Thinking Activity: George Orwell's 1984

Hello readers...

In this blog I would like to talk about the famous novel 1984 by George Orwell. This blog is part of my thinking activity in classroom work.

About novel:-

Nineteen Eighty-four, also published as 1984, novel by English author George Orwell published in 1949 as a warning against totalitarianism. The chilling dystopia made a deep impression on readers, and his ideas entered mainstream culture in a way achieved by very few books. The book’s title and many of its concepts, such as Big Brother and the Thought Police, are instantly recognized and understood, often as bywords for modern social and political abuses.

Here are my responses on the various points:-

 What Dystopian Fiction?

Dystopian fiction offers a vision of the future. Dystopias are societies in cataclysmic decline, with characters who battle environmental ruin, technological control, and government oppression. Dystopian novels can challenge readers to think differently about current social and political climates, and in some instances can even inspire action.

Characteristics of Dystopian Fiction:-

The central themes of dystopian novels generally fall under these topics:

1)Government control

2)Environmental destruction

3)Technological control

4)Survival

5)Loss of individualism

Dystopias are societies in cataclysmic decline, with characters who battle environmental ruin, technological control, and government oppression. Dystopian novels can challenge readers to think differently about current social and political climates, and in some instances can even inspire action.

Is 1984 dystopian fiction?:-

George Orwell’s 1984 is a defining example of dystopian fiction in that it envisions a future where society is in decline, totalitarianism has created vast inequities, and innate weaknesses of human nature keep the characters in a state of conflict and unhappiness.

The novel 1984 is a dystopian novel that tells the story of Winston Smith and how is tries to rebel against the totalitarian state in which he lives. ... Orwell wrote 1984 to warn society about what would happen if we accept totalitarian governments into society.

In 1984, Orwell creates a technologically advanced world in which fear is used as a tool for manipulating and controlling individuals who do not conform to the prevailing political orthodoxy. In his attempt to educate the reader about the consequences of certain political philosophies and the defects of human nature, Orwell manipulates and usurps the utopian tradition and creates a dystopia, a fictional setting in which life is extremely bad from deprivation, oppression, or terror. Orwell's dystopia is a place where humans have no control over their own lives, where nearly every positive feeling is squelched, and where people live in misery, fear, and repression.

It's a dystopian novel, which means that Orwell speculates on the future by emphasizing the ways a present situation could turn ugly. Unlike utopias and utopian fiction, which imagine a perfect and idealized society, dystopias dramatize the many ways things could go wrong. War could break out. The government could watch us on a massive surveillance system. 

Q.2 your learning about the novel from online screening of the film:-

Screening helps us to understand so many things. The novel 1984 by George Orwell is one of the interesting novel and we also did a screening of this novel. Such things are very clear to understand with help of screening. In this work screening helps to understand such a situation of dystopian society. How people were brainwashed and how everyone obeyed particular parties it’s clear to mind. It throws light on so many things. Whatever we see is more memorable than we watch.

Here in this screenshot we can say that big brother is always watching them.and they try to ruled them.

In this picture you can see that all mens hands are crossing and they said that two minutes hate and they said "B". Here Big brother is on screen and try to control all and by his side.

This picture described that how the party of big brother brainwashing the protagonist Winston Smith.By using this they wants people's favour towards their party.

What according to you is the central theme of this novel? :-

If we focus on theme that in it o find one Central theme it is Totalitarianism. It  is one of the major themes of the novel, 1984. It presents the type of government where even the head of the government is unknown to the public. This theme serves as a warning to the people because such regime unleashes propaganda to make people believe in the lies presented by the government.

           Throughout the novel, there is no proof of Big Brother’s existence in Oceania. The Party exercises complete control not only on the sexual lives of their citizens such as Julia’s and Winston Smith but also on their thoughts, feelings and even writing a diary. The overall monitoring and surveillance of the people through telescreens and subversion of history through the Ministry of Truth are some of the common casualties of such regimes. The third casualty of the totalitarianism is the truth through language. This happens in the shape of mottos such as “War is Peace.”

Orwell designed 1984 to sound the alarm in Western nations still unsure about how to approach the rise of communism. In 1949, the Cold War had not yet escalated, many American intellectuals supported communism, and the state of diplomacy between democratic and communist nations was highly ambiguous. In the American press, the Soviet Union was often portrayed as a great moral experiment. 

What do you understand about the term 'Orwellian'?

Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. ... The New York Times has said the term is "the most widely used adjective derived from the name of a modern writer".

 According to me something as "Orwellian" is to say that it brings to mind the fictional totalitarian society of Oceania described in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

In Orwell's novel, all citizens of Oceania are monitored by cameras, are fed fabricated news stories by the government, are forced to worship a mythical government leader called Big Brother, are indoctrinated to believe nonsense statements (the mantra "WAR IS PEACE, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH"), and are subject to torture and execution if they question the order of things.

Thank you...