George Orwell and 1984

The Dreamer and the Nightmare

George Orwell 1903-1950

• British novelists and essayist.• He was born Eric Arthur Blair the son

of a British civil servant in India—a part of the elite.

• His mother, of French extraction, was the daughter of an unsuccessful teak merchant in Burma. The family moved back to England just after his birth

• His mother, although not a marcher, was involved in the women’s suffragette movement.

• Their attitudes were those of the "landless gentry," as Orwell later called lower-middle-class people whose pretensions to social status had little relation to their income.

• Orwell was thus brought up in an atmosphere of impoverished snobbery. • He declared very

early that he wanted to be a writer.• He was accepted to Eton, one of the most prestigious schools in England • Did not graduate and instead joined the Burmese police.

• He wrote the novel Burmese Days and two brilliant autobiographical sketches, "Shooting an Elephant" and "A Hanging," classics of expository prose

• Strong sense of the oppressive role of the British Empire although a clear understanding of the short comings local power strife as well.

• He returned home, gave up his commission and wrote.• Then came a general strike in Britain in which the conservative

government sided with the business.

• Then he began to write professional both in England and in Paris. (Many of the expatriates of the season were there; Himgway Fitzgerald and Joyce). Down and out in Paris and London.

• He experienced poverty first hand—the truth of things posing as a tramp in England.

• Writing did not pay enough and eventually became a school master. He worked on Down and Out and began to use his name “George Orwell” after the river he had crossed regularly to work.

• The change in name corresponded to a profound shift in Orwell's life-style, in which he changed from a pillar of the British imperial establishment into a literary and political rebel.

• The Road to Wigan Pier An important project suggested by his publisher Victor Gollancz led t to Orwell spending time investigating social conditions in economically depressed northern England.

• The world depression provided a major victims of social injustice and the demise of the capitalist system.

• New government systems: fascism and later communism.

The Spanish Civil War• In general there was the rise of totalitarian

governments in Europe.• A left leaning but democratically elected

government in Spain, the Popular Front, faced a military coup d'état by General Francisco Franco.

• Orwell joined many other volunteers to fight for the the Popular Front.

• During the war because his group did not follow the party line they were labeled as Fascist betrayers.

• Homage to Catalina is his autobiographical experience in the war.

World War II and the 1940s• During the War worked with the BBC• Had a literary radio show included TS Eliot as a reader.

Married• Left the BBC and became a literary editor (adopted son)

may have served as inspiration for Winston's position at the Ministry of Truth, and perhaps for Newspeak.

• Worked on Animal Farm but no one wanted to admit that “Uncle Joe Stalin” was the villain that Orwell knew he was.

• After the war published Animal Farm brought him independent wealth. Wife died unexpectedly

• His health waned from a long history of lung problems.• 1984 was a huge success but his health failed and ended

up in a Sanitarium. Died of Tuberculosis in 1950.

Extraordinary skill as an Essayist: "Politics and the English Language" (1946)

• The essay criticized "ugly and inaccurate" contemporary written English.

• Orwell said that political prose was formed "to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.“

• This unclear prose was a "contagion" which had spread even to those who had no intent to hide the truth, and it concealed a writer's thoughts from himself and others.

• Orwell advocates instead Plain English

• The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.

• Orwell points to several sources of debased writing:– Dying Metaphors– Operators, or Verbal False Limbs– Pretentious Diction–Meaningless Words

1984: Origins of the Text• “To make political writing an art.”• “My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, an

sense of injustice”• “. . .There is some lie I want to expose, some fact to which

I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.”

• The novel was written in 1948—too close so he flipped the last two numbers.

• Like many others, Orwell was dismayed as Stalin’s brutality became known to the outside world.

• The novel is an overt criticism of Stalin and especially his rearranging of the truth.

Origins

• 1984 stems from literary traditions reaching back to the earliest of storytellers. Among the literary traditions that Orwell uses is the concept of utopia, which he distorts effectively for his own purposes.

• Utopia, or Nowhere Land, is an ideal place or society in which human beings realize a perfect existence, a place without suffering or human malady. Examples go as far back as Plato’s Republic right through to the El Dorado chapters in Voltaire's Candid.

• Orwell did not originate this genre. In fact, the word utopia is taken from Sir Thomas More's Utopia, written in 1516. The word is now used to describe any place considered to be perfect.

Science Fiction• Only the Industrial Revolution does a new

kind of story telling arise that uses the speculation of science to create fascinating possibilities—scientific romances.

• Dystopia—a modern vision (adds technology).According to science fiction writer

Robert A. Heinlein, " realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method."

Verne and Wells

• The European brand of science fiction proper began later in the 19th century with the scientific romances of Jules Verne (1828-1905) and the science-oriented novels of social criticism of H. G. Wells (1866-1946).

• The differences between Verne and Wells highlight a tension that would exist in science fiction throughout its history.

The question of whether to present realistic technology or to focus on characters and ideas has been ever-present, as has the question of whether to tell an exciting story or make a didactic point. Orwell does both.

• 1984 describes technologies which did not exist when Orwell was writing. But the idea is vital, general warning that the humanity of mankind could be removed and yet life would continue on.

Orwell’s primary goal in 1984 is to demonstrate the terrifying possibilities of totalitarianism.

What 1984 is not

In his 16 June 1949 letter to Francis Henson of the United Automobile Workers about the excerpts published in Life (25 July 1949) magazine and The New York Times Book Review (31 July 1949), Orwell said:

My recent novel [Nineteen Eighty-Four] is NOT intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party (of which I am a supporter), but as a show-up of the perversions . . . which have already been partly realized in Communism and Fascism. . . . The scene of the book is laid in Britain in order to emphasize that the English-speaking races are not innately better than anyone else, and that totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere.

Characters of 1984• Winston Smith-- The reader experiences the nightmarish world that

Orwell envisions through the eyes of the protagonist, Winston Smith, a quiet 39-year-old man living in Oceania in the year 1984. A Party member, Winston works at the Ministry of Truth correcting "errors" in past publications.

• His personal tendency to resist the stifling of his individuality, and his intellectual ability to reason about his resistance, enables the reader to observe and understand the harsh oppression that the Party, Big Brother, the Thought Police institute and NewSpeak.

• He is restless, fatalistic, and concerned about large-scale social issues. • Winston is also curious, desperate to understand how and why the

Party exercises such absolute power in Oceania. Winston’s long reflections give Orwell a chance to explore the novel’s important themes, including language as mind control, psychological and physical intimidation and manipulation, and the importance of knowledge of the past.

• Julia -- Unlike Winston, Julia is neither overly speculative about, nor troubled by, the Party. Rather, she possesses a mix of sensuality and practicality that enables her to plan their affair with ruthless efficiency and then enjoy it with abandon. Julia also lacks Winston’s fatalism. When he tells her, “We are the dead,” she replies calmly, “We’re not dead yet.”

• Julia is untroubled and somewhat selfish, interested in rebelling only for the pleasures to be gained,

• Although not involved for ideological reasons, she produces some of the most astute analysis of the Party in the novel. Her understanding of sexual repression as a mechanism to incite “war fever” and “leader worship” renders her sexual activity a political act

• O’Brian-- A prominent Inner Party member with whom Winston feels a strange bond. Winston feels that even if O'Brien is an enemy, it wouldn't matter because he knows O'Brien will understand him without explanation.

• O'Brien is a large, graceful, and clearly intelligent man who leads Winston to believe he is part of “The Brotherhood” an underground movement against the Party, but in fact helps turn Winston in for thoughtcrime and tortures him in the Ministry of Love. (Room 101)

• O'Brien is full of strange contradictions. He can be fatherly - and even tender - even while fanatically expressing his devotion to the Party by torturing Winston.

Some Minor Characters• Big Brother Leader of the revolution “is watching you” (exist?)• Ampleforth A coworker of Winston's, and a poet who works in the Records

Department rewriting politically or ideologically objectionable Oldspeak poems. By the end of the novel, Ampleforth is in prison along with Winston, for, he believes having left the word "God" in one of his poems.

• Syme A "friend" of Winston's and a philologist working on the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary. Although Winston dislikes Syme, he enjoys having somewhat interesting conversations with him. Winston notices that Syme, although a devoted Party member, is too smart and too vocal for his own good.

• Tom Parsons a heavy, sweaty, simple man whom Winston despises for his unquestioning acceptance of everything the Party tells him. his daughter eventually denounces him to the Thought Police, claiming he was saying "Down with Big Brother" in his sleep. Winston sees Tom while imprisoned in the Ministry of Love, and Tom is ironically proud of his seven-year-old daughter for having done her duty.

• Katharine Winston's wife, who never appears directly in the book but is discussed at some length. Winston describes her as "unthinkful" and claims she was absurdly devoted to the Party, to the point where she referred to sleeping with Winston to produce offspring as her "duty to the Party.“

• Mr. Charrington The owner of the antique shop where Winston first buys his diary, pen, and later on a glass paperweight. Actually a member of the thoughtpolice.

• Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford Three Inner Party members wrongly arrested in 1965 and forced to incriminate themselves of various crimes,

• Starving Man A man briefly placed in Winston's holding cell who is clearly being starved to death. When told to go to Room 101 he tells them to take the man who offered him food (Bumstead) instead - anything but 101.

• Bumstead A prisoner in the Ministry of Love who offers the starving man a piece of old bread.

Major Themes

• Totalitarianism• Propaganda• Love/Sexuality• Independence/Identity• Music• Loyalty• Poverty vs. Wealth• Technology• Language

Newspeak• Some Newspeak words highlighted in the text include:

– Ingsoc - English Socialism– Doublethink - The ability to simultaneously think two

opposing thoughts.– Thoughtcrime - Anti-Party thoughts– Facecrime - Occurs when the face reveals the existence of

thoughtcrime (either lacking in anti-Party vigor, or expressing distaste for Party actions).

– Goodthinkful - Describes a person who thinks just as the Party wishes. Winston describes his wife Katharine this way.

– Speakwrite - A machine that transposes spoken word into written word.

– Unperson - Someone the Party has vaporized; someone that no longer exists.

– Doubleplusungood - Extremely bad.

Sites Cited

• “About 1984” Cliffnotes http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/1984-About-1984.id-90,pageNum-2.html

• BBC version of 1984 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hATC_2I1wZE

• George Orwell page from United Architects Writers http://danliterature.wordpress.com/nineteen-eighty-four-by-george-orwell/

• Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language.” (1946) Dr. Rearick’s Reading Corner. http://nzr.mvnu.edu/faculty/trearick/english/rearick/readings/manuscri/short_wo/essaypol/polang.htm

• Taylor, D. J. “The Real George Orwell” The South Bank Show (2003). YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Db3-svhC4k

• Hossick Malcom. “George Orwell: Author and Essayist” Famous Writers YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHaAB7VCWvw