Orwell knowingly writes a future that could not be, that he knew would not come to pass as he had written it for the purpose of making it all the more enduring and the message all the more chilling. I believe he exaggerates aspects of the post-WW2 world, trends he notices and makes a general outline of where the world was, or mayhap still is, possibly headed. The oppressive nature of communism and the totalitarian regimes which had caused WW2 are oft said to be the sole or primary basis for Oceania. While this idea holds merit, I believe
Animal Farm
How does George Orwell reflect the Russian Revolution in Animal Farm? Towards the end of the First World War in 1917 the defeated Russian nation was forced to surrender to the mighty German army. This lead to the abdication of the Russian Monarchy and the installation of a liberal provisional government. Within nine month however, the provisional government was overthrown by a new system of government which had previously not been seen, Communism, which lead to the establishment of the Soviet Union. In 1945 George Orwell released his well respected satirical allegory of the communist government which was a parody of the soviet revolution in 1917. The book highlights the downfall of communism which eventually developed into a totalitarian dictatorship. In the book Snowball is a fictional character, a pig that is commonly believed to represent Leon Trotsky. The two characters display striking similarities, both appear to have the best interests of their nations at heart. Snowball is concerned with the improvement of conditions on the farm, such as the building of the windmill and the improvement of the animal's social welfare, which is apparent at the battle of the cowshed. This battle represents the civil war in Russia between the Tsarist forces and the Bolsheviks where the old regime tried to retake power. During the battle of the cowshed Snowball is in the thick of
