Preview

Orwell's Influence in 1984

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1768 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Orwell's Influence in 1984
Anthony Bernard-Sasges
5 May 2012
Orwell’s Influence in 1984 Influence--from the day one is born to the day one dies, this constantly affects people in their lives. All of this experience is then reflected in everything that they do. One will never forget the most powerful memories he or she has, they will be forever ingrained in their minds. George Orwell, a British writer during the twentieth century, wrote his famous novel in the wake of the World Wars that had rocked the entire globe. In 1949, he published 1984 . This novel is about a future in Oceania, where the citizens are ruled by a totalitarian government called The Party. Winston Smith, the main character, works for Big Brother, the government, but secretly hates The Party and dreams of rebelling against Big Brother. Orwell introduces the ideas of total government control, such as thoughtcrimes, which are illegal thoughts. Not only does the government control its citizens’ actions and words, it also controls their thoughts in 1984. This novel was influenced by many of Orwell’s previous experiences.
This influence came from a few books written during Orwell’s time. For example, when writing 1984, Orwell was influenced greatly by We, a satire depicting the destruction of a totalitarian state, and by the exile of its writer, Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin (Frodsham 143). Just like We, 1984 is a satire about the destruction of a totalitarian government. In addition to We, Orwell 's book bears a similarity to Arthur Koestler 's Darkness at Noon, which had been published a few years prior to 1984. Similar to Orwell’s, Koestler 's book depicts the horrors of a totalitarian state (Rehnquist 986). The characters share similarities as well. The relationship between Winston and O 'Brien in 1984 is very complex and the only human interaction between two characters in Orwell 's novel. This relationship can be compared to the one between Rubashov and Gletin in Koestler 's Darkness at Noon, written a decade before 1984



Cited: Frodsham, John David. “The New Barbarians: Totalitarianism, Terror and the Left Intelligentsia in Orwell’s 1984.” World Affairs 147.3 (1984-1985): 140-3. Web. Köseman, Zennure. “Textual Horizons Considered in an Age of Global Crisis: George Orwell’s Coming Up for Air, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.” 1178-84. Web. Ranald, Ralph A. “George Orwell and the Mad World: The Anti-Universe of 1984.” Novels for Students. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Farmington Hills: Gale Research. 251-4. Print. Rehnquist, William H. “1984.” Michigan Law Review 102.6 (2004): 983-6. Web. Tyner, James A. “Self and Space, Resistance and Discipline: a Foucauldian Reading of George Orwell’s 1984.” Social and Cultural Geography 5.1 (2004): 131-46. Web. Wilson, John Howard. “Brideshead Revisited in Nineteen Eighty-Four: Evelyn Waugh’s Influence on George Orwell.” Papers on Language and Literature 47.1 (2011): 4-7. Web.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Cited: 1. "1984 by George Orwell. Orwell, George. 1984. Ed. Erich Fromm. New York: Harcourt, 1949.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Warning of 1984

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages

    George Orwell’s novel 1984 is a political novel written with the intent of warning readers of the dangers of communism and totalitarian governments. Secker and Warburg published the novel in 1949. Orwell’s motivation for writing this piece came from his time serving as a reporter during the Spanish Civil War. There he witnessed first hand the atrocities committed by the fascist government. The rise of Hitler in Germany and Stalin in Russia also served to inspire Orwell’s hatred of political authority.…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Orwell, George. 1984. Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, 1997. The Complete Works of George Orwell. 2003. Web. .…

    • 1320 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 Essay

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rai, Alok Orwell and the Politics of Despair. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1988.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A major theme for both of Orwell’s works is the idea that people, ignorantly, don’t care about what they say or think, and then because they don’t have minds of their own they are easier to manipulate. In his Politics and the English Language, Orwell says how people don’t think about what they are writing and how they have no control over their own mind as ready-made phrases fill their paper and their mind. Then in 1984, Orwell takes this idea a step further showing how easy a civilization of thoughtless ignorance can become one of mindless devotion towards the government. In the book the characters lose their sense family ties, lose sense of time, they lose emotions, they lose their individuality, they lose their ability to remember the past,…

    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    George Orwell writes his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four not as a story of fiction but as a warning about the dangers of totalitarian control. The concepts of free enterprise and individual freedom no longer exist in 1984, all of the power is split into three groups Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania. In his novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell uses certain literary devices, introduces new linguistic concepts and uses propaganda techniques to suppress freedom, controlling the people and forming a totalitarian society. Orwell introduces two new linguistic concepts in 1984; newspeak, and doublespeak. Newspeak is used by the Party to reduce and limit thought, and simplify the english language to the bare minimum. Doublespeak, on the other hand, which is commonly used by Party members to distort the actually meaning of words, and use the words against those who do not understand what they mean. George Orwell uses the propaganda tactics of “plain folks,” as well as the use of the Big Brother posters to achieve the idea of suppressing freedom. By utilizing propaganda techniques, introducing new language concepts and using literary devices, Orwell successfully warns us about the potential dangers of totalitarian control in our society today.…

    • 1818 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the year of 1949, George Orwell saw a possible future from his reflection of the totalitarian regimes of World War II and experience in Spain as well as Russia, especially with Stalin. This would culminate into the novel known as 1984, in which the Party and their leader – Big Brother – have complete control of the nation known as Oceania, where everyone is under constant surveillance by the Thought Police. The story is set in London which has decayed just as much as the people’s souls and minds, shown as a “negative utopia”.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 has many qualities that can be pointed out in a very long and thorough paper. But this paper will focus on just a couple. In George Orwell's Novel 1984 the protagonist shows various transitions in his attitude and life style.…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 Essay on Power

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Orwell wrote 1984 almost forty years before the actual year of 1984, in response to Russian totalitarian government. In the novel, Oceania controls everything: what people eat, where they live, who they marry, and their thoughts. Posters saying “Big Brother is watching you” and telescreens allow government to keep a close eye on society while pressuring people to always love Big Brother and the Party. The government is apathetic towards people’s happiness and lack of privacy; having full control over people and society is the government’s only concern. Orwell symbolizes Russian government and control through Oceania. He communicates his views on totalitarian governments by creating dreadful living conditions and rebellious characters within his novels. A government with excessive power will destroy blitheness; as time passes, creating change in a powerful government is impossible. The novel is the story of an ordinary man, Winston, and his attempt to rebel and promote change against the Oceania. By the end of the novel, he failed in his rebellious attempt after being beaten, tortured, and starved in the Ministry of Love. Oceania convinced society that the government was perfect by controlling their beliefs.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1984 by George Orwell, novelist and essayist creates a dystopian novel that features his frightening vision in 1949 of the world we were soon to become. Orwell’s purpose in this passage is to convey the effect of Winston's stolen and mysterious past. Orwell uses foreshadows and symbols. He adopts a nostalgic and mysterious tone in order to hypothesize a horrific ending.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    I chose George Orwell as my author to research because I was interested in learning more about the man behind the novel “1984.” 1984 is a deep novel that is about three totalitarian nations that are always at war with each other in disputed territories so that they can maintain “peace” at their home territory. The three nations are Oceania, Eurasia, and East Asia. The government’s control over their country and populace makes Soviet Russia look like a democracy. The main character and narrator, Winston Smith lives in Oceania and he works for the Ministry of Truth that edits historical records so they agree with what the government says. I do not why the government even to trouble of doing that because 90-95% of the population cannot read books and the 5-10% that can are the ones running the country. Overall, I wanted to know what in George Orwell’s life inspired him to write the novel 1984 and what experiences in his life helped him write 1984.…

    • 1711 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 vs Brazil

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cited: Orwell, George. 1984: A Novel. New York, NY: Published by Signet Classic, 1977. Print.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel 1984, George Orwell demonstrates to the people of the future how one governing body can manage to manipulate a whole country such as Oceania. Throughout our past we have seen totalitarian governments take absolute control over their countries. Some examples of leaders of countries that have demonstrated a totalitarian regime are Hitler and Stalin in World War II. Totalitarianism is a manipulative dictatorship that strives to limit the freedoms, abolish individuality, and brainwash its citizens (dictionary.com). In the totalitarian society of Oceania, people are controlled in every possible way. Rhetoric and language are constantly used by Big Brother, the figurehead leader, to maintain power over the society. Newspeak uses meaningless words to keep the thought of rebellion and freedom out of peoples’ minds. Doublethink encourages people to hold two contradictory ideas at once, accepting them both as truth. The Ministry of Truth is devoted to changing past history to conform with current government goals. The author leads us to recognize that all too often, instances of similar attempts at mind control by mass media occur in today's real world. (Johnson, Hayden)…

    • 796 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Orwell vision of 1984 was shaped by his experiences though out his time as a volunteer in the Spanish civil war and upon returning to Britain post-war when the country was a place of shortages and rationing. Orwell struggled against fascism, but was intent on destroying its anarchist and Trotskyist allies. The defeat of fascism involved the success of and the emergence of the USSR as a great power. Orwell was deeply concerned about this fact. Orwell remained a believer in the fundamental goodness of the “common people”, the workers or “proles”. Due to Orwell’s personal circumstances, his fading life expectancy from tuberculosis may have influenced the bleak creation of the world that is “1984”.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength. The party slogan of Ingsoc illustrates the sense of contradiction which characterizes the novel 1984. That the book was taken by many as a condemnation of socialism would have troubled Orwell greatly, had he lived to see the aftermath of his work. 1984 was a warning against totalitarianism and state sponsored brutality driven by excess technology. Socialist idealism in 1984 had turned to a total loss of individual freedom in exchange for false security and obedience to a totalitarian government, a dysutopia. 1984 was more than a simple warning to the socialists of Orwell's time. There are many complex philosophical issues buried deep within Orwell's satire and fiction. It was an essay on personal freedom, identity, language and thought, technology, religion, and the social class system. 1984 is more than a work of fiction. It is a prediction and a warning, clothed in the guise of science fiction, not so much about what could happen as it is about the implications of what has already happened. Rather than simply discoursing his views on the social and political issues of his day, Orwell chose to narrate them into a work of fiction which is timeless in interpretation. This is the reason that 1984 remains a relevant work of social and philosophical commentary more than fifty years after its completion.…

    • 4323 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Good Essays