So for the first lit analysis of the year, I was going to do some big remix or something that would be different. But, unfortunately, I didn't set time aside to brainstorm a good remix. So I thought, you might as well start off in the traditional style, and answer some questions. Here it goes!
1984 by George Orwell
GENERAL
1. The story is set in the year 1984, with a protaganist named Winston Smith. He's the typical Party member, goes straight to work then back home again, day in and day out. To the Party, he's one of many. Yet inside his mind, he secretly rebels against the Party and its leader, Big Brother. It starts out with Winston writing down his thoughts, a dangerous crime already, to having an affair with a young woman named Julia, to actually joining the rumored rebel group The Brotherhood. In the end, all turns to be a lie, and the Party reveals that there is no Brotherhood, and that Winston has been under surveillance the whole time. After a long period of torture and re-learning, he is set out in the public again, back to being the Party member no one cares about. This narrative could have been written to prevent this sort of tyrannical government from coming to power, and written as a sort of possible future if this came to pass.
2. There are plenty of themes that all fall under the big one of this totalitarian government. Orwell's intention is to show the dangers brought on by this government. They controlled the minds and the physicalities of their citizens, and left the proles to rot. By continuously participating in war, they brainwashed their citizens to hate and to rejoice in wartime victory. Also there is the control of every thing that the Party members see: newspapers, TV, books, music, all kinds of information. The government controlled the past, present, and eventually the future.
3. The tone varies throughout the book, depending on Winston's mood. Sometimes, Winston sounds anxious and stressed, knowing that what he's doing and thinking is criminal. "He could not help feeling a twinge of panic. It was absurd, since the writing of those particular words was not more dangerous than the initial act of opening the diary; but for a moment he was tempted to tear out the spoiled pages and abandon the enterprise altogether." pg. 20 Other times, during the period of his affair with Julia, he sounded at peace and even happy, but most definitely caring for Julia. "He had the feeling that he could get inside it, and that in fact he was inside it, along with the mahogany bed and the gate-leg table, and the clock and the steel engraving and the paper-weight itself. The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal." pg. 154 There was also at times where he sounded angry but at the same time was cool. "He had got to plunge into the filthiest of filth. What was the most horrible, sickening thing of all? He thought of Big Brother."
4. Irony - ex. The names of the four ministries in relation to their jobs: Ministry of Truth covered up the past and changed it, Ministry of Love had to do with policing and torture, Ministry of Plenty worked on rationing, Ministry of Peace had to do with war affairs. Also the slogan of the Party: "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH"
Allusion - ex. the book alludes to previous totalitarian governments such as the Nazis, Mussolini, and the Soviet Union.
Foreshadowing - ex. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Foreshadowing of something wrong, since clocks don't strike thirteen.
Motif - ex. a recurring feature would have to be the Newspeak word doublethink, which is a major part of the Party government. Newspeak itself is also a motif.
Colloquialism - ex. the dialect and accents of the proles "'Beg pardon, dearie,' she said. 'I wouldn't 'a sat on you, only the buggers put me there. They dono 'ow to treat a lady, do they?' She paused, patted her breast, and belched. 'Pardon,' she said, 'I ain't meself, quite.'"
Symbolism - ex. The Chestnut Tree Cafe, The Bells of St. Clemens nursery rhyme
Juxtaposition - ex. Newspeak words such as goodsex, crimestop, bellyfeel, doublethink
Paradox - ex. Doublethink
Flashback - ex. Winston has flashbacks of his childhood and his marriage to Katherine.
Climax - ex. Winston and Julia getting caught by the Thought Police
Tragedy - In a way, 1984 does remind me of a tragedy. The ending isn't as disastrous as you'd think, but if the Winston of the past saw what would happen to the Winston of the future, I'm sure he'd find it disastrous.
CHARACTERIZATION
1. Examples of indirect characterization are the times when Winston writes in his diary. "April 4th 1984...there was a middleaged woman might have been a jewess sitting up in the bow with a little boy about three years old in her arms. little boy screaming with fright and hiding his head between her breasts as if he was trying to burrow right into her and the woman putting her arms round him and comforting him although she was blue with fright herself, all the time covering him up as much as possible as if she thought her arms could keep the bullets off him." pg. 10 Also every time he looks at a picture of Big Brother, you can see his secret dislike and harboring fear come out. Examples of direct characterization would be like after his first journal entry. "He wondered again for whom he was writing the diary." and "He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that no one would ever hear."
2. The syntax and diction change when Orwell focuses on Winston. Every other character is described normally and unextraordinarily. But when the focus is on Winston, it changes to more philosophical thoughts and writing.
3. Winston Smith is a round and dynamic character. He starts out as a cautious yet secretly rebellious citizen who is afraid of the Party and Big Brother. He then changes to a more relaxed and ready for action person, having an affair and joining the Brotherhood. Then, thanks to physical and psychological torture, he turns into the desired Party member, follower of Insgoc, and lover of Big Brother.
4. After I was done reading the book, it felt as if I had just learned a sort of history or government lesson. This book showed a very good representation of what a world run by totalitarian governments could be like, and how they take control psychologically and physically.
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