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Repetition In George Orwell's 1984

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George Orwell was an English novelist and journalist best known for his dystopian novel 1984 which was based on totalitarianism. Winston Smith, an employee in the Records Department for the Ministry of Truth and protagonist of this story, lives a life characterized by rebellion and hatred for the Party. His doubts for the Party’s actions and its control on truth begins to take a journey of discrete insurrection and the meeting of Julia, a young woman with cunning spirit and a worker at the Fiction Department. The plot rises as both of them have corresponding views on the Party; in this particular excerpt, George Orwell establishes antsy with this situation as Winston and Julia are caught by the Thought Police. Orwell’s use of repetition, details …show more content…

As Winston is thinking about the Party and the society he lives in, he announces his realization: “‘We are the dead,’ he said. ‘We are the dead,’ echoed Julia dutifully. ‘You are the dead,’ said an iron voice behind them” (242). The repetition of “are the dead” brings an emphasis that this is the moment Winston and Julia are going to die; they are finally seized by the Party. This initial point of repetition brings a sense of urgency and fear; it builds suspense of wanting to know what will happen to Winston and Julia now that they are caught by the Thought Police. Once caught, it is revealed where the telescreen was hidden and where the voice was coming from: “‘It was behind the picture,’ breathed Julia. ‘It was behind the picture,’ said the voice” (242). Repeating words or phrases makes an idea clearer, the voice repeating after Julia was to validate that her suspicion about the telescreen being behind the picture was correct. Furthermore, it revealed anxiety from Julia because she was realizing that all this time they were never safe to begin with which added more tension towards the plot. Repetition is able to keep readers interested enough to crave for more; now that they were captured, Winston merely stated the obvious: “‘The house is surrounded,’ said Winston. ‘The house is surrounded,’ said the voice” (243). This stylistic device blatantly stresses that Winston and Julia have nowhere to run or hide, it is repeated to reaffirm Winston’s statement. The denotative effect reinforces the message Orwell gives to readers creating an atmosphere of suspense; the emphasis the unknown voice in the telescreen gives by repeating Winston is solely a manifestation of his words. Orwell using repetition in his writing is his way of supporting that what he is saying is important enough to

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Award winning writer, George Orwell, in his dystopian novel, 1984, Winston and O’Brien debate the nature of reality. Winston and O’Brien’s purpose is to persuade each other to believe their own beliefs of truth and reality. They adopt an aggressive tone in order to convey their beliefs about what is real is true. In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston and O’Brien use a variety of different rhetorical strategies and appeals such as parallel structure, pathos, and logos in order to persuade each other about the validity of memories and doublethink; however, each character’s argument contains flaw in logic. Winston debates with O’Brien that truth and reality are individual and connected to our memories.

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