One must utilize the theories Historical, Biographical, and Deconstruction in order to adequately evaluate George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984. These three categories of literary theory allow the reader to observe the dangers of authoritarian or totalitarian rule, take caution of the peril that could result of the trade of one’s freedom for security, and urge one not to fall victim to political tactics such as doublespeak that would eventually lead to to the prospect of doublethink. As I immerse myself in the world of Winston Smith, which is a fictitious place inside Orwell’s head, yet one that so closely resembles that of real life events, I will guarantee that I avert my attention to using the three schools of theory in order to achieve a complete and thorough analysis of this opulent piece of literature.
The book 1984 is a novel about a man named Winston Smith who lives in Oceania which is situated in the future year of 1984, (future for the time that the book was written, which was 1948). Oceania is a dystopian society that is a superpower after World War 2, the protagonist Winston Smith works for the section of the governmental department known as the Ministry of Truth. The book states that the people that live in Oceania are under surveillance 24/7. Winston starts righting his feelings on a journal which is extremely illegal, he also starts having radical thoughts, thought crime. One day he runs into a girl named Julia at work and they start having an affair, which also forbidden, they have sex and this a form of rebellion against the Party or the ruling government. Winston and Julia seek out O’Brien who they believe is a member of revolution but they were mistaken he was actually a member of the thought police. Winston and Julia go to Mr. Charrington’s place to hang out because they believe that it is safe, but they were wrong and get caught, and Mr. Charrington was secretly a member of the thought police. They are then taken to a facility that Winston assumes correctly is the Ministry of Love, where they encounter other people who were incarcerated for various crimes against the party, some of them were their own neighbors. Following some time at the Ministry of Love, Winston was taken to the dreaded “Room 101,” in this room Winston was tortured greatly. The torture lead by O’Brien was done in order to make Winston solely loyal to the Party, to make sure that Winston isn’t still in love with Julia, O’Brien unleashes Winston’s worst fear; rats. At the mere sight of the rats, Winston had enough and told O’Brien to “do it to Julia.” After this, the party released both Julia back into the world rewired. The love that Winston and Julia had before was now long gone and both were only loyal to Big Brother and the Party.
The lense that one might find helpful in employing to fully comprehend the literary work known as 1984 by George Orwell is Historical theory. This theory requires the knowledge of the author in question, it is important to know the time period in which the book was written. Some aspects of this lense of analysis might might be similar to that of the theory known as Biographical, but the distinction between the two is that in the historical lense one must pay close attention to the political affiliation of the author and in turn the text. The examination of the text for instances of swaying toward a particular political system or party is key. Biographical theory is another lense that is appropriate for 1984, this lense calls for the study of the author’s life and its connection to the text.
George Orwell, whose real name is Eric Arthur Blair, wrote 1984 in 1948. The book was written in the same decade of WWII, the rising superpower Soviet Union was spreading Communist ideals, and the tensions were high due to the Cold War. George Orwell was born to middle to upper class parents in British Colonial India. Although he grew up in Britain, he went to India as an imperial officer but then he saw the horrors of imperialism and quit. As Orwell life progressed he went to many other places as well, for example he went to Spain during the spanish civil war and joined the marxist side due to the fact he held the strong belief that the right government is a socialist democracy. Orwell didn’t support communism because of the evils committed by Stalin and other communists at the time that were eerily similar to the totalitarian methods that Orwell was against. Some totalitarian methods that George Orwell was against were censorship of the press, oppression of competition, and repression of free thought.
One way that George Orwell’s life and the time period that he was situated impacted the text was the Party’s ability to control all aspects of life, the monitoring, the erasing of individual, and the suppression of individuality, all of which were observed in Soviet Russia under the Purge which consisted of secret police (similar to the Thought police.) that eliminated those considered dangerous to the Stalin-communist regime. The NKVD or the Soviet secret police service is quite comparable to the thought police because they are famous for removing people that might alter the policy of Stalin and other leaders, they often remove people from publications and newspaper that is uncoincidentally similar to events that occur in 1984. In the book it says, “All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.”(page 40) this is referring to the records departments habit of censoring material and editing the history of the society, this was present in Nazi Germany when the Nazi party and Hitler blamed Jewish people and other minorities on the superflation and problems actually caused by the depression, Wilheimer republic and the treaty of versailles. The text also boosts, “And so it was with every class of recorded fact, great or small. Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain.” (page 41) This is evidence of the party’s control of Oceania’s life, one can’t even be sure of the date, this is also similar to the environment in many totalitarian places. Another instance of the suppression faced by totalitarian peoples that is prevalent in the book is present on page 66, “The aim of the Party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act.” A quote that perfectly sums up the basic historical connection between 1984 and authoritarian type governments is, “People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, and your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.” This type of convenient disappearance is felt in Germany under the Nazis, Italy under Mussolini, Soviet Union under Stalin, and certain Latin American and African countries also had an influence that is present in the book.