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Symbolism In George Orwell's '1984'

1065 Words5 Pages

Lauryn Langster
Mr. Rogers
Writing Workshop
1 November 2015
2nd Version of Rough Draft

The mid-1900s was one of the most chaotic eras in modern human civilization. European intellectuals were escaping conflict zones and heading to the West where their inventions flourished. World War 2 would end in 1945, while the Cold War—which bred a potential end to the human race—started shortly after in 1947. And as a result of the developing technology of the time, more people were able to become spectators the life-changing events that occurred during these decades. Thus, giving a greater mass of people the opportunity to develop their own thoughts, as George Orwell did, on the more particularly troublesome aspects that were occurring, such as the …show more content…

Even the title, 1984, is not protected by Orwell’s highly analytical mind. For the year represents how a well-established and fully functioning totalitarian society can sprout in just a mere thirty year time span. The significance of thirty years is because when 1984 was published, there was not an overall and clear opposition to a communist government in the West. In fact, some American intellects were even more pro-communist. Hence why Orwell’s 1984, title comes as a warning to fast a type of government can take over and why a solidification of anti-communism needs to be established throughout the West before it’s too …show more content…

For instance, he creates three super states according to the division that was also found in the Cold War. More specifically, Oceania represents the United States and Eastasia and Eurasia representing the China and Europe, in that order. Furthermore, Orwell uses the Nazi method of establishing a scape goat by choosing Emanuel Goldstein as the person for all of their citizens to collective hate and treat as a threat to the sanctity of their nation, just as the Nazis did with the Jews in World War 2. Furthermore, just as the Nazis had their slogan of “Heil Hitler”, the Party had their own mantra of “WAR IS PEACE/FREEDOM IS SLAVERY/IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (104). Therefore, Orwell crafts this society in order to draw a connection between the reader and the events surrounding them, during the mid-1900s, causing the reader to be able to see the society that Orwell creates actually able to

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