7/31/2019 George Orwell - Quello Buono

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George Orwell

Orwell was born in Bengal in 1903. He was a politically committed writer (unlike modernist) of the left wing

(firstly). He was against imperialism, in fact he resigned from India, from short time, he come back in Europe,

where he became a journalist and he wrote Down and Out in Paris and London. His life was changed when he

took part in the Spanish Civil War, because he understood that left or right wing is the same, so for this reason he

became disillusioned, with Soviet and detained from them. In this period he wrote Animal farm an allegorical

fable which describe in allegoric way Russia as a totalitarian state, and 1984, which described future society in a

negative way, so as a dystopian society. 1984 1948

Nineteen Eighty-Four: The plot

It describes a totalitarian world in which every aspect of the individuals life is controlled by the presence of the

state. There are three important superstates: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. Sometimes they are in war,

sometimes they are allied, so we can say that they are ever changing.

Society is ruled by the Party

-Outer Party (members of the clergy)

-Inner Party (important people)

Society is dominated by:

-Big Brother (a face that appears on posters on the wall)

-Telescreen-Through Police

The protagonist of this work is Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party. He works at the Ministry of Truth

and he thinks that people are forced to follow the ideology of the party, they are not free! In fact, he tries to rebel

against society (in an ideal way, not real).

In the second part of the book begins a story, an illicit love affair with Julia. Renting a room, the couple are

inducted by O Brien into the Brotherhood, a legendary organization founded by Goldstein. Then they were

arrested, betrayed (traditi) by a Telescreen in the room and by O Brien (a sinister party official)

The last part of the book ends in the Room 101, where prisoners are confronted with their worst fears. Smith

makes a confession of his crime, implicating Julia in the process.At the ends of the novel, there is a broken spirit, which has no human dignity.

Features and themes

The novels title is an inversion of the year in which it was written (1948). It is a dystopian work in which Orwell

describes the society of the future in a negative way.

The society Orwell described is a society of control, dominated by mass media propaganda. Important is the

concept of the newspeak: it has the function of keeping the people under control.

Critics have underlined the prophetic quality of Orwells novel, because he describes what daily happens, and we

are led to think what they want.

Language is very important, because its a tool to manipulate people's minds!

Another important concept is doublethink: he knows that what the Party says is false, but he have to accepts it.

The Double Think is the modern way of advertising, because we are led to believe in a world where everyone is

rich, young and beautiful, but we know that it doesnt exist.

Big Brother is watching you (brano)

Nineteen Eighty-Four can be considered one of the best examples of dystopian literature, in fact he describes in a

negative way the society of the future. London is decadent, in fact the electric power system is off and there arentcolors in the city. People are under control by Through Police and for this reason they havent memories. On the

walls ofthe street there are a lot of posters in which there is the caption: Big Brother is Watching you.