Orwell, George - 1984 (6)

1984

This is a dystopian novel because it describes a dismal society where man's instinct and intelligence and language are crushed by a ruthless all-powerful party.The story is set in 1984 On Eurasia thal symbol of total control upon the individual life Big Brother and intelligence and language are crushed by a ruthless all-powerful party.The story ibes a dismal society where man's instinct in Airstrip One (current London),onc of the biggest cities in Oceania.

The world is engaged in an everlasting war between three forces, Oceania, Eustasia fight each other stipulating alliances and breaking them.Oceania is ruled by a  mysterious yet omnipresent and overwhelming oppressor who has become the symbol of total control upon the individual life: Big Brother. This character is a clear reference to Stalin since he was called Little Father by the Russians.At the start of the novel, the narrator conducts a description of poster that portrays Big Brother's face, and deseribes the mustaches of the leader, a clear allusion to Stalin.The population isruled by the Inner Party that manages the Ministry of love, the Ministry of truth, the Ministry of Plenty and the Ministry of Peace.According to the manipulating philosophy of theruling class, the names of the ministries mean the opposite of the their real function, whereby they stands for tortures and brain-washing, propaganda and re-writing of the past, rationing and starvation, war and defense.There is also the Outer Party, to which the prolagonist belongs , and the Proles , the 85 % of the population .They receive lille education , do manual labor, live in poverty but enjoy some privacy and anonymity, and usually die by the age of sixty.The Inner and OuterParties are part of the unique Party of Ingsoc (English Socialism).Winston Smith lives in this world and is cmployed in the Ministry of Truth with the task of rewriting the Past: members of the Inner Party send him newspaper articles that have to be changed so that the only truth that will ever exist will one that Big Brother approves of. Winston is a middle aged man who wants lo rebel to this totalitarian regimc and for this reason starls writing a diary where he records his impressions and criticism of the system, this is obviously illegal and considered a thought crime by the Thought Police. When hc meets Julia and they start an affair, he feels encouraged to carry on his small rebellion. In order to keep thought crime under control, the Thought Police spies on the lives of normal people through " telescreens" that watch people's actions in evcry house and carry on the Party's propaganda Winston looks up to Emmanuel Goldstein as a model ( supposedly an enemy of the Party) and praises his forbidden book The Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism- a political essay. But Goldstein is a product of the Party, too and so a false Mcssiah. Winston gocs on with his rebellion till the day he is betrayed by O'Brien, who is not a friend but a member of the Inner Party. Winston and Julia are found out, taken to room 101, re-educated and brain-washed. The novel ends with the image of a new Winston accepting the reality of Big Brother's power, and the love for him.
Dystopia The novel does not present an ideal vision of the future but one which is negative and marked by a sense of hopelessness. The book was published in 1948 and by reversing the last to figures we obtain 1984.This symbolically suggests the idea that 1948 contained in itself the germs of a "1984". Here Orwell probed deeper into the possibilities of a ghastly dictatorship Setting The world where Winston Smith lives is grey, grim, dismal, poor, degraded, dreary, drab and without hope. There's a constant presence of dust in the air, on the plants, in the house interiors. Squalor and ugliness are pervasive. Also, lots of things are n available or are out of order. This widespread mismanagement is symbolized also by the physical infirmities of the characters: Winst urban settings are marked by poverty, hunger, miserable conditions of life. on's varicose ulcer for example. The urban settings are marked by poverty, hunger, miserable conditions of life.
The political theme. The Party seeks power for its own sake and is not a means but an end to itself. The Party, and its mysterious dictator Big Brother", control everything and everyone. The aim is that of eradicate freedom, independent thought and critical intelligence. In order to exert this absolute control the authorities continually rewrite the History/ Art books and newspapers changing events to fit the current party line on them. " If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it" (Goe manipulated, to control thought is through languag introduced in Britain. In this the number of words is deliberately cut down as to timit the danger of independent thought. Only those words and concepts that the leaders consider politically correct and socially acceptable will survive. People are forbidden to express any idea that might be seen contrary to the ideology of the Party. Propaganda corrupts the language and uses it to control and dominate.). Minds are privacy is invaded, personal resistance is broken down. Another way e Actually a new language is gradually being
2. How is POWER exerted? This totalitarian regime isolates people and brings them one against the other. Once they are alone, they can be controlled through persuasion, manipulation and propaganda. Whoever rebels against the Power is imprisoned, brainwashed and reeducated. Why doesn't the Party simply kill he rebels, why does It let them live? Simply because the Power cannot tolerate martyrs. The rebels must be deprived of their dignity of their self-respect, degraded into puppets or robots/automata. "Reintegration" consists of three phases: a Learning b. Understanding c. Acceptance. In step A Winston learns that 2+2-5 or 3 or 4 sometimes. This concept is repeated lots of times till, in the end, one starts questioning their own certainties, and will be willing to accept the new " truth". In step B Winston is forced to loak at himself as he has become: dirty, stinky a skeleton, an old broken man, In step C. In room 101 Winston is brainwashed, and must betray his loyalty to Julia. All traces of humanity will be eradicated from him, he will become one of the applauding mass. The novel ends with these final desolate words:" But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother".
3. Communication and love. Winston is lonely and looks for friendship, human contact and love. He needs to talk, to express himself and to be listened to. This is why he writes a diary. But this need to communicate and to emotionally respond to his fellow creatures is canalized into an abstract and controlled love for Big Brother. In this world love and pleasure, arts and the aesthetic components of life are exploited and controlled by the Power. The Party knows that love, physical contact, emotions are primary drives in man's life and cannot be easily controlled from the outside. So the Power prohibits intense sexual relationships. A person who loves is a person who thinks and does not conform, so the Power canalizes feelings towards pre-established aims: for example It manipulates hatred against the enemy on a given day so that this negative energy is spent at the service of the Party.

ANALISI=Science fiction novels usually present views of the civilisation of the future. Some of them present ideal visions of the future, which are commonly defined as 'utopian'. When that does not occur, and the negative vision of a future society is adopted, then we are dealing with a so called dystopian novel, characterised by hopelessness. Nineteen Eighty four falls into this category. It is set in a London of the future, where Oceania (a fictional state representing both England and America) is in perpetual war against Eurasia (the Soviet Union and its satellites). The lives of citizens are completely under the control of a Party called IngSoc (short for English Socialism). A new language, Newspeak, has also been introduced to coin words adhering to party ideology snd to gradually reduce the possibilities of the English vocabulary. The protagonist of the story, Winston Smith, is a member of the so-called Outer Party and lives his life apparently conforming to the dictums of the Party supreme leader, Big Brother. However, Winston secretly despises the existence he is forced to lead and describes in his diary his hidden feelings and desires. Becausc people are forbidden, under punishment by death, to express any idea that might be seen us contrary to the ideology of the Party, Winston writes his intimate and subversive pages in a corner of his apartment, just away from the 'telescreens', television screens that have been installed in every home to both broadcast propaganda and to spy on whoever inhabits the house. Winston, who works for the Party, becomes gradually aware of the state's manipulation and looks for a way to rebel against the tyranny of institutions. However, his attempt is discovered and Winston is tortured and brainwashed until he true loves Big Brother. Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-four when World War II had just ended, having shown the dangers of totalitarianism. Against Nazi Germany, England had been an ally of  Russia, where Stalin was continuing his despotic rule. Orwell had seen the role that propaganda had played during the conflict, and also witnessed how technology could help violent ideologies make horror tangible an pervasive. While propaganda had corrupted language and worked on the minds of citizens,tyrannies had supported their power in the increasing alienation, isolation and control of individual lives. At the time of writing, Orwell was also aware of the growing importancc of television and of its potential as an instrument of communication and persuasion. Therefore, in his portrayal of a dystopian England of the future, Orwell used many aspects of existing totalitarian  governments such as the systematic dehumanisation of people, the degradation and exploitation of language and the control of information. In his representation of the treatment of the past, Orwell explaited Joseph Goebbels's principle that 'If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. In Nineteen Eighty-four, the manipulation of past events for propaganda purposes works on the basis that if people are repeatedly told, will start are repeatedly told, for instance, that "2+2=5" they will start questioning their own certainties until they will accept new 'truth', forgetting the old one