George Orwell

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It Describes the danger of a future world where totalitarian societies could be dominant and prevail. The writer was inspired by some totalitarian society that he could see before and during World War II.

The novel describes a future world divided into three blocks: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. The regimented, oppressive world of Oceania is ruled by the Party, which is led by a figure called “Big Brother”, and is continuously at war with the other two States. In order to control people’s lives, the Party is implementing ” Newspeak”, an invented language with a limited number of words, and threatening them through the “Thought Police”. Free thought, sex and any expression of individuality are forbidden, but the protagonist, Winston Smith, illegally buys a diary in which he begins to write his thoughts and memories, addressing them to the future generations.

SETTING

The setting of the novel is Oceania, a large country including the Americas, the Atlantic Islands, Australia and the southern portion of Africa as well as Airstrip One, previously England; the story takes place in a terrifying London in the year 1984. Oceania’s political structure is divided into three segments:

• the Inner Party, the ruling class.
• the Outer Party, that is, the population.
• the Proles, or the proletariat, the working class.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The novel is set in a state of perpetual war reminiscent of World War II. The idea for the three countries described in the book came to Orwell in 1943, the same year of the Tehrän Conference where US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met to coordinate their military strategy against Germany and Japan and to make important decisions about the post-war period. The society, although fictional, reflects the political atmosphere of the tyrannies in Spain, Germany and the Soviet Union.

THE DYSTOPIAN MINISTERS IN THE STORY

In the story there are four minister which are the opposite of their name:

• Ministry of Love (Miniluy)
• Ministry of Truth (Minitrue)
• Ministry of Peace (Minipax)
• Ministry of Plenty (Miniplenty)

THE MAIN THEMES OF THE BOOK

The main themes of the book: 1. Importance of memory and trust. 2. Abolishment of individuality and reality. 3. Satire against hierarchical societies. Memory and mutual trust become positive themes in the struggle of Winston to maintain his individuality.

characters

WINSTON SMITH → Winston evokes Churchill’s patriotic appeals during the Second World War. In him we can see: - alienation from society. - rebellion against the Party search for spiritual and moral integrity. BIG BROTHER→ Is the perceived ruler of Oceania he looks like a combination of Hitler and Stalin. JULIA → Is Winston’s 25-year-old lover; she is a beautiful dark-haired woman who enjoys sex and claims she had affairs with many Party members. She is optimistic and her rebellion is small and personal. O'BRIEN → A member of the Inner Party who tricks Winston and Julia. He is a mysterious character,

GEORGE ORWELL

George Orwell was born Eric Blair in India in 1903 and was the son of a British colonial official.Orwell was educated at Eton, in England, where he began to develop an independent-minded personality, indifference to accepted values, and professed atheism and socialism.On leaving college, he started to work for the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, but then he returned to England and he devoted himself to writing full time, publishing his works with the pseudonym of George Orwell. In 1936 he married Eileen O’Shaughnessy. In December 1936 he went to Catalonia with his wife to report on the Spanish Civil War. Back in England, the Orwells adopted an infant child and called him Richard. In 1943 he resigned and became the literary editor of The Tribune, an influential socialist weekly and in 1950 he died of tuberculosis.

GEORGE'S MAIN WORKS

Charles Dickens was a British writer, journalist and travel reporter of the Victorian age. Known as much for his humorous essays as for his social novels, he is considered one of the most important novelists of all time, as well as one of the most popular. The influence of Dickens in the choice of:

• social themes.

• realistic language.

• misery caused by poverty.

• deprivation of society.

• Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)
• Burmese Days (1934)
• The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)
• Homage to Catalonia (1938)
• Animal Farm (1945)
• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

MY PERSONAL OPINION

The book is a very beautiful story, realistic and written with great care. It is a very complex topic, not easy to read, especially for those guys of an age, in fact in some chapters it can be a bit heavy to read. It discusses totalitarianism and its oppression very well, giving a clear picture of the period and explaining internal aspects of the system in great detail. I recommend it as a read at least once in your life, because it allows you to focus on a piece of history that is often not easy to explain and make understood to other people.