Nineteen Eighty - Four Novel by George Orwell

This blog is in response to the assigned task by Dr, Dilip Barad Sir. This blog answers to the assigned question and deals with the major concern in Dystopian Social Science Fiction by George Orwell nineteen Eighty Four.

Nineteen Eighty -Four 

Dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), written by George Orwell depicts a society under a dictatorship where thoughts and actions are monitored and controlled.

The first title for this novel was The last man in Europe, but Orwell changed it because Frederic Warburg, publisher, suggested him to do so. It's unknown why he has chosen the title 1984, there is presumption that he might have been switched the numbers.

The protagonist is Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party, who lives in London and works in the Ministry of Truth. His job is to change historical information, destroy evidence, amend newspaper article and delete people identified as unperson by the Party, all that in order to portray the Party and Big Brother right and correct. He hates the government and he begins writing a diary in which he reveals his anti-government thoughts. The proles, the lowest class in the society who live without police surveillance fascinate him. He becomes friend with the the prole who owns a shop, Mr. Charrington, with whom he talk about the facts and life before the rule of Big Brother. She meets Julia, a worker in another department in the Ministry of Truth, who gives him a paper telling him that she loves him. They secretly begin a romantic relationship, renting the unmonitored room above Mr. Charrington's shop where they can meet and talk about their hopes of freedom.

What is dystopian fiction? Is '1984' a dystopian fiction?

Dystopia is the opposite of utopia: a state in which the conditions of human life are extremely bad as from deprivation or oppression or terror.  A dystopian society is characterized by human misery in the form of squalor, oppression, disease, overcrowding, environmental destruction, or war.

Dystopian fiction is usually set in the near — rather than far — future to generate urgency about real current events. Because dystopian literature and cinema is set in the future, it is by definition science fiction. However, this can also look very different than the best sci-fi movies.

One of the most famous dystopian fiction examples is George Orwell’s 1984 (1948). Orwell's book imagines what England would be like under extreme fascist or totalitarian rule, such as that of Nazi Germany or The Soviet Union. The video below summarizes the novel and illuminates its dystopian elements, including thought police and loss of individuality.

1984 has influenced countless dystopian authors since its publication and has become a cultural touchstone, commonly referenced to describe dystopian threats to the real world. 

George Orwell's 1984 is a defining example of dystopian fiction in that it envisions a future where society is in decline, totalitarianism has created vast inequities, and innate weaknesses of human nature keep the characters in a state of conflict and unhappiness.

Society in ‘1984’ is always in fear of wars, government surveillance and political oppression of free speech. Totalitarian rule destroys the individuality and identity of one. It was written after war when fascism was rising in the Soviet Union and Germany, it draws a pessimistic picture of society's ability to avoid such disasters.

What according to you is the central theme of this novel?

In the dystopian novel 1984, George Orwell's use of a totalitarian government exemplifies its themes throughout the story. Themes and motifs such as censorship, freedom, and propaganda are prevalent throughout the novel and explored through the suspense of Big Brother's control and motives. 1984 discuss various theme.

 

The Party removes the power of an individual over his mind and they use language to implant their own ideals so that they can take absolute power. The purpose of the invention of “Newspeak” in 1984 is to limit the range of thought. The Party empties the minds of the Party members and fills them with its own doctrine.

• Language as mind control/ use and abuse of language
• Class system

• political loyalty

• Totalitarianism
• Resistance and revolution

• Independence and identity

In all these various themes the major theme which stunned me and we will discuss are Language and the newly introduced term Totalitarianism.

Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is one of the major themes of the novel, 1984. It presents the type of government where even the head of the government is unknown to the public. This theme serves as a warning to the people because such regime unleashes propaganda to make people believe in the lise presented by the government. Throughout the novel, there is no proof of Big Brother’s existence in Oceania. The Party exercises complete control not only on the sexual lives of their citizens such as Julia’s and Winston Smith but also on their thoughts, feelings and even writing a diary. The overall monitoring and surveillance of the people through telescreens and subversion of history through the Ministry of Truth are some of the common casualties of such regimes. The third casualty of the totalitarianism is the truth through language. This happens in the shape of mottos such as “War is Peace.”

language as maid control

In 1984 by George Orwell, the protagonist, Winston Smith, makes observations and analyses of the institutions that control his society. In Oceania, the country in which Winston resides, language is a powerful system. Language is a method of communication used by a particular group, and in Oceania, the language they use is that of Newspeak. Newspeak is a powerful force within Oceania due to the authority that is has. However, The Party, the organization who rules the society, has control over the language. In 1984, Orwell institutions’ control over people is illustrated through Newspeak and how it is utilized in Oceania. The language gives The Party the power to control the thoughts of its citizens and alter the past and future, which aids it in upholding their ideology. Yet, this control of the language is only meant for those who have power and status in their society.

 Newspeak, the "official" language of Oceania, functions as a devise of extreme Party control: If the Party is able to control thought, it can also control action. In the year 1984, Newspeak is not fully employed, and for good reason; we would not understand the novel otherwise.

When two languages mix it enriches the language but here the party is reducing the language because one cannot think without language and they aim to control people. They are eliminating negative words e.g. the opposite of good is not bad but ungood. Today similar things we find on social media where the words like Friend and Unfriend are used, Enemy is not used. Social media majorly spreads hatred but by not using negative words they try to show that they are positive and spread love.

 “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

In the novel we clearly see the control of language through its motto ‘ war is peace, slavery is freedom’. With the help of language they try to play with their minds.

What do you understand by the term 'Orwellian'?

"Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society.

The word Orwellian has come after the dystopian writing of George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty- Four’. Generally, when one is opposing British or Mughals they are considered to be nationalist and if one is questioning their own selected ruler/ authority they are considered anti- nationalist and that is where the idea of Orwellian Theory comes from.

The primary theme of 1984 by George Orwell is to warn readers of the dangers of totalitarianism. The central focus of the book is to convey the extreme level of control and power possible under a truly totalitarian regime. It explores how such a governmental system would impact society and the people who live in it.

Write in brief about 'Newspeak' - and refer to Orwell & Pinter's essays.

The term newspeak was coined by George Orwell in his 1949 anti-utopian novel 1984. In Orwell's fictional totalitarian state, Newspeak was a language favored by the minions of Big Brother and, in Orwell's words, "designed to diminish the range of thought." Newspeak was characterized by the elimination or alteration of certain words, the substitution of one word for another, the interchangeability of parts of speech, and the creation of words for political purposes. 

Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate that is the setting of the 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell. In the novel, the Party created Newspeak to meet the ideological requirements of Ingsoc in Oceania.

The language Newspeak allows the Party to control how its citizens think and talk. The telescreens allow the Party to maintain surveillance on its citizens at all times, forcing citizens to censor their words and even facial expressions.

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