1984
(George Orwell)
Orwell was
writing this novel in an age of totalitarianism, mainly in Spain, Germany, and
the Soviet Union. The publication year also coincided with the establishment of
the Communist Party in China in 1949. These governments had iron curtains
around their populations, suppressing their freedoms and strictly controlling
their actions. That is why the novel is overrun with ideas of hunger, forced
labor, mass torture and imprisonment, and perpetual monitoring by the authorities.
Orwell had spent time in Spain during the peak of their Fascist regime as a
correspondent for the BBC, and he was very disappointed with how that
administration (which he initially had a great deal of faith in to assist the
country) turned against its citizens. He felt their media was nothing more than
a propaganda machine, hiding the truth and inflating half-truths to disillusion
the masses. This is likely to be the reason why Winston Smith, the main
character in 1984, also works for a media agency, since it is through his
actions that the reader knows how deeply the Party affects and controls any
public expression. It is also Winston?s exasperation with this manipulation
which spurs on his rebellion to the Party. Orwell must have seen and strongly
disproved of this manipulation in his own experiences.
The novel is also set in a state of perpetual war, since Orwell was writing
right after World War II, coming off the tails of World War I. (It is
interesting how Orwell uses the slogan War is peace to describe the motives of
the Party. ? see summary for Part Two, Chapter Nine) Orwell was able, in his
travels, to see the experiences of the masses in Spain, Germany, and the Soviet
Union, on which he bases the condition of the proles in the novel and the suffering
expressed in Winston?s childhood. Orwell creates a dystopia in the novel, which
is the opposite of a utopia, thereby establishing a model of what the world
should NOT become. He is therefore suggesting the qualities of a utopia, which
would be the opposite of the conditions found in Oceania, like ample food,
freedom of expression, and self-determination.
Resumos Relacionados
- 1984
- Nineteen Eighty Four
- Nineteen Eighty-four
- Nineteen Eighty-four
- 1984
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