How Is Diction Used In George Orwell's 1984?

1984

George Orwell’s 1984 created a society that created men that work like machines, this allows for anyone to be submitted to do the unthinkable. George Orwell captured this concept by forming unusually long sentences to give the audience a true understanding of how machine like the people of Oceania are by explaining ideas so in depth. Also the use of connotation and specific diction, gives the reader a chance to really see how different the views and responses of the people of Oceania are, compared to the views and responses today. Along with diction, connotation, and unusually long sentences, George Orwell utilized periodic sentences to help the audience understand how a character was feeling or describe a situation in ‘layman's terms’

“The instrument (the telescreen it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.” (Orwell 4) The use of the word “instrument” in this passage has a connotation for me of soft, smooth, continuous actions much like a violinist playing the violin with their bow. The music soft, smooth sound that comes from the instrument is the society when everything is following the Parties way, when everyone is following the ‘rules’. However, when one doesn't follow the rules and goes against the Party it's as if the flow or smoothness of the violin stroke has disappeared, and a jagged, sharp spasm has replaced it. What comes with the sharp, jagged strokes is a horrific sound resembling that of nails on a chalk board. This whole way of society is also very Robotic to me, it's layed out like a math equation. It's this whole mentality of ‘If you don't conform this way, X will happen, but if you do Y will happen. Also, often times when working with machinery, the superior person in the room will tell you that you need to be careful because the tool being used don't have a ‘Conscience.’ Meaning that the machine will not know or care that you are hurt and will proceed with doing its job. Until it is turned off. I see that as how the party is operating, but their is no off button, they will keep doing damage to

However, to sum everything back to what is happening in a more blatant form he simply states the main message. This is very opposite of what we humans do nowadays, “Under surveillance a man necessarily plays a role. He can not be himself.” (Orwell 87) For this quote if I were to re write it in a way that is more modern and humanize dot would be [He can not be himself. Under surveillance a man necessarily plays a role.] Humans currently have fallen into the habit of telling the main idea or the ‘what’ first and then explaining in detail how it actually happened. This is so because as humans, we want to ensure that the listener is going to be engaged in the conversation before potentially dulling the audience with the details that they didn't want to hear in the first place. In a more androidic methodology the narrator doesn't care about whether you want to hear the details or not, he in a way wants to be in control and have all his information heard because he has knowledge and wants his viewpoint to be seen. Again this can be seen as robotic because he doesn't consider how the audience may feel receiving this