What link is there between 1948, 1984 and 2014? What has changed since the great novel ‘1984’ was written? People? Government? The purpose of this essay is to explore of the technological part of the novel and how the perception of “1984” has changed since the novel was written initially. Technology is, if not the most important, at least a key to the Party’s success. Without the advantages it has provided, no control to such extent would ever have been possible to achieve! Moreover, people’s minds after the events of World War II have been fresh and open to any information. People could accept any stories, even unrealistic to certain extent, and George Orwell knew exactly where this borderline between ‘incredible’ and ‘prophecy’ was. Author uses techniques that partially relate the novel’s story to the reader; particularly he shows the possibility of reader’s fears about the future situation in the country becoming true. Although the story on its own can be considered extreme, those techniques acquired George Orwell’s novel empathy with the reader, which made it a book of revelations of those days.
The author’s early life has influenced his style of writing of the novel “1984”. His experience in boarding school, the development of his imaginative writing skills gave George Orwell an opportunity to fantasize, or partially predict and tell the reader the extremes of a totalitarian regime, which utilises advances in technology. For many of the students at Orwell’s school, the boarding experience was awful, especially if they, like Orwell, had a bad relationship with school authorities. Teenage life may have influenced his views on authority in general, and this terrible experience left a mark on his perception of the government system of Britain, a theme to which he returns to in many of his novels. The idea of ubiquitous control that we see in 1984: telescreen, thought police, hidden microphones may have had its’ roots within his boarding school experience. We can see how he represented O’Brien, one of the members of the inner party, in one of the chapters: “a schoolmaster questioning a promising pupil“. School, in his perception, is a micro government model in which every argument, including those where you are clearly right, might lead to you being punished. Thus, it can also relate to totalitarianism. This “everything under control” school policy has led Orwell towards making his futuristic technological concept of telescreen. When someone lives in the school for too long, the inevitable pressure of being observed can gradually progress into paranoia; this paranoid way of thinking about being spied on was projected onto the telescreen: “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in a public place or within a range of a telescreen”.
One of the things that Orwell does really thoroughly in his novel 1984 is to integrate the situation. People that have historically been, or a are culturally in contact with dystopia will immediately pick up on what Winston is feeling and why he does so. But most readers these days will struggle to even understand how life under a dystopian government feels, as they never knew it. If you, as a reader, don’t understand the emotions in a book you are not likely to appreciate it. Here, Orwell does something which indicates his capability as a writer, he relates his dystopian aspects to inconveniences that everybody knows, in order for his readers to have a clue of how it feels. An example of this is how he describes the torturing O’Brien as a questioning headmaster. Everybody knows how they would feel if the headmaster of the school was shouting at them, because they have been through it. So by just using a simple metaphor, George Orwell provides a deep emotional understanding of aspects of dystopia to his readers. The author himself went to a boarding school, therefore was well educated and also learned to have free and independent thoughts. His way of thinking like a rebel probably made him hate his school so much, which maybe explains the psychology behind the fact that he chose a headmaster as a metaphor for a person that tortures.
Orwell has seen the future. Some things that he wrote in 1984 became true today, many years after. Technology has matured to an extent that makes control and surveillance very easy for those who seek it. Nowadays the trade of our data has become a source of income for many. Just one example: Amazon knows what we buy online, sells this information to facebook, so that the “social” network can catapult adverts at you which suit your interests. A few years ago only they wouldn’t know, because we would not use the internet to those things. We would go to a shop and buy our clothes, or go to the Pub to talk to our friends. In the age of mobile technology it is ridiculously easy for us to be controlled and surveilled, as everything we do electronically can be saved and traced back. And already we do so many things in our daily life, using this technology. But what does it mean for us when government agencies and IT companies and social networks that keep us addicted to their drugs know us better than some of our friends might do? Should we fear them? The question is answered in the movie I Robot, and also in 1984.
mrtoogood
What link is there between 1948, 1984 and 2014? What has changed since the great novel ‘1984’ was written? People? Government? The purpose of this essay is to explore of the technological part of the novel and how the perception of “1984” has changed since the novel was written initially. Technology is, if not the most important, at least a key to the Party’s success. Without the advantages it has provided, no control to such extent would ever have been possible to achieve! Moreover, people’s minds after the events of World War II have been fresh and open to any information. People could accept any stories, even unrealistic to certain extent, and George Orwell knew exactly where this borderline between ‘incredible’ and ‘prophecy’ was. Author uses techniques that partially relate the novel’s story to the reader; particularly he shows the possibility of reader’s fears about the future situation in the country becoming true. Although the story on its own can be considered extreme, those techniques acquired George Orwell’s novel empathy with the reader, which made it a book of revelations of those days.
The author’s early life has influenced his style of writing of the novel “1984”. His experience in boarding school, the development of his imaginative writing skills gave George Orwell an opportunity to fantasize, or partially predict and tell the reader the extremes of a totalitarian regime, which utilises advances in technology. For many of the students at Orwell’s school, the boarding experience was awful, especially if they, like Orwell, had a bad relationship with school authorities. Teenage life may have influenced his views on authority in general, and this terrible experience left a mark on his perception of the government system of Britain, a theme to which he returns to in many of his novels. The idea of ubiquitous control that we see in 1984: telescreen, thought police, hidden microphones may have had its’ roots within his boarding school experience. We can see how he represented O’Brien, one of the members of the inner party, in one of the chapters: “a schoolmaster questioning a promising pupil“. School, in his perception, is a micro government model in which every argument, including those where you are clearly right, might lead to you being punished. Thus, it can also relate to totalitarianism. This “everything under control” school policy has led Orwell towards making his futuristic technological concept of telescreen. When someone lives in the school for too long, the inevitable pressure of being observed can gradually progress into paranoia; this paranoid way of thinking about being spied on was projected onto the telescreen: “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in a public place or within a range of a telescreen”.
One of the things that Orwell does really thoroughly in his novel 1984 is to integrate the situation. People that have historically been, or a are culturally in contact with dystopia will immediately pick up on what Winston is feeling and why he does so. But most readers these days will struggle to even understand how life under a dystopian government feels, as they never knew it. If you, as a reader, don’t understand the emotions in a book you are not likely to appreciate it. Here, Orwell does something which indicates his capability as a writer, he relates his dystopian aspects to inconveniences that everybody knows, in order for his readers to have a clue of how it feels. An example of this is how he describes the torturing O’Brien as a questioning headmaster. Everybody knows how they would feel if the headmaster of the school was shouting at them, because they have been through it. So by just using a simple metaphor, George Orwell provides a deep emotional understanding of aspects of dystopia to his readers. The author himself went to a boarding school, therefore was well educated and also learned to have free and independent thoughts. His way of thinking like a rebel probably made him hate his school so much, which maybe explains the psychology behind the fact that he chose a headmaster as a metaphor for a person that tortures.
INTRODUCTION:
Orwell has seen the future. Some things that he wrote in 1984 became true today, many years after. Technology has matured to an extent that makes control and surveillance very easy for those who seek it. Nowadays the trade of our data has become a source of income for many. Just one example: Amazon knows what we buy online, sells this information to facebook, so that the “social” network can catapult adverts at you which suit your interests. A few years ago only they wouldn’t know, because we would not use the internet to those things. We would go to a shop and buy our clothes, or go to the Pub to talk to our friends. In the age of mobile technology it is ridiculously easy for us to be controlled and surveilled, as everything we do electronically can be saved and traced back. And already we do so many things in our daily life, using this technology. But what does it mean for us when government agencies and IT companies and social networks that keep us addicted to their drugs know us better than some of our friends might do? Should we fear them? The question is answered in the movie I Robot, and also in 1984.