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1984 By George Orwell Context Essay

746 Words3 Pages

1984 by George Orwell is a timeless piece of political satire that exaggerates the imperfections of a totalitarian society in order to criticize its fundamental ideology. Context or surrounding information about the text is required to comprehend it. Specifically, the author uses global context in order to shape the novel to convey the issues at the forefront of public fears and describe his fear of the future under despotism. I aim to discuss how the author’s writing has been influenced by the global context in 1949 particularly threats of totalitarianism and fascism, emergence of nihilism and genocide. In the 1940’s and 50’s communism, fascism and democracy were competing for attention and dominance. This caused an instability in the political …show more content…

He critiques the fascist governments for devaluing human life for purposes of war which is seen when Winston finds severed bodies I quote, “The bomb had demolished a group of houses … A black plume of smoke hung in the sky … in the middle of it he could see a bright red streak… he saw that it was a human hand severed at the wrist. Apart from the bloody stump, the hand was so completely whitened as to resemble a plaster cast." Winston goes into graphic detail and is apathetic towards the situation. Orwell portrays him as completely desensitised towards basic human emotions and feelings of empathy. Orwell further uses the phrase “he kicked that thing into the gutter” to purposely trivialise the genocide that occurred and the value of human life in order to illustrate the effects of a corrupt dictatorship and its hand in depleting the boundaries of human ethicality, morality and empathy. The grotesque imagery can be compared to the author’s experience. The black plume of smoke further emphasizes the calamitous atmosphere that existed during atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In which the United States government ensured victory with genocide as means of faster end to war. Nihilistic philosophies adopted by the US government are demonstrated in the trivialisation of the people in the proles by members of the

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