The Relevance of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four to the Contemporary Socio- Political Scenario (original) (raw)

A Moving World: George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four

2020

In 1983 a specific paradigmatic way of reading Orwell’s novel develops, which closely associates the novel with the threat of technological data surveillance. While the novel was traditionally interpreted allegorically, this new paradigm re-conceived the novel as a dystopian vision of West Germany’s future. The novel’s impact for an emerging movement against data surveillance becomes explainable against the backdrop of the communication patterns of the peace movement of the early 1980s. The paradigm of interpretation developed by the movement against data surveillance drew from the dystopian communication cultivated by the peace movement as a means of mobilization. It gave expression to a world experience of political activism. The novel’s form-language created a chain of equivalence (Laclau/Mouffe) between the peace and data surveillance movement. Identity between the movements emerged through the dystopian pattern of communication. The dystopian paradigm actualized this pattern an...

ORWELL AND 1984 TODAY: GENIUS AND TUNNEL VISION (2019, 14,500 words)

Disputing the Deluge

Orwell, as he himself said, came from a lower, professional service fraction of the English and imperial ruling class that was “simultaneously dominator and dominated” (R. Williams), so that a combination of State and monopoly power became his major nightmare. His horizon was as of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 a revolutionary socialism committed to freedom and equality, opposed both to Labourite social-democracy and to Stalinist pseudo-communism. I concentrate on 1984, drawing on narratology (its agential system, spacetime descriptions, and composition -- “the Winston story,” the “Goldstein excerpts,” and the Appendix on Newspeak) and historical lessons. I conclude that 1984 has an interesting but limited “Tory anarchist” stance and horizon: being revolted against the rulers but not believing the revolt can succeed (in direct polemic with the Communist Manifesto). In Orwell‘s view there are “three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle and the Low,” but the mindless and passive Low reduce this to the Middle against the High, or intellect and impotence vs. cynical power. No economics entails here no class struggle and a fair amount of misogyny. Orwell‘s textural skill was penetrating, but his thematics very limited. Still, he was one of the first to notice the long-duration slide of politics toward fascism is, even if he drew a wrong consequence from it, as evident in his early conflation of Stalinism and Nazism into the untenable “totalitarianism.” 1984 remains a concerned, appealing, and in some ways useful text that lacks wisdom.

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: How a Utopia Turned Out to Be a Dystopia

Modernism and Postmodernism Studies Network, 2020

As a literary period, modernism indicated the birth of the new ideas and approaches to art. This period from a political aspect also marked the beginning of the expansion of socialism; for this reason, the literature portrayed the division between the ideas of right-and left-winged intellectuals and how they visualised their ultimate utopias which were based on the political ideas they supported. In time, because of the idealistic approaches of the writers to the issues around them, their realities became a subjective reflection of their political beliefs since their works were highly influenced by them and eventually they started to produce the propaganda of their political views in their literary works. With Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell aims to portray his fears about the future by creating a society in which the external reality is controlled by the authority. In the novel, Orwell reflects the fragmented mind of the modern people through the conflict between his protagonist Winston, who wants to protect the last traces of his humanity, and the Party members that aim to reduce humanity into hollow beings by producing their version of the actuality. As a modernist writer, within the novel, Orwell both experiments with new forms and subject matters with the way he illustrates the psychological effects of constant warfare and criticises the people who have the power in his society for focusing on the control they have over the majority instead of encouraging enlightenment for he believed that their utopia originated a dystopia.

To Narrow the Range of Thought : Language, Power and Satire in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

2004

, for making my student days truly enjoyable. Susan Jackman for much-appreciated proofreading in the final stages of writing. My friends and family for all their encouragement, especially my father for technical support. Eva S. Braaten for her tasty sandwiches, helpful editing skills and invaluable presence. Contents Chapter 1: Introduction The problem to be investigated Why I write: introduction to Orwell Theory and method Chapter 2: Characterization and narrative perspective The characterization of Winston Smith Perspective and narrative sympathy Chapter 3: Newspeak and the voices of the Party Newspeak The falsification of history Party propaganda Chapter 4: The satire of Nineteen Eighty-Four Genre issues Satire and the political anti-utopia Chapter 5: Conclusion References

The Brutality of Political Pressure Towards Citizens in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four

A Thesis of The Brutality of The Goverments Towards Society, 2019

This study aims to investigate and finds out the Brutality of Politics Pressure towards citizens. Therefore, political pressure on society has been restricted and seizes the space of freedom for the citizen to thought and acts as reflected in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. The objectives of the study is a novel entitled Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell’s. It used observation sheet as the research instrument and the data collection was based on the library research. This is a descriptive qualitative research. That used Genetic Structuralism theory by Lucien Goldman. By using Genetic Structuralism and sociological approach, the analysis of the study was conducted through the discussion of the brutality of political pressure through the binary oppositions found in the novel, and the discussion of the interpretations of freedom as a representation of the citizens worldview are found by the real evidence through the article that described. The research indicates that: 1) The communi...

Did George Orwell Know the Mind of Our Present Oligarchs?

Did George Orwell Know the Mind of Our Present Oligarchs?, 2022

Why Orwell? It would seem that literary commentary on this famous British author is almost exhausted. Every generation sees Orwell's novels reprinted and re-interpreted to fit new circumstances. He has at various times been claimed, almost as a patron saint, by the political left, the political right, the Congress of Cultural Freedom, and the anti-Soviet cold-warriors, as well by sundry libertarians, anarchists and many others. Here we shall examine certain aspects of Orwell's greatest work Nineteen Eighty-Four. It would be a mistake to categorize Nineteen Eighty-Four as strictly a work of fiction. Orwell's participation in the Spanish Civil War and his wartime employment writing propaganda for the BBC contributed directly to what he writes. In one sense, his story is autobiographical , but it is from his insights into those experiences that he constructs his fictitious yet nightmarish vision. Orwell himself was decidedly a socialist, but on terms devised strictly by himself. He was never comfortable as a member of any organized political party, and his experience fighting for the Spanish Republic in 1937 turned him permanently and vehemently against the Soviet Union. As he grew older, most who knew him identified his outlook as "anti-totalitarian," a slippery connotation, because it tended to group him-at least in establishment lexicon-with snakes such as Hannah Arendt. But the truth is that Orwell can not be categorized or pigeon-holed. I urge every person to actually read Nineteen Eighty-Four. Memorizing trite phrases like "Orwellian" or "Big Brother" simply does not do justice to what Orwell presents. The intention of this piece is not to draw direct parallels between what is written in Nineteen Eighty-Four and the political/cultural climate of today. What is more relevant is to take what Orwell struggled to put on paper and to reflect upon how his vision relates to what Lyndon LaRouche called the "Oligarchical Principle.

Propaganda and Surveillance in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four: Two Sides of the Same Coin

2010

Propaganda and surveillance are pervasive in contemporary society. Extensive literatures have developed around each. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is an important point of reference in both literatures. Orwell takes both propaganda and surveillance to extreme limits: total surveillance and total propaganda. Writing them large he brings important aspects of each into sharp relief, which is why his novel has the iconic status that it does for theorists in both literatures. However Nineteen Eighty-Four is of interest not just for its potential contribution to theorizing about propaganda or about surveillance. Propaganda and surveillance in the novel are not just accidentally related but essentially linked. I show how they work not just individually but in tandem in Orwell's text, playing complementary roles in an absurd project of total social control directed not just at behaviour but also thought. Relating propaganda and surveillance in a sustained and systematic reading of the novel reveals it to be an even richer resource for theorizing about either surveillance or propaganda than it is when read, as it typically is, with an emphasis on one or the other. Additionally, from a literary perspective this reading opens up what I believe is a fresh perspective on the novel and makes it more inviting for a thoughtful and rewarding reread.

The Political Hegemony in Orwell's 1984

2020

This research aims to explain the way of Big Brother uses his power to shape the social behaviorand mindset in the 1984 novel. Then the writer will analyze on how Winston as the main characterto fight against hegemony and power of the party. In this study, the writer used the qualitativemethods to describe the research of the problem through text, it is literary works studied. The writeralso uses dynamic structuralism approach and hegemony theory to analyze the research of theproblem. To collecting data, the writer review the 1984 novel and some supporting data like readingbooks and internet that related support research. After doing analysis, the results of researchexplained that in shaping the mindset and social behavior in the 1984 novel, Big Brother usedseveral ways such as Telescreen, Tought Police, Four Ministries, The Movie of Two Minutes Hate,and Newspeak. Afterword, Winston using multiple ways against the regime of Big Brother. Some ofthe ways are sex, write down all of the...