LITERATURE ANALYSIS #1

For the first literature analysis, I chose George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

1. The novel starts by introducing the main character, Winston Smith, an outer Party member in the dystopian super-nation of Oceania. The novel takes place in Britain (now called Airstrip One) in 1984. The world has been broken up into three totalitarian super-nations which are perpetually war with at least one other country. Winston is a member of the "outer Party" and works for the ministry of truth, which, ironically, focuses on altering historical documents to fit the desires of the Party. The Party is omnipresent and has placed "telescreens" in every citizen's home to view and listen to them at every possible opportunity. Winston illegally buys a journal in which he writes his grievances against the Party, which is the ruling government. At work, he notices a girl constantly looking at him and fears that she is a member of the "thought police", which are like the Gestapo of the novel. The rising action is when one day, she (Julia) bumps into him on accident and receives a letter from her saying "I love you". From that moment on, they start an undercover affair and Winston discovers that Julia is also has hatred towards the Party and their God-like leader, Big Brother. Winston rents a little apartment from the man who ran the store where he bought the journal from. Here, him and Julia continue carrying out their affair and Winston's hatred for the Party ferments. They discuss the possibility of a "brotherhood" existing that wants to overthrow the inner Party. Winston always suspected that one of his superiors, O'Brien was part of this fabled brotherhood. The confirmation Winston has been waiting for finally arrives: O'Brien invites Winston to his home. Winston and Julia both go to O'Brien's apartment and he informs them that the brotherhood is real and that he too, hates the Party. O'Brien (an inner Party member) gives Winston a copy of the book written by the fabled leader of the Brotherhood, Emmanuel Goldstein. This book serves as the Brotherhood's manifesto and gives background information on how the world came to be the way it is and why the nations are in a state of perpetual war as well as how they've managed to suppress people's thoughts. While Winston is reading the book, men in uniform bust down the door and arrest them. This is the climax. It turns out Mr. Charrington, the proprietor of the store, is part of the Thought Police. Julia and Winston are separated and taken to the Ministry of Love, where they are tortured. O'Brien turns out to also be a spy for the government. The Brotherhood was all fabricated to trap people in committing an act of defiance against the party. O'Brien personally tortures and brainwashes Winston for months and tries to break him into accepting and loving Big Brother and the party. It is revealed that they don't kill any prisoners until they truly love Big Brother. After months of this, O'Brien sends Winston to the dreaded room 101 where Winston encounters his worst fear: rats. Faced with the threat of having his face devoured by rats, Winston finally breaks and pleads to O'Brien to do it to Julia and not him. With his spirit finally broken, Winston is released. The book is concluded when he later sees Julia in the streets and has a brief conversation with her but he reveals he no longer feels anything for her. Later, a telescreen announces a huge military victory against the army of Eurasia. A huge celebration occurs outside and Winston joins in. While celebrating, Winston finally relinquishes his hatred towards the party and Big Brother and finally accepts to love him. At this moment, he is finally "executed" in the sense that his former self is broken by O'Brien and he is now as conformist as the rest of society. Orwell's purpose is to warn society about the dangers of a totalitarian society and how individuals will lose their freedom and have their emotions and thoughts control by an omnipotent government. Through the use of telescreens and the giant posters of Big Brother throughout the novel, his purpose is clearly conveyed to the reader.
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four covers the themes of the hazards of totalitarianism and the control and manipulation of history and information. Orwell warns society of what would happen if government becomes too big and this is obvious in the book. Oceania is ruled by a totalitarian government which controls every facet of life. They are constantly watching over their citizens and even rebellion through thought is punishable by death. The citizens have lost their humanity. They are nothing but shells of humans that do not think for themselves or form relationships with others unless when mandated. There is no love, no freedom, no conscious. Only conformity. All because the government controls EVERYTHING. This ties in with Orwell's other theme in Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is the control and manipulation of history and information. Through the Ministry of Truth, the government manipulates the past. For example, if production reports read that 20,000 boots were produced the previous year while the quota was for 30,000 boots, the Ministry of Truth would go back and change the quota to 15,000 boots to make it seem that they produced more boots that they predicted. Oceania is also at constant war with either Eastasia or Eurasia. When it is at war with Eastasia, it is in alliance with Eurasia and visa versa. If Oceania turned from being in an alliance with Eastasia to war, it was always at war with Eastasia. Since the beginning of time it has been at war with Eastasia. Same is true if that happened with Eurasia. The Ministry of Truth reconstructs the past to fit the needs of the party. In a conversation with Winston, O'Brien asks him where does the past exist, to which Winston replies that the past only exists in memory and through documentation, which is easily destroyed or altered. The party controls both the minds and memories of the citizens as well as all documentation. Since individuals do not have the ability or desire to document the past, they believe anything the party tells them as their own memory is fuzzy and improvable. By altering the past, the individual believes he is better off than his ancestors when he, in fact, might not be. The past is what the Party wants it to be. The motto they use is "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past". This statement is essentially the overarching motif and theme throughout the book.
3. The overall tone is dark, depressing, and pessimistic. In the start of the book, Winston goes and watches a movie where "Audience much amused by shots of a great huge fat man trying to swim away from a helicopter after him...he was full of holes and the sea around him turned pink ...audience shouting with laughter when he sank." This is an example of depressing and dark tone because the audience are being entertained and laughing at the brutal death of a man. This hints to the lack of humanity in the citizens in this novel. Another thing that points to the lack of humanity and contributes to the overall dark and depressing tone is when a bomb hit the city (pg. 107). "When he got to it he saw that it was a human hand severed at the wrist." When he approached it, "he kicked the thing into the gutter...". He does this in such a apathetic, non-caring way that it is a bit disturbing. Winston  has very little hope for most of the book. He acknowledges that it does not matter what he does, he feels like he is going to get caught eventually and is only slightly prolonging his pathetic life. His pessimism is shown in chapter one when it says that "...at any rate, they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live- did live, from the habitat that became instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard and... every movement scrutinized."
4. 1. Symbolism: The glass paperweight that Winston buys is highly symbolic of the past. It is one of the few things from the past that still exists. It serves as a connection that Winston is trying to establish with the past. When Winston and Julia get arrested, the paperweight shatters. Symbolically, this means that the past has been destroyed by the party into unrecognizable pieces.The paperweight ties in to the fact that the party controls the past and alters it at will. 

2. Analogy: 3. Juxtaposition: When Julia and Winston have their first sexual encounter, it is out in the countryside.Here, they are away from any government intrusion. There is no telescreens or microphones or any forms of spying on them. Here, they can love each other and experience emotions  and actions that were forbidden by the party. Orwell juxtaposed the freedom and liberty of the countryside to the oppression of the city.

4. Repetition: The posters of Big Brother are plastered throughout the novel's world and is often mentioned by Orwell. This is to remind the readers and the citizens of Oceania that no matter where they are, all their actions will always be seen by the unblinking eyes of Big Brother and the party. The party's slogan WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH is also repeated throughout the novel to remember the reader of the world that                         Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place in.

5.Allusions: Nineteen Eighty-Four is obviously alluding to Soviet Russia and Joseph Stalin. In the book, three men (Rutherford, Aaronson and Jones) who were leaders of the revolution were convicted of thought crimes they did not commit and promptly executed. This was much like the purges and show trials of early Soviet Russia under Stalin. This allusion is proof that the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is extremely possible and must be avoided.
6. Irony: There is irony in the fact that the few people that Winston trusted turned on him. He believed that the owner of the antique store could be trusted but it turned out he was a member of the thought police. He also believed that O'Brien was part of the Brotherhood and inspired hope in Winston. Instead, O'Brien essentially destroyed the humanity that was left in Winston. The irony conveys the complexity of the novel.

7. Imagery: Orwell is very descriptive in the novel. The Ministry of Truth is described as "...an                       enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up... 300 meters into the air." When           O'Brien is torturing Winston, O'Brien goes on and tells him "Look at this filthy grime all over your                   body...Do you know you stink like a goat?... Look at your emaciation. Do you see? I can make my               thumb and forefinger meet around your bicep. I could snap your neck like a carrot...." Orwell does this         to convey to the reader that O'Brien broke Winston physically and made him a shell of his former self.

8. Selection of Detail: By staying away from the details of who Emmanuel Goldstein and Big Brother, it         adds to their mystique and perhaps even the fact that they may not exist. Goldstein was created so                 that the citizens would live in perpetual fear of a "boogeyman" and stay loyal to the party. Big Brother             was created by the party to represent a bigger-than-life idol that the citizens of Oceania worship and            fear and obey without question. The selection of details add to the slogan that "IGNORANCE                      IS STRENGTH ; it is, but only for the party.

9. Anecdote: In the beginning of the novel, Winston goes and watches a movie. The movie is of a sinking enemy ship and a chopper gunning down those trying to escape, including a woman and her child. The movie serves as an example of how dehumanized the enemy becomes through the eyes of the Oceania citizens. They laugh and cheer at the death of those trying to escape. They don't see them as humans. They absolutely hate them simply because of the lies the party has been feeding them for their entire lies. It exemplifies the control of emotions and information that is ever-present in the novel.  

10.Personification: Orwell personifies the party such as on page 43, where he says "If the party could  thrust its hands into the past and say this or that event, IT NEVER HAPPENED- that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death?" By personifying the Party, it makes it seem as BIGGER than any character in the story. The inner party is the brain while the other party and proles are the body, with the inner party making all the decisions the outer party must follow.