Joseph Vera
Matthew Kaplan
English IV
November 17th, 2017
The Literary Themes, Styles, and Techniques of George Orwell
Great English authors capture their ideals and messages through many different ways in many different types of work. Because of so much freedom the themes, styles, and techniques chosen to be used by the author have a significant impact or purpose in portraying his message. By using a combination of these George Orwell became one of the most prominent figures in the issues he discussed, and a there was a vast reception of his works.
To begin studying the work of George Orwell it is necessary to first understand the major themes of his writing. One of them being Social justice. A constant and major theme of his that earned him respect among people. He is known to have examinations in his writing without any personal bias. And in those writing write about the upper classes of society cheating the social classes that are below them ( Poupard 229). Orwell takes this idea of the social justices equality for all one step further by writing about these social classes having negative impact in a majority of people’s lives. He however left it at that and did not give a solution to the struggle undergone by the common people (Baybrooke 499). He must be credited with successfully raising awareness towards this situation, and Irving Howe even called him “The greatest moral force in English letters.” Orwell’s passion towards this theme has left him as prominent figure in the advocation for social justice and leads into the other themes and ideas of his works.(Poupard 229).
Orwell’s takes on social justice lead him into his discussion about more specific social environments such as totalitarianism and socialism in his writings. His views on totalitarianism were written in his novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” George Orwell was personally against the actions of these governments so he did not portray theme in the brightest light in his works. His main theme on totalitarianism is that if the government has the control over its population to strip everyone of their freedoms, then what will prevent the government from abusing that power thus causing mankind to suffer( Poupard 229). Even in the smallest excerpts from the book Nineteen Eighty-Four can detect the denouncing of a totarlistic government;
The heirs of the French, English, and American revolutions had partly believed in their own phrases about the rights of man, freedom of speech, equality before the law, and the like, and have even allowed their conduct to be influenced by them to some extent. But by the fourth decade of the twentieth century all the main currents of political thought were authoritarian. The earthly paradise had been discredited at exactly the moment when it became realizable. Every new political theory, by whatever name it called itself, led back to hierarchy and regimentation. And in the general hardening of outlook that set in round about 1930, practices which had been long abandoned, in some cases for hundreds of years–imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages, and the deportation of whole populations–not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened progressive (Orwell 204-205).
In here he mentions the authoritarian control taking away or discrediting paradise from earth or humanity. And so his theme totalitarianism which was attacked in many writings by Orwell especially Nineteen Eighty-Four was subconsciously partaken in by the public eye as well (Poupard 229).
Another one of George Orwell’s themes is despair. This all began with him trying to express his views on socialism and using them to influence people about this matter. From among those ashes a young Phoenix arose also known as “Raft sailing through space with Provisions for everyone.” George Orwell basically realized upon saying that his idea would never be possible and so he began to write about the theme despair.(Greenblatt).
The theme despair has its most prominent role in animal farm. The theme of despair is often overlooked in this literary piece because of the tone’s calmness and humorous discussion of animals but that is purposefully used to offset the issues and darkness hidden within the book. On example is this quote from animal farm, “No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” This further develops the theme of despair because he outlines how the fear and cruelty is preventing him from being himself which is sad and a large cause of despair because of the vast amount of similar situations happening underneath a totalitarian government (Greenblatt).
The next theme the George Orwell wrote about it the theme social class. George Orwell interprets society to be the compilation of many groups or classes. George Orwell also believes that these classes are affected by the surrounding worlds metamorphism. However in every design system there is a flaw and the major flaw in this one is that all societies include three stereotypical groups. One being corrupt and unfair upperclass. The second being suffering natives who are treaty unfairly, and whose life’s are flipped upside down when a new group of people arrive. The third being the majority but also the most brutal is overworked laborers. These social classes can all be seen by a person who removes themselves from society and has the perspective of one on the outside looking in (Greenblatt).
The next theme by George Orwell is the theme of independence. He writes about this theme most notably in the Nineteen Eighty-Four where Orwell ponders on how it’s felt to once be free and independent. While thinking about this he stumbles upon thoughts that citizens thinking could be a danger because it could lead to many terrible things like instability and uprisings and division. He the uses this to propel a mission to destroy the tactile function or basically limit cognitive or thinking power and ability in humans. He then begins to lean into the next theme he writes about by observing the mental aspect of obedience. Orwell says he doesn’t want fear to be the main cause for people to obey but rather that they obey the chain of command based off of their own free will. Basically completely and utterly surrendering themselves to the state government ( Braybrooke 499).
Obedience after being seen through the mental aspect becomes the next theme in George Orwell’s literature. He begins and strongly writes about it in the Nineteen Eighty-Four a novel he wrote. His general idea is to apply a filter to everything and switch it from thou shall not to thou art. In a sense this could be said to take away and the cruelties of end punishment and torture once and for all. So instead of fearing consequences Orwell wants the population to be obedient based of their unity into one system with a common goal(Braybrooke 499).
Orwell even wrote about secularism as a theme. “Wignam Pier was[Orwell’s] first directly political book” (Hoggart). Mostly his opinion secularism however provided valid insight. Many believe the he himself was a prophet against secularism. He did consider all powers above him to be corrupt. He recognized that the upperclass of the government had been handling all the economics especially the nations money. This leads into his next theme of suffering because that is the effect from the irrational and selfish spending of money in the government leaving the average man poor and society suffers.
The effects of government corruption lead to his theme of suffering. He came to the realization that important figures in the government took advantage of the population just to benefit themselves financially (Elliot). The result of this were the beginnings of uprisings similar to ones is this quote by Auden in which he said, “The Movement, as he calls us. We were, he says, didactic, political writers aesthetically conscious, of course, but more interested in subject-matter then technique” (Auden) How that came about from Orwell’s works is unbelievable especially since his writings are geared towards calming town rebellions and uprising and restoring peace and togetherness in the world(Elliot).
By using many themes like Social Justice, Despair, Social Class, Independence, Obedience and Secularism Orwell was on the road to becoming a great accomplished author and his literary works could relate and impact many different areas of society
The next tool in Orwell’s proverbial literary shed is style. He has actually switched styles and even that has caused an impact on his writings because of the emphasis his choice of style makes. The first style and style that he used for a majority of his career is the style journalism. His journalism gained fame for writing about socialism in his documentary Road to Wignam Pier. As a journalist he covered the Spanish civil war and joined the Anti-Stalinist workers party of Marxist unification. During his war experiences he wrote several descriptive accounts of the things that he witnessed. He viewed everything unbiased and morally fair because he wanted to have accurate portrayals in his work. And the grind through most of his career recording first hand and maintaining truth and validity of the story helped him achieve everything because it opened the opportunity for him to. Basically his accuracy and hard work did not go unnoticed as he began to receive praise for it and then his takes on socialism hit hard and spread like wildfire which brought him to increase his opinion and fight in that matter (Orwell).
Embarking in a new direction with his craft, he changes by writing novels instead of journals. George Orwell’s most prominent novel is The Nineteen Eighty Four which is about a school with a harsh principal. His ability and freedom to now go beyond recording events in journalism and create his own narrative to best portray his message enabled him to have a greater impact on the reader. The principal is made by him to represent a harsh tyrant, and her cruel treatment towards the student represent how tyrants bully and treat their citizens unfairly. The switch in style allowed him to stress and emphasize he distrusted and believe in the carelessness and ill will of totalitarian governments which is a theme through many of his works such as A Clargyman’s Daughter and The Lion and the Unicorn.
Orwell also used the style prose. This had ended up becoming a prototype for up and coming authors. Throughout all of his work work Orwell had become known for being very exact and extremely diligent with his craft. This was dues mainly to two elements that Orwell wanted to puta little extra emphasis on. Those two elements being Clarity and Vividness. He was able to achieve this through his observations(Gissing).
Orwell also developed the style of confessions. By using confessions he exposes the deepest truth at the bottom of dark mysteries. Confessions would symbolize what is going through the animals head and sometimes that is not up to par with how the government wants society run. Basically government control is forcing them to do what yeh government wants them to do and not what they truly want to be doing. Humor overshadows this in Animal Farm, but comes to an abrupt reality when the dog tears open the throats of the guilty(Greenblatt).
One more style Orwell uses is Satire which is like mocking the government. Through another style mentioned above, personification, Orwell got animals to represent vices in mankind most notably tyranny and powerful government organizations. Constantly giving the upperclass of the government bad characteristics such as a nasty school administrator or simpler cruel demeanor in an animal form like a dogs strong bight showing the control and force the government have over the people and exert it as shown by the dog ripping open throats. Another example is comparing man to beasts to show the masculine, tough and scruffy characteristics of man.
Continuing that mediocre pun from the previous transition, the final tool in Orwell’s proverbial literary shed is technique. Obviously there are many different techniques both simple and complex that when blended perfectly together create an experience of understanding in the readers mind. Many great authors prefect this; however there also are as many different ways to combine techniques as there are different techniques so how they perfect this fusion differs from one another. Let’s dive into the woven basket of techniques used by George Orwell and see exactly what he used and how well he used them to complement each other and develop the message he is trying to get across.
Tone is a technique used meaning each piece of work has an atmosphere to it, some that are set by him like in his novels, or some that are set by his settings like journals. An example of how he uses tone is in his book Homage to Cotoloma. He takes his broad arrogant style and puts it to the side for a simple modest book. At first it had slipped beneath everybody’s radar but the change in tone was so drastic from the usual commotion of his works that it drew attention and readers to the message of his story. Orwell’s use of this is very simple but impactful just like the technique itself (Trilling).
A change in style is a big change because it affects the entire writing. Orwell was able to do this so much and receive great recognition for performing great in each one it truly proves how great of an author he was and how he used style to his advantage (Trilling).
Another technique Orwell uses is personification. In his book Animal Farm he gives every animal different traits and qualities or human characteristics. It is important to emphasize the choice of how he describes the animal’s behavior does not emphasize on how he depicts animals, but is rather meant to showcase the human characteristics to bring focus to his opinions on certain actions. An example is when he says pigs are aristocrats and horses are dumb he doesn’t think that horses are unintelligent animals or that swine rule over animals that could feast on them. He wants to show how and interaction between an aristocrat and a suffering average citizen of the population. Personification is a complex technique that he uses and mixes well with another technique he uses which is humor(Greenblatt).
George Orwell uses the technique humor very well and is an important one for him that really drives his message home. His humor makes the writing more relatable and enjoyable to the author. This is most prominent in Animal Farm. This use of this is essential to help Orwell convey his dark and bitter themes. When paired with a little innocent joke they are easier to accept because the focus is on humor and not on what Orwell is really trying to say. An example of this is in a quote from Animal Farm, ”The Seven Commandments:
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.” At first the idea of animals creating order may take the reader off guard to the point where he doesn’t notice what exactly the rules are saying. Especially the last one all animals are equal which could be hinting at socialism(Greenblatt).
In conclusion the many themes styles and techniques of George Orwell made him a great author with a message for the world to hear. And as he began to implement more and more of the blend of all 3 resulted in him rising to being one of the most influential and repeated authors of his time. George Orwell had used all three, Theme, Style, and Technique to leave a literary legacy.
Works Cited
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Griffin, John, and George Orwell. Animal Farm, George Orwell. Harlow: Longman, 1989. Print.
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Criticism, edited by Janet Witalec, vol. 129, Gale, 2003. 20th Century Literature Criticism Online. Go.galegroup.com Acessed 16 Nov. 2017.
Orwell, George. " The Humanist” go.galegroup.com, July-Aug. 2012.. Accessed 19 Oct. 2017.
Trilling, Lionel. "George Orwell and the Politics of Truth." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Dedria Bryfonski, vol. 2, Gale, 1979. go.galegroup.com. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017.