1984 essay guide

George Orwell

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on George Orwell's 1984 . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

1984: Introduction

1984: plot summary, 1984: detailed summary & analysis, 1984: themes, 1984: quotes, 1984: characters, 1984: symbols, 1984: theme wheel, brief biography of george orwell.

Historical Context of 1984

Other books related to 1984.

• Full Title: Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel
• When Written: 1945-49; outline written 1943
• Where Written: Jura, Scotland
• When Published: June 1949
• Literary Period: Late Modernism
• Genre: Novel / Satire / Parable
• Setting: London in the year 1984
• Climax: Winston is tortured in Room 101
• Antagonist: O'Brien
• Point of View: Third-Person Limited

Extra Credit for 1984

Outspoken Anti-Communist. Orwell didn't just write literature that condemned the Communist state of the USSR. He did everything he could, from writing editorials to compiling lists of men he knew were Soviet spies, to combat the willful blindness of many intellectuals in the West to USSR atrocities.

Working Title. Orwell's working title for the novel was The Last Man in Europe .

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Essays on 1984

Hook examples for "1984" essays, the dystopian warning hook.

Open your essay by discussing George Orwell's "1984" as a prophetic warning against totalitarianism and government surveillance. Explore how the novel's themes are eerily relevant in today's world.

The Orwellian Language Hook

Delve into the concept of Newspeak in "1984" and its parallels to modern language manipulation. Discuss how the novel's portrayal of controlled language reflects real-world instances of propaganda and censorship.

Big Brother is Watching Hook

Begin with a focus on surveillance and privacy concerns. Analyze the omnipresent surveillance in the novel and draw connections to contemporary debates over surveillance technologies, data privacy, and civil liberties.

The Power of Doublethink Hook

Explore the psychological manipulation in "1984" through the concept of doublethink. Discuss how individuals in the novel are coerced into accepting contradictory beliefs, and examine instances of cognitive dissonance in society today.

The Character of Winston Smith Hook

Introduce your readers to the protagonist, Winston Smith, and his journey of rebellion against the Party. Analyze his character development and the universal theme of resistance against oppressive regimes.

Technology and Control Hook

Discuss the role of technology in "1984" and its implications for control. Explore how advancements in surveillance technology, social media, and artificial intelligence resonate with the novel's themes of control and manipulation.

The Ministry of Truth Hook

Examine the Ministry of Truth in the novel, responsible for rewriting history. Compare this to the manipulation of information and historical revisionism in contemporary politics and media.

Media Manipulation and Fake News Hook

Draw parallels between the Party's manipulation of information in "1984" and the spread of misinformation and fake news in today's media landscape. Discuss the consequences of a distorted reality.

Relevance of Thoughtcrime Hook

Explore the concept of thoughtcrime and its impact on individual freedom in the novel. Discuss how society today grapples with issues related to freedom of thought, expression, and censorship.

1984 Tone Analysis

Invasion of privacy in 1984, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

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1984 Tom Parsons Character Analysis

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1984 by George Orwell: Literary Devices to Portray Government Controlling Its Citizens

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A World Without Love: The Ramifications of an Affectionless Society in 1984

On double-think and newspeak: orwell's language, the theme of survival and selfishness in the handmaid's tale in 1984, government surveillance in 1984 by george orwell: bogus security, george orwell's 1984 as a historical allegory, exploitation of language in george orwell's 1984, how orwell's 1984 is relevant to today's audience, the relation of orwel’s 1984 to the uighur conflict in china, symbolism in 1984: the soviet union as representation of the fears people, parallels to today in 1984 by george orwell, the relationship between power and emotions in 1984, proletariat vs protagonist: winston smith's class conflict in 1984, a review of george orwell’s book, 1984, o'brien as a dehumanizing villain in 1984, family in 1984 and persepolis, the philosophy of determinism in 1984, orwell's use of rhetorical strategies in 1984, control the citizens in the orwell's novel 1984, dangers of totalitarianism as depicted in 1984, dystopian life in '1984' was a real-life in china.

8 June 1949, George Orwell

Novel; Dystopia, Political Fiction, Social Science Fiction Novel

Winston Smith, Julia, O'Brien, Aaronson, Jones, and Rutherford, Ampleforth, Charrington, Tom Parsons, Syme, Mrs. Parsons, Katharine Smith

Since Orwell has been a democratic socialist, he has modelled his book and motives after the Stalinist Russia

Power, Repressive Behaviors, Totalitarianism, Mass Surveillance, Human Behaviors

The novel has brought up the "Orwellian" term, which stands for "Big Brother" "Thoughtcrime" and many other terms that we know well. It has been the reflection of totalitarianism

1984 represents a dystopian writing that has followed the life of Winston Smith who belongs to the "Party",which stands for the total control, which is also known as the Big Brother. It controls every aspect of people's lives. Is it ever possible to go against the system or will it take even more control. It constantly follows the fear and oppression with the surveillance being the main part of 1984. There is Party’s official O’Brien who is following the resistance movement, which represents an alternative, which is the symbol of hope.

Before George Orwell wrote his famous book, he worked for the BBC as the propagandist during World War II. The novel has been named 1980, then 1982 before finally settling on its name. Orwell fought tuberculosis while writing the novel. He died seven months after 1984 was published. Orwell almost died during the boating trip while he was writing the novel. Orwell himself has been under government surveillance. It was because of his socialist opinions. The slogan that the book uses "2 + 2 = 5" originally came from Communist Russia and stood for the five-year plan that had to be achieved during only four years. Orwell also used various Japanese propaganda when writing his novel, precisely his "Thought Police" idea.

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” “Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.” “Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do doesn't matter; only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you-that would be the real betrayal.” “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” "But you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred."

The most important aspect of 1984 is Thought Police, which controls every thought. It has been featured in numerous books, plays, music pieces, poetry, and anything that has been created when one had to deal with Social Science and Politics. Another factor that represents culmination is thinking about overthrowing the system or trying to organize a resistance movement. It has numerous reflections of the post WW2 world. Although the novella is graphic and quite intense, it portrays dictatorship and is driven by fear through the lens of its characters.

This essay topic is often used when writing about “The Big Brother” or totalitarian regimes, which makes 1984 a flexible topic that can be taken as the foundation. Even if you have to write about the use of fear by the political regimes, knowing the facts about this novel will help you to provide an example.

1. Enteen, G. M. (1984). George Orwell And the Theory of Totalitarianism: A 1984 Retrospective. The Journal of General Education, 36(3), 206-215. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/27797000) 2. Hughes, I. (2021). 1984. Literary Cultures, 4(2). (https://journals.ntu.ac.uk/index.php/litc/article/view/340) 3. Patai, D. (1982). Gamesmanship and Androcentrism in Orwell's 1984. PMLA, 97(5), 856-870. (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/gamesmanship-and-androcentrism-in-orwells-1984/F1B026BE9D97EE0114E248AA733B189D) 4. Paden, R. (1984). Surveillance and Torture: Foucault and Orwell on the Methods of Discipline. Social Theory and Practice, 10(3), 261-271. (https://www.pdcnet.org/soctheorpract/content/soctheorpract_1984_0010_0003_0261_0272) 5. Tyner, J. A. (2004). Self and space, resistance and discipline: a Foucauldian reading of George Orwell's 1984. Social & Cultural Geography, 5(1), 129-149. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1464936032000137966) 6. Kellner, D. (1990). From 1984 to one-dimensional man: Critical reflections on Orwell and Marcuse. Current Perspectives in Social Theory, 10, 223-52. (https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/from1984toonedimensional.pdf) 7. Samuelson, P. (1984). Good legal writing: of Orwell and window panes. U. Pitt. L. Rev., 46, 149. (https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/upitt46&div=13&id=&page=) 8. Fadaee, E. (2011). Translation techniques of figures of speech: A case study of George Orwell's" 1984 and Animal Farm. Journal of English and Literature, 2(8), 174-181. (https://academicjournals.org/article/article1379427897_Fadaee.pdf) 9. Patai, D. (1984, January). Orwell's despair, Burdekin's hope: Gender and power in dystopia. In Women's Studies International Forum (Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 85-95). Pergamon. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0277539584900621) 10. Cole, M. B. (2022). The Desperate Radicalism of Orwell’s 1984: Power, Socialism, and Utopia in Dystopian Times. Political Research Quarterly, 10659129221083286. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10659129221083286)

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1984 Introduction

If you've ever seen the so-bad-it's-good reality show Big Brother , you should close this page right now and get back to watching, because guess what? You're already familiar with George Orwell's dystopian classic, 1984 . Phew, that was easy.

Think we're kidding?

Well, you're right, we kind of are.

But, it is worth noting that Big Brother —where contestants are constantly monitored while living in a house together— totally got its name from 1984 in what might be the most awesome interpretation of classic literature to modern day reality TV programming of all time (sorry, Shakespearean Idol ).

So, what does any of this tell us about the book itself? Well for one, if it's still getting referenced in pop culture today, then it's gotta be crazy-influential—dare we say, iconic. And considering it was written waaay back in 1949, it's managed to stay pretty darn relevant to audiences here in the present. Its message? Something along the lines of, " Don't let the government have too much power or they will make your lives completely miserable and possibly torture you for extended periods of time. "

The story takes place in the year 1984, which was still 35 years in the future when this book was published. It follows Winston , a painfully average dude who works for the Ministry of Truth, editing old newspaper articles to revise the past. In the future , life kinda sucks. The world is in a state of constant war and government surveillance is the norm—people even have telescreens in their homes that watch their every move ( sound familiar? ). 

Oh yeah, and love is outlawed. You read that right: Love is against the law.

This proves troublesome for dear old Winston when he—you guessed it—falls in love with Julia , his coworker by day and foxy undercover rebel by night. Things seem peachy at first—the two spend time in the country and find a secret room in the city where they can escape surveillance together. Maybe the future isn't so bad after all.

Not so fast.

The two become more resistant to party rule as the story progresses, until they're both found out by the Secret Police and taken to the Ministry of Love (which should be more accurately titled the Ministry of Torture and Brainwashing). We don't want to give away too much, but things go full Hostel -status and a cage of hungry rats is involved. Winston walks away a broken man.

So while we may enjoy watching Big Brother , let's just be thankful Big Brother isn't watching us … yet .

What is 1984 About and Why Should I Care?

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W hy's T his F unny?

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In the following essay, Ranald discusses Orwell's presentation of controlled madness and of a reversed society in his novel.

"I shall save you, Winston, I shall make you perfect." So O'Brien, the Grand Inquisitor of 1984, has said to the antihero Winston Smith, in one of the dream sequences which strangely go almost unnoticed in that inverted Platonic dialogue which is Orwell's monument. It is as if the lives of the Platonic philosopher-kings were viewed from the point of view of one of the Auxiliaries. But it is not the old style of dialogue, in which there is a certainamount of free interchange of ideas, even between master and disciple. Rather, in this new style of dialogue, one party has the ability to inflict pain on the other party in any degree desired, even while the two proceed to discuss the most abstruse political questions. Dialogue implies the...

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BUSHNELL ON BOOKS: ‘Pete and Alice in Maine’ and ‘Tributaries: Essays from Woods and Waters’

A satisfying debut novel from Caitlin Shetterly, and a collection of essays from Maine fishing guide Ryan Brod.

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PETE AND ALICE IN MAINE by Caitlin Shetterly; Harper, 2023; 256 pages, $28.99; ISBN 978-0-06-324266-2.

PETE AND ALICE IN MAINE

Marriage is not a thing, it’s a process that takes effort. French author Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) tells us just how tenuous that effort can be: “It is better to be unhappy in love than unhappy in marriage, but some people manage to do both.” And that describes the marriage of Pete and Alice perfectly.

Maine’s Caitlin Shetterly is the award-winning author of nonfiction books, but this is her debut novel, a sad, gritty, visceral indictment of marriage and parenthood that is both satisfying and profoundly painful to read. Shetterly is a very talented writer with a keen eye for character, dialogue, detail and plot, accurately portraying a toxic marriage circling the drain and everybody in the family knows it but does nothing about it.

In early 2020 Alice, Pete and their two young daughters flee New York City to their second home in Maine, to escape the Covid pandemic. He’s a Wall Street financier, she’s a mother and aspiring writer who’s never been published. Alice’s ultimatum to Peter leads to conflict and an unwelcome arrival in Maine where folks are suspicious and unhelpful.

Quarantine and months of isolation produce despair, fear, arguments, indecision and more ultimatums resulting in deep fractures in the couple’s relationship. Their daughters witness the fights and tension and are adversely affected. Alice feels she has lost her personal identity: “I woke up one day in a life I didn’t recognize.” Then she learns Pete has a lover back in the city.

When confronted with his infidelity, Pete says it’s over and he can change, but Alice knows she can never trust or forgive him. She issues a final ultimatum and then makes a frightening discovery. This is a well-written but tough read proving de Maupassant was right. Advertisement

TRIBUTARIES: ESSAYS FROM WOODS AND WATERS

TRIBUTARIES: ESSAYS FROM WOODS AND WATERS by Ryan Brod; Islandport Press, 2023; 188 pages, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-952-14376-2.

Not since Fly Rod Crosby (1854-1946) has anyone written so eloquently about fishing than Ryan Brod in his debut book “Tributaries.”

Born and raised in Maine, Brod is a registered Maine fishing guide, teaches writing at the University of New England, and is the documentary filmmaker of “Hardwater,” a 2012 movie about the tradition of ice-fishing. This book is a collection of 22 essays, stories about fishing, hunting, his father, fishing friends, other guides and New York City guide clients.

Brod’s passion of fishing seems all-consuming, as he writes about learning to fish from his father, trips to the Allagash to fish for muskie, trips to the Florida Keys to fish for tarpon, and his rapt enjoyment of ice-fishing in Maine. His stories are vividly colorful and full of angling wisdom, along with unexplained fishing jargon only a fisherman will understand: shock tippet, streamers and poppers, fluorocarbon leader.

The stories of fishing with his father are tender and loving, their easy companionship is a delight to read. Brod’s story “Lost Voices” pays heartfelt tribute to an old friend, “one of the greatest fishermen I’ve ever seen.” His story “A Day on the Ice” is hilarious, as he tells of the antics of seven young men from New York City on their first ice-fishing experience on Messalonskee Lake.

Brod also includes excellent stories of hunting moose, deer and turkey, but the fishing tales take center stage. In one he lists all the things he loves about ice-fishing, including “I love cold, still nights,” and “I love footwarmers that last till 4 p.m.” Also, learn about the wily snook, fishing etiquette, and why you don’t ever want to catch the dreaded “Duck Itch.”

Clearly, Brod agrees with the unknown pundit: “A bad day fishing is better than a good day working.”

Bill Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell.

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What Can Sankofa Teach Us?

The popular african symbol—which means ‘return to your past’—continues to guide and inspire the black diaspora.

Over the last few decades, the African American community has embraced Sankofa—a concept that calls for people to reach back to move forward. Scholar Christel N. Temple writes about the power and promise of the Adinkra symbol. Image of the Sankofa Village Community Garden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; courtesy of Yasmine Abbas, Penn State.

by Christel N. Temple | May 9, 2024

This essay publishes alongside tonight’s Zócalo and Destination Crenshaw event, “How Do You Grow a Rose From Concrete?” Register here to join the program live in-person at Crenshaw High School or virtually online at 6 p.m. PT.

Affixed on jewelry, tattoos, fabric, and home decor, and even in the pattern of wrought-iron fences in places like Washington, D.C., and Savannah, Georgia, is a heart-shaped symbol with curly circles at the top and bottom, almost like the mirroring of two S’s to make a heart.

It is one version of the popular Adinkra symbol Sankofa .

Sankofa literally means “return to your past” or “go back and fetch it.” It can also mean “it is not taboo to go back and fetch it,” which is useful as an apology (e.g., “I invoke Sankofa and wish to go back and correct what I did at yesterday’s meeting when I incorrectly accused you of wrongdoing”).

Also commonly symbolized by the outline of a bird whose head and beak are pointed backward, toward its tail, often with an egg either in the beak or nestled in the tail, Sankofa has become a cultural phenomenon. It gives a name to the African diaspora’s concerns for heritage, legacy, authenticity, and dignity—in the U.S. and beyond.

Sankofa belongs to a communication system called the Adinkera, or Adinkra, which comes from present-day Ghana and Ivory Coast—key West African regions from which African Americans’ ancestors came.

After Ghana’s independence from Britain in 1957, the country’s first prime minister, Kwame Nkrumah, instituted a national policy to revive and celebrate the Adinkra system, particularly the concept of Sankofa. Nkrumah also welcomed the descendants of enslaved Africans to repatriate, or at least visit, the nation. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou, Malcolm X, and many other artists, activists, and culturally curious African Americans began making trips to Ghana in the late 1950s, where they would have likely encountered Adinkra symbols and philosophies. Scholarship around the Adinkra started to become more visible stateside, too, beginning in 1983 with the publication of Ivory Coast anthropologist Georges Niangoran-Bouah’s The Akan World of Gold Weights .

The concept of Sankofa resonates with core aspects of African American culture and life. The ideas of “return” and “back-to-Africa” anchor African American nationalist thought. Even more pervasive in Black people’s consciousness is the endearment of Africa as a homeland. By reflecting folk narratives presenting flight as self-emancipation and escape from enslavement and oppression, Sankofa embodies a sense of love, affection, respect, and sacred remembrance that affirms African American cultural uniqueness and celebrated difference. The principle of Sankofa is a reminder that “flight” and “return” go hand in hand. Just as peace can only come from knowing one’s legacy as well as the healing power of cultural memory.

Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima’s 1993 resistance-themed feature film Sankofa helped introduce the proverb to a wider audience. The multi-award-winning independent film begins in contemporary times, with a culturally unaware African American model doing a photoshoot on the same Ghana beach where the historic Elmina enslavement fort still stands. The model then travels through time to the enslavement past and discovers the sacredness of how her ancestors survived through revolts and sacrifice. Rich in themes of communalism, revolt, Pan-Africanism, and intellectual agency, Sankofa is a revolutionary vision of enslavement courage. In the years since its release, it has attracted a cult and cultural following.

The Sankofa cultural explosion continues in high schools and colleges today. In Black Studies classes, teachers introduce Sankofa to newer generations through the film and as an example of African philosophy. For many, it is a new and inspirational experience that reinforces the educational goals of historical recovery and presents the rich intellectual tradition of the African world. In practices of Black psychology, Sankofa grounds wellness and renewal in ancient wisdom. And in literary analysis, Sankofa is a paradigm that asks readers to map the ways characters of African descent travel and explore heritage homelands. This travel is often multidirectional and involves not just Africa, but also the Americas, the Caribbean, and even Europe.

But Sankofa is most visible outside of academia, in the explosion of businesses, schools, and community engagement projects that have embraced the name “Sankofa.” Represented by familiar icons (a heart, a bird) rather than some of the less familiar geometric shapes in the Adinkra, Sankofa holds immediate, recognizable visual appeal. While community institutions may not necessarily have a deep understanding of Sankofa’s precise Adinkra meaning, Sankofa has also been embraced by some as a general African/Black legacy concept that communicates that they are proud agents of a global heritage.

Consider just a sampling: Sankofa Kitchen (Dallas); Sankofa Arts Lounge (Dallas); Sankofa Research Institute (Houston); Sankofa Village for the Arts (Pittsburgh); Sankofa African and World Bazaar (Baltimore); Sankofa Church (Atlanta); Sankofa Community Discount Card (Atlanta); Sankofa Initiative (Jacksonville); Sankofa Creations Spalon (Jacksonville); Sankofa Jazz Festival (Miami); and Sankofa Soul, the sponsor of music festivals in St. Lucia, Curacao, Brooklyn, and Coney Island.

For hundreds of years, African Americans have used everything from storytelling to art to religion to keep their heritage alive in a hostile U.S. In 1991, African American archaeologists even discovered Sankofa symbols in a colonial-era African burial ground during a high-rise construction project in lower Manhattan; that site is now a national monument . Such relics from the past, like the Akan gold weights that fueled commerce for 500 years, show the depth and longevity of the ancient traditional West African roots of African Americans.

The knowledge imparted by African ancestors—an inheritance forcibly taken away, though never completely lost—has endured, yet African Americans revel in the more recent awareness of the vast Adinkra system because it is specific amidst a cultural history that largely has been a generic remembrance.

Imagine the possibilities for cultural reclamation and enrichment if the African American and diasporic communities continue to utilize not just Sankofa but the wealth of philosophies shared within the entire Adinkra system. Because among its symbols lie universal wisdom around the human capacity to heal, to repair, to renew, and to return.

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1984 George Orwell

1984 essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of 1984 by George Orwell.

1984 Material

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1984 Essays

The power of thought as tangible resistance anonymous 12th grade.

In George Orwell’s renowned novel, 1984, the protagonist, Winston Smith continues to preserve his normal, day to day tendencies while secretly questioning the rigid policies of Oceania’s ominously dark society privately within his mind. Although...

The Reflection of George Orwell Crystal Epps

"On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it...

Totalitarian Collectivism in 1984, or, Big Brother Loves You Tiffany Shropshire

Following the political upheaval and struggle for power after the second world war, George Orwell's novel 1984 cautions against the dangers of oppression and exemplifies the consequential nightmarish world of the near future. The plot traces the...

Sex as Rebellion Joe Ward

The opening of Book Two of 1984, in which Winston meets Julia and begins the erotic affair he has so deeply desired, commences the main section of the novel and strikes an immediate contrast between the two lovers. Unlike Winston, Julia is neither...

Class Ties: The Dealings of Human Nature Depicted through Social Classes in 1984 Zachary Zill

In George Orwell's 1984, the differences and relationships between the proles, the Outer Party, and the Inner Party reflect different aspects of human nature and the various levels of the human psyche. The most base, savage level of humanity is...

1984: The Ultimate Parody of the Utopian World Anonymous

"When Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1515, he started a literary genre with lasting appeal for writers who wanted not only to satirize existing evils but to postulate the state, a kind of Golden Age in the face of reality" (Hewitt 127). Unlike a...

Class Conflict: Winston Smith in George Orwell's 1984 Sarah Standish

The title year of George Orwell's most famous novel is nineteen years past, but the dystopian vision it draws has retained its ability to grip readers with a haunting sense of foreboding about the future. At the heart of many of the issues touched...

Methods of Control in 1984 and Brave New World Anonymous

The difference between the methods of control in 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD is the difference between external control by force and internal control, enforced only by the citizen's own mind. While 1984's method has real-world precedent and seems...

Time in Modernist Literature Nathan Ragolia

Perception of time represents a major motif in modernist literature. Many works address the subjectivity of our experiences, including how we process and consider the passage of time. Due to the modernist and post-modernist emphasis on style and...

The Impossibility of Redemption for Winston Smith in 1984 Timothy Sexton

In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith cannot escape the state's domination. Yet his inability is not only because of government power. Rather, even if he did have an opportunity to leave Oceania, his actions indicate that he would not have the...

Selfishness and Survival in The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984 Soh Li Yin

Are Winston, Julia and Offred eventually made into ‘reluctantly-selfish’ victims of totalitarian regimes or are they innately ‘pragmatically-selfish’ beings? Discuss in relation to The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984.

Offred and Winston, the main...

Power and Emotion in Orwell’s 1984 Anonymous

“How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?” O’Brien asks. Winston’s answer: “By making him suffer” (214). These two characters inhabit George Orwell’s vision of a future totalitarian government that has evolved to its most...

Imagery of Totalitarianism in Nineteen Eighty-Four Elizabeth Marcil 11th Grade

In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell uses several literary techniques to develop the theme that totalitarianism is destructive. He does so by using extensive imagery, focusing on the deterioration of the Victory Mansions, the canteen where...

Pursuit of Truth in 1984 Anonymous College

Contemporary political discourse often references George Orwell’s 1984 as an example of how government interference infringes on our rights as individuals while we remain complacent in the face of these violations. For example, the falsification...

Victorian, Romantic and Modernist Literature: Style as Cultural Commentary Anonymous College

Tony Harrison’s “A Cold Coming,” William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and George Orwell’s 1984 each display distinct sensibilities that reflect the time from which they emerged....

The Currency of Power in 1984 Katherine Knapp College

The power of words is enough to control an entire nation. Although many would consider physical power and brute force to be absolute power, George Orwell’s 1984 demonstrates a dystopian society where language is the ultimate form of power. The...

Orwell's Language: Thought Control Tom Armstrong College

George Orwell’s 1984 portrays a dystopian society whose values and freedoms have been marred through the manipulation of language and thus thought processes. Language has become a tool of mind control for the oppressive government and...

The Freedom to Be Dominated: A Historical Comparison of 1984 to Communist Russia Anonymous 11th Grade

A government of an ideal society is meant to represent the people. It is the people’s choice to support, to select, and to seize government. The idea of open communication is employed as a way for people to choose the best representative. With the...

Models of Rebellion in 1984 and V for Vendetta Joseph Latorcai 12th Grade

Problems faced by characters in literature often repeat themselves, and when these characters decide to solve these standard problems, their actions are often more similar than they first appear. This idea is evident when comparing the actions...

Freud's Impact on 1984 Anonymous College

In his treatise Civilization and Its Discontents , Freud makes an interesting statement about advanced society. He argues that “the price of progress in civilization is paid in forfeiting happiness through the heightening of the sense of guilt,” to...

O’Brien’s Moral Dehumanization: Villainy in "1984" Dylan Kostadinov 10th Grade

“Nobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories.” According to George R.R. Martin, an estimable American novelist, an individual's perspective ultimately decides whether he views himself as a protagonist and deems...

Rebellion Across Media: Analyzing "1984" and "Metropolis" Joonhwy Kwon 12th Grade

George Orwell’s 1984 (1949) is a cautionary novel which explores a dystopian society mired in propaganda and totalitarianism. Similarly, director Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) is a critique of a futuristic world where growth and industralisation...

Totalitarian Techniques in 1984 and Red Azalea Anonymous 10th Grade

In order for one to exist in a totalitarian society whose government is successful in its control, one must deal on a day-to-day basis with strong persuasion and propaganda. These totalitarian societies have an iron grip on their people, leaving...

Humanity's Fear: A Comparison of 1984 and Metropolis Anonymous 12th Grade

The fear of a dystopian future that is explored in both Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis and George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four is reflective of the values of the societies at the time and the context of the authors. As authors are considered...