“Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell Essay Example for Free

xix lxxxiv by George Orwell Essaynineteen Eighty-Four is George Orwells unswervingly grim vision of a dystopian future. The author always think it as more warning than prophecy, so that even though its title date has passed, its lessons about the dangers of con figity, rational coercion, and verbal deception retain their validity and relevance. The overbold depicts a world divided into three totalistic superpowers that are constantly at war with one another Oceania, prevail by the former unite States Eurasia, dominated by Western Europe and Eastasia, dominated by China and Japan. Since the novel belongs to the genre of the dystopia, a negative Utopia, much of its content is necessarily involved in describing Oceanian associationnot only in the features of its e rattlingday life, much of which reflects British life in 1948 (a year whose inverted minutes may absorb suggested the novels title), still also in detailed explanations of the historical origins of Ingsoc and Oc eania, as well as its official language, Newspeak. DiscussionA key ingredient in this chilling documentation of eroding forgiving license is its depiction of a corrupted language, Newspeak, Orwells brilliant rendering of that degraded language of politicians and sophists which hides sort of then reveals truth. (Orwell, 19) Orwell, rather clumsily in the view of some critics, gives much of this information in the form of a book-within-a-book, the supposed handbook of the revolutionaries, and an appendix to the novel itself about Newspeak.The purpose of Newspeak was to drastically reduce the number of words in the English language in order to eliminate ideas that were deemed dangerous and, most importantly, uncontrollable to the totalitarian dictator, Big Brother and the Party. Thought crime, the mere act of thinking about ideas like emancipation or Revolution, was punishable by torture and brainwashing. Newspeak was the sinister answer. A character in 1984 describes it succinctl y Do not you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of mentation?In the end, we shall make thought crime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to register it. The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought as we understand it now. Is our real world today, at the beginning of the new millennium, so very different on a fundamental level from what Orwell predicted? There have been countless refutations of the 1984 dystopia Totalitarianism is on the wane, Communism is dead, there is more prosperity, more community, more freedom than ever before.(Orwell, 37) Arguably, on a geo-political level, the orbicular information economy has promoted the causes of peace and freedom, preventing potentially worse atrocities and repression in hotspots such as China and the Balkans. The butt joint line is you have no freedom, no power, you feel no need or desire for freedom or power, and, whats worse you do not even know that you do not have it. epitomeCritics of every aspect along the political spectrum, no matter what their views about the validity of Orwells affable analysis in Nineteen Eighty-Four, agree on one thing Considered politically and historically, Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the most important books of the twentieth century. The bleakness of its vision of a totalitarian society became a profound warning, and Orwells accuracy was attested by dissidents in Eastern Europe and Russia some(prenominal) before and after the dissolution of the Soviet empire Orwell, said a Russian philosopher, understood the soul, or soullessness of Soviet life.Not only did the words Newspeak and doublethink enter the English language but Russians refer to the Novoyaz of communist Party language. (Orwell, 67) Some critics have pointed out that another layer of meaning exists within the novel. They connect Orwells dissection of Oceanian society to his portrayal of his depressing and unhappy preparatory sc hool days, which he discussed in his essay such(prenominal), Such Were the Joys (1952).Young English boys were removed from the warmth and security of their families, mini-societies governed by love and respect, and hurled into a world dominated by fear, repression, and an all-pervading sense of guilt. There, Orwell was imprisoned not only in a hostile world but in a world of good and evil where the rules were such that it was actually not possible for me to slip by them. In such a society, rebellion or even dissent becomes almost impossible, and even personal relationships are viewed with hostility and suspicion by the ruling class, that is, the masters and proprietors of the school.(Orwell, 81) Conclusion As a accredited anti-utopian novel, one in which the horrors of totalitarianism are amply illustrated, Nineteen Eighty-Four serves as a poignant reminder of the preciousness of free thought and an open society and whatever the author has predicted in this novel has one way or the other turned out to be true.Works Cited Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York Harcourt, Brace Co. pg 15-129.