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George Orwell 1984 Diction Analysis

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Of Totalitarian Governments and Diction The novel 1984 by George Orwell has haunted audiences for generations through its chilling descriptions of the horrors of an overbearing, totalitarian government. Such illustrations would not be so worrisome were in not for Orwell’s use of connotative diction, which is evident to the reader even within the first four paragraphs of the novel. 1984 is told from the perspective of a third person narrator and takes place in the year 1984, some time in the near future from when the book was first published in 1949. This post-World War II narrative is thought to have been written to warn the general public about the dangers of such oppressive governments seen in the book and throughout Europe at the time. …show more content…

His use of connotative diction creates an ominous mood, therefore creating a frightening effect on the reader. The thought of having no privacy is considered to be one of the most terrifying concepts for the average person, of which Orwell takes advantage in the first four paragraphs of 1984. In illustrating the inside of the Victory Mansions, Orwell describes the poster hanging on the wall as “one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes [of the man on the poster] follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.” This description is designed to immediately scare the audience, especially through the use of second person, which implies that everyone, even the reader, is being watched by the poster, and therefore by the government. Orwell chose his diction carefully in this passage to elicit a feeling of unease from the reader at the prospect of such an invasion of privacy. Even his use of font is deliberate, for the uppercase and bolded font draws attention to the statement “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” This uneasiness is continued in the depiction of the inside of Winston Smith, the main character’s, apartment, and the introduction of new technology: “The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.” Simply bringing forth this new technology -

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