What Does Spring Symbolize In A Dystopian Novel

In a society controlled by fear and ignorance, citizens believe everything the government tells them because they do not know how to think. Many novels have a theme of government manipulation, especially in dystopian novels such as George Orwell’s 1984. In the novel, leaders clearly skew the information that they give to the public in order for them to be too ignorant to speak out. In 1984, the first sentence is especially unnerving because the government changes history and the symbols behind the number thirteen and the season of spring. The leaders of the society changed the basic principle of time and other basic truths in order to keep their power. There are supposed to be twelve hour cycles in time and clocks usually strike at twelve,

April is spring, so change is about to come, but despite that, there are feeling is of insecurity, harshness, dullness, and cold rather than what spring typically is known for- security, rebirth,life, rejoicing, and warmth. April is full of hope as spring is in the air with a crisp cold under a promising blue sky, but the “clocks were striking thirteen.” References to a thirteenth stroke of the clock indicate that some event or discovery calls into question everything previously believed. It calls into question not only the credibility of itself but of the previous twelve. The number thirteen has many symbols such as bad luck and death. It is the number that appeared in the last supper, and means that someone is about to be betrayed and that death is approaching. This symbol foreshadowed the events where Winston betrayed Julia and was essentially killed at the end of 1984. In addition, the fact that Orwell specifically mentioned that the clock struck thirteen was in order to convey a sense of a military influence in the society. Thirteen is military time and because the citizens are used to using this way of telling time means that there is a strong military presence. Oceania is always at war, “Winston could not definitely remember a time when his country had not been at war, but it was evident that there had been a fairly long interval of peace during his childhood, because one of his early memories was of an air raid, which appeared to take everyone by surprise. Perhaps it was the time when the atomic bomb had fallen on Colchester. He did not remember the raid itself.” (1.3.12). No matter how hard he digs at his memory, Winston is uncertain whether a time existed when Oceania was not at war with someone. From the first sentence, Orwell already gives hints to the grim life in