George Orwell, 1984 (1949)

Introduction

George Orwell is one of the renowned novel authors not only in the England, but also throughout the world. One of his novels that earned him fame is known as Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949.  The 1984 (1949) novel has been described as a dystopian, which was published way back in the year 1949. The novel was set within an environment of Airstrip One, which was formerly known as the Great Britain, a province that is located in super-state Oceania; whose inhabitants have suffered from perpetual war, ever present government surveillance as well as public manipulation. Most importantly to note is that George Orwell was able to write this insightful 1984 novel in 1949. This novel represented the Orwell’s closer future and it represents the present people’s recent past. Other than the 1984 novel, the other famous book by George Orwell is called The Animal Farm. However, the contents in the novel are still relevant even in the present day; the reason being that it depicts the kind of government known as totalitarian alongside its themes that are based on media manipulation, and also improved technology to control the masses. There are many different characters in the book and one major one, other than the characters, the book has also presented different themes for instance the theme of justice. This essay examines an analysis of the 1984 novel, which was written and published in 1984.

Characters in the Novel 1984   

There are numerous supporting or minor characters in the novel that is made up of co-workers at the Ministry where both Julia and Winston were working, and there were also other prisoners at the prison where Winston was jailed towards the end of the book. It is important to remember that there were only a few major characters in the book. Winston is the protagonist character. Winston is employed at the Ministry of Truth that changed the government’s history. He tried to dissent but was captured by one O’Brien. Winston betrayed his wife and committed himself to the Party once again. Just like Winston, the author has presented Julia as the clandestine insurgent against the party. Winston and Julia are having a romantic affair. When Julia and Winston were finally separated from one another towards the end of the book, Julia also ended up being tortured and was released to the community only after she accepted to betray her own values. O’Brien was depicted as a secret insurgent within the party by the author, though he has always made himself to appear as a party loyalist. He had for seven years tried to set a trap for the purposes of tricking Winston. The leader of the party and also the government has been nicknamed by the author as Big Brother. There is a strong propaganda that claims that the Big Brother is watching over everyone. Due to the importance and the symbolic nature of the name Big Brother, the name was being adopted by each subsequent elected leader of the party and the government; this will make the party to be forever strong and live forever. The other character in the novel 1984 is called Mr. Charrington. Mr. Charrington owns a shop and is the Winston’s landlord. Mr. Charrington is involved in a selling some black market ancient commodities like papers and pens. Mr. Charrington is also betraying Winston. He has been depicted by the author as a being a spy on Winston and Julia while they are having their affair and thereafter reports them to the Thought Police. It is later revealed at the end of the novel that Winston is indeed married to one Catherine. However, Winston and his wife Catherine have divorced. They decided to end the marriage after they tried and were able to get children. It has also been mentioned in the novel that Winston has a fierce feeling towards his ex-wife Catherine.

Themes in the Novel 1984 by George Orwell

  There are numerous various themes that have been presented in the novel by the author. One of the themes that have been openly depicted in the novel is the justice. According to Awan, the idea of Justice is a significant topic in the novel. The world’s renowned philosopher called Plato first defined the concept of justice as the interest of the stronger. Most importantly to note is that George Orwell had predicted in 1949 that the concept of justice would play a critical role in the society of 1984. Some of the major characters in the book have got different understanding of justice, as compared to how it is understood by the societies where they live in. according to Orwell, there is an extremely totalitarian government that rules the society referred to as the Party. The Party has introduced some Tele-screens that would be monitoring the activities like movements, and conversations where people were involved in. the author has depicted the people or the citizens of Oceania, which is located in the Air Strip One, as people who are psychologically manipulated and strongly believes on the three main slogans of the Party. Some of these three Party’s slogans include: Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, and War is Peace. The people of Oceania have been so radicalized that they cannot dare question anything that the Party is telling them or any new law that they have enacted, however much the thing or the law might be weird or detrimental to them. The citizens were made to believe that crimes only takes place when people or an individual refuses to fully agree to follow everything that the Party has instructed or say. It is important to note that the kind of justice that has been described in the book is different from the ordinary justice that many people know about.

The Party points out that individual who commits criminal activities stop being person; as a result they become extinct, and anything or record about them is wiped out, or better still they be admitted to the Ministry of Truth, where the party will attempt to break them, coerce them into loving the Party leader nicknamed Big Brother. This kind of act is quite pertinent because for the justice to be served, which in their view is about having every Oceania to develop affection for the Party and nothing else, and any other person should be wiped out or brainwashed. Most importantly to note is that an application of technology in this novel is quite pertinent because it is the only way for which the justice is served. Some of the modes of technology that have been used in the 1984 novel include: cameras, microphones, and Telescreens that covers the entire nation. Every conversation among the citizens is recorded and kind of action is noted down. Basically, this novel is trying to portray how tyrannical governments perceive oppression of the people to be the description of justice. According to Woodcock, the term justice is subjective, and it has been presented in different perspectives within the 1984 novel; it depends on the setting of the society and the ability of the Oceania citizens to come up with their own justice against the laws that have been enacted by the Party. In the novel 1984, the author is trying to caution the audience of what the world look like should have there been a totalitarian government. The author has depicted the kind of justice that is being portrayed in the novel as something bad; this is because the justice being described in the novel refers to the following of rules and not moral justice as expected.  

An Analysis of the Novel 1984

George Orwell has unwaveringly depicted a grim vision of a dystopian prospect. Most importantly to note when the author published the book in 1949, he planned to use it as a tool for cautioning rather than as a prophecy; so that although the date on its title has passed, the teachings concerning the dangers of conformity, mental compulsion, and the verbal deception keep their soundness and relevance. The author’s calculative use of clear and comprehensible language makes the strange world of 1984 understandable to every level of the audiences. It is also quite fascinating on how the author used the theme of personal individuality as well as human emotion, mostly love, attempting to discover themselves despite the relentless pressure of the modern industrial state has recurrent plea to young adult readers or audiences. The novel portrays a world separated into three authoritarian superpowers that are ever battle with one another. The first one is Oceania which is purely dominated by the previous United States; the Eurasia, which is dominated by the Western Europe; and Eastasia that is purely dominated by China and Japan. Considering the fact that the novel belongs to the genre of the dystopia, an unenthusiastic Utopia, most of its contents are necessarily engaged in describing Oceanian community; not only in the features of its day to day life, most of which portraying British life in 1948. There are also detailed clarifications of the historical background of Oceania and Ingsoc, and also its official language known as the Newspeak. The author, in away ineptly in the view of some critics, provides most of information in the image of a book-inside- a book; the believed handbook of the revolutionaries alongside an appendix of the novel itself concerning the Newspeak.

It is until the second major part of the book when the story really starts. Winston Smith who is one of the few protagonist characters in the story, is a writer for the Ministry of Truth, which was ironically named. The main job of Winston in the Ministry of Truth is about assisting the unending rewriting of the history so that it is in line with the pronouncements and predictions of the Big Brother who is the leader of the Party. The Big Brother has been presented by the author as a mythical ruler of Oceania, and has minions in the Inner Party who are however, omniscient and omnipotent. Winston was born in the year 1945, and was named after the Britain’s war leader called Winston Churchill; is seen to be unclearly remembering the life before the revolution took place and creation of the Ingsoc. He is slowly but steadily beginning to believe that life is not always going to be miserable, dreary, deadening, and mechanical as it seen Oceania, though he had ways of proving it. There is also another person employed at the Ministry of Truth is a woman known as Julia. Winston is suspecting that Julia has been sent to spy on him; ironically Julia became attracted to him. The audience can see that Julia and Winston have entered into a complex, and risky love affair that they were both convinced inwardly could only end up into a disaster.

The major event in the novel has been developed around another character known as O’Brien one of the trusted Party members. Winston has been presented in the novel as having been vaguely drawn towards this character; offers some sought of hope when Julia and Winston becomes convinced that he is a secret member of the Brotherhood. Brotherhood is a group that is committed in overthrowing the Big Brother and the Ingsoc. However, as the audience can see, O’Brien turned out to be having a divide loyalty. Towards the end of the novel, the readers can see that there is a graphic that details of the torture of Winston and was unconditionally converted into supporting the Party and the Big Brother. This is a clear sign of betrayal in the story. To fulfill this acceptance, Winston is depicted by the author to have mastered the mental skill of doublethink. According to Orwell, doublethink is a kind of true control that consists of the power having two contradicting beliefs in an individual’s mind at the same time, and being able to accept all of them at the same time. To some of the people criticizing, the depiction and explanations in this part of the novel are the weakest parts of the book. This occurrence resulted into Winston’s betrayal of the love that he has for Julia. Winston has been portrayed as a broken man by the author, and is disgustingly set free to spend his final days in a half-alcoholic stupor. Winston does not mind cheering up huge mythological victories of the forces of Oceania as he is waiting for the unavoidable bullet in the back of his head. It is quite important for the readers to note that the story has ended with a chilling and painful unforgettable sentence; “He treasured Big Brother.”

Conclusion  

Generally, the author has insightfully explored the idea of future for the many years he has been writing. The reason why the idea of future is quite interesting is because it will forever remain to be a mystery. The reason why the future will forever remain to be a mystery is that it will always change and never ends. For instance, in the novel 1984 by George Orwell has is seeing ruminating on his thoughts and dreams on how the future will be. Orwell wrote the book in the year 1949, during the era of post-modernism. Finally, the books that are meant for postmodernism normally express the thinking about the future.

Bibliography

Awan, Abdul Ghafoor, and Syed Ahmad Raza. “The Effects of Totalitarianism and Marxism towards Dystopian Society in George Orwell’s selected Fictions.” Global Journal of Management and Social Sciences 2, no. 4 (2016): 21-37.

Orwell, George. “Nineteen Eighty-Four. 1949.” The Complete Novels 7 (1990).

Orwell, George. “The principles of Newspeak.” Nineteen Eighty Four (1949).

Woodcock, George. The crystal spirit: a study of George Orwell. Schocken Books; Montreal: Book Centre, 1966.