Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1984): Difference between revisions
(Created page with "a dystopian novel and "cautionary tale" by British socialist writer George Orwell * "dystopian" = * Orwell himself called the book a great warning * critics have called it a prophetic (predictive of the future) as well as a warning we will refer to it as "1948" here * == Background == * the book was written a few years after the end of World War II * and the creation of the United Nations (UN) ** Orwell had called for the UN's "Universal Declaration of Human Right...") |
|||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
a dystopian novel and "cautionary tale" by British socialist writer George Orwell | a dystopian novel and "cautionary tale" by British socialist writer George Orwell | ||
* "dystopian" = | * "dystopian" = "bad place" | ||
* | *cautionary tale = a story with a moral purpose, esp. to warn against bad behavior | ||
**ex. Aesop's Fables are "cautionary tales" | |||
Orwell | *Orwell saw the book as a warning | ||
* critics have called it a prophetic (predictive of the future) as well as a warning | * critics have called it a prophetic (predictive of the future) as well as a warning | ||
we will refer to it as "1948" here | we will refer to it as "1948" here | ||
== Background == | == Background == | ||
| Line 28: | Line 26: | ||
* whereas Animal Farm cautioned against totalitarian communism, 1984 also cautions against the fascism of Hitler and Mussolini (Italian fascist) | * whereas Animal Farm cautioned against totalitarian communism, 1984 also cautions against the fascism of Hitler and Mussolini (Italian fascist) | ||
* the book was in part a response to Aldous Huxley's "A Brave New World" | * the book was in part a response to Aldous Huxley's "A Brave New World" | ||
** Huxley's dystopia is of a people controlled/ enslaved by drugs and pleasure | |||
** Orwell's dystopia was violent | |||
=== Writing of the novel === | === Writing of the novel === | ||
Revision as of 14:47, 13 October 2022
a dystopian novel and "cautionary tale" by British socialist writer George Orwell
- "dystopian" = "bad place"
- cautionary tale = a story with a moral purpose, esp. to warn against bad behavior
- ex. Aesop's Fables are "cautionary tales"
- Orwell saw the book as a warning
- critics have called it a prophetic (predictive of the future) as well as a warning
we will refer to it as "1948" here
Background[edit | edit source]
- the book was written a few years after the end of World War II
- and the creation of the United Nations (UN)
- Orwell had called for the UN's "Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
- 1984 shows a world in which these rights are violated by a government
Orwell's background[edit | edit source]
- journalist, novelist and socialist reformer
- became famous with the novel Animal Farm that was a cautionary tale against and analogy of the failures of the Russian communist revolution
Novel's background[edit | edit source]
- whereas Animal Farm cautioned against totalitarian communism, 1984 also cautions against the fascism of Hitler and Mussolini (Italian fascist)
- the book was in part a response to Aldous Huxley's "A Brave New World"
- Huxley's dystopia is of a people controlled/ enslaved by drugs and pleasure
- Orwell's dystopia was violent
Writing of the novel[edit | edit source]
- completed in 1948, thus the inversion of the year
- Orwell was dying of tuberculosis while he wrote it, and will himself to complete it
Warnings & phrophesies[edit | edit source]
- excesses and dangers of democracy
- surveillance state
- whereas Orwell's warning was against state (government) surveillance
- we have in the West a pervasive corporate surveillance
- internet and cell phone tracking
- "personalized" advertising
- propaganda
- cancel culture
- disinformation
- "bread and circuses"
Cultural influence[edit | edit source]
- "1984"
- Big Brother
- New Speak
- mind control
- Thought Police