George Orwell 1984 Literary Devices

1984 Analysis In the story 1984, author George Orwell wants the reader to think and makes connections. When diving deep into the story, the reader can see the cause and effects of living in a society without having any power over oneself. Orwell encourages the reader to think about oneself and the society they live in by the use of various literary devices. The author encourages the reader to really think about the events in the story and how they my relate to other things in the world. Many connections can be made from the society in the story to society in the current world. What happens when a corrupt party, in this case literally “The Party,” takes full control of a country? The person or group in total control can cut off access to

The reader can connect this to other totalitarian countries. A very similar example of this is seen in North Korea. The North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un, is able to control all media. No outside news in allowed in and none is allowed out. There is only one channel on television and many restrictions to make sure there is no contact with the outside world. In the story, rules are enforced with the treat of torture or labor camps. This is exactly like North Korea. But do the citizens in these types of countries even know how they are being treated is wrong? How would they? Without an outside source to compare it to, the citizens would not know any different. This is why it is so easy to control the people under this form of government. Taking away education as contributes to being easier to control. In the story, complex words are simplified. In chapter 5, Syme states, “Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?” and “Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?” The whole goal of “Newspeak” is to make people less intelligent and eventually cut off all thought processes completely. This can also be seen in

The story itself can be seen as alluding to the threat of the government having too much power. Irony is seen all throughout the story. It is seen everywhere, even in the motto, “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGORANCE IS STRENGTH.” When the government wants absolute power, confusing it’s citizens can be perceived as a way of obtaining it. Personification is shown everywhere throughout the story. This literary device helps the reader really grasp what is being said through the use of comparing it to something familiar. In the example, “The voice from the telescreen was still pouring forth its tale of prisoners and booty and slaughter,” it shows the readers how intense the news on the telescreen can be. By saying it is “pouring forth,” it intensifies the way the reader perceives the news coming out. Another example of personification being used is in the text, “If the Party could thrust it’s hand into the past and say this or that event, it never happened- that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture or death.” Personification is shown in the phrase, “thrust it’s hand into the past.” It esculates the fear of not knowing what is true and the government having full control over information. Metaphors are also very common throughout the story. “His body seemed to have not only weakness of a jelly, but it’s translucency,” is a great metaphor used in