In the history of the literature of the XX century there are few novelsas important as the book that George Orwell wrote. "1984" (a brief description we will describe in the article) is an anti-utopia, narrating about the society of the future, which lives under the yoke of totalitarian power.
The origins of the novel
Writer George Orwell completed work on histhe main book in 1948. The title of the novel "1984" is a hidden reference to the date of its creation (the last two digits change places). In Orwell's book there are in general many hidden hints and metaphors.
The novel was written in the first post-war years,When all of Europe experienced the horrors of Nazism and the Holocaust. Undoubtedly, these tragic events influenced Orwell's attitude and were reflected in his work. First of all, the writer on the pages of "1984" continued to develop those ideas, which he laid down in the basis of his other famous story - "Animal Farm", written earlier.
Also the author himself acknowledged the great influencenovel of the Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin "We". This book was one of the first samples of a new genre of anti-utopia, which became popular against the background of terrible events of the 20th century.
Winston Smith
The main character of the work is WinstonSmith. At the time of the narration, he is about 39 years old (that is, he was born in 1944 or 1945). The biography of this ordinary resident of London is a detailed cast of the era. Orwell, with the help of his protagonist's memories, restores to the reader a picture of the history of several decades.
In the 1950s, there was a nuclear war in the world.Many states because of it were destroyed or, at least, everywhere the power was changed. In Britain, the old government was also swept away by revolutionary events on the ruins of a ruined country. The totalitarian party Angsots began to rule.
Ее руководство развернуло полномасштабные repression directed against their opponents in the UK. Victims of this policy were all - from disagreeable military to ordinary citizens. Winston Smith's parents were also repressed. Since the protagonist was at that time a child, he did not exactly know what happened to them. Most likely, they died in a concentration camp or were "sprayed" (this was one of the newest methods of execution).
Ministry of Truth
Writer George Orwell decided to make his ownthe protagonist is a simple member of a totalitarian and intimidated society, in order to visually show everyday life in conditions of fear and constant upheavals. Smith works in the Ministry of Truth. This is one of the state structures invented by the author.
The name of the ministry is a black irony and brightan example of doublethink. In fact, it was engaged in total propaganda, which completely misinterpreted the events that had taken place. Employees of the ministry (including Smith) falsified facts, lied to the media, etc. All their activities were aimed at preserving the power of the ruling party and instilling loyalty and slavish worship to citizens. In fact, the novel anti-utopia depicts an analogue of the propaganda ministry in the Third Reich. His head was one of the most famous and odious Nazis - Joseph Goebbels.
Doublethink
The novel "The Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty-Fourth" inone of his first scenes shows the daily work day of Winston Smith. He is busy with forging the headlines of previous newspapers about news about price changes. The make-up designer changes the information as if the increased price of chocolate actually became cheaper. Of course, this "economic success" became possible only thanks to the Angsots policy.
The episode with price changes demonstrates one moreinvented Orwell psychological phenomenon. The author called it doublethink. It is the ability of people to sincerely believe in completely different things. Another vivid example of doublethink is the slogans depicted on the wall of the building where Smith worked. They are: "War is peace, ignorance is power, freedom is slavery".
Despite the seeming absurdity, these slogansall the people of London believed with all their hearts and minds. And the one who at least slightly dared to doubt his reliability, was destroyed by punitive organs. It was a policy of negative selection. Her (already in the real world) successfully used the totalitarian regimes of the XX century.
Thoughts of crime
The entire novel-anti-utopia is impregnated with a fantasticabsurdity, to which the society suffered from nuclear war, revolutions and horrors of state terror has reached. The authorities monitored their citizens 24 hours a day using the latest technologies (cameras, TV screens, etc.). In exactly the same way, the state massacred the residents with the necessary information for the regime (on non-switchable radio, newspapers, etc.).
The plot of the plot lies in the fact that he workedin the Ministry of Truth, Smith, despite the widespread doublethink, begins to doubt what the party says. In fact, he commits the most serious crime in his society - a thought crime. This is another "fiction" of Orwell, whose inspiration was the totalitarian regimes of the mid-20th century. Indeed, any inhabitant of Oceania (now called Smith's native land), even if he thought about something that went against the line of the party, was destroyed.
Two minutes of hate
The first few chapters of his book, Orwell,reader with an anti-utopian world of the future. Winston Smith is present at the two-minute mark of hatred. This event is regularly held in the walls of official government institutions. Two minutes - general meetings, which show video reports explaining to viewers how important it is to hate enemies.
The main enemies of Oceania are Eurasia andThe remains. According to Orwell, the political geography of the world is a map roughly divided equally between the three countries. Eurasia is the legal successor of the Soviet Union, where neo-Bolshevism is the official ideology. Very little is known about Ostia. In the novel there are references to the fact that this state lives according to the so-called cult of death.
Ocean Wars
Anyway, all three countries exist withintotalitarian ideologies. These states lead a continuous world war. The conflict goes and at that time, to which the narrative in the novel relates. London (the capital of Oceania) is far from the fronts, so only information carefully processed by the Ministry of Truth comes here.
On the two-minute hate where Smith is present,viewers again (as every day before) learn about the enemy designs of Ostasia and Eurasia. They must be destroyed. This goal is subject to the entire economy of Oceania. All the resources and energy of the population are spent on supporting the front. Such an economic imbalance was normal for the real totalitarian states that existed during the years of Orwell’s life. “1984” is a novel, clearly depicting the consequences of the triumph of such regimes.
O’Brien and Julia
On a two minute hate Smith meets twocharacters, which then will be key in the whole novel. First, he is a member of the O’Brien party (his name is unknown). Smith hopes he also doubts what the party is saying. Orwell has been working on this character for a long time. "1984" (a brief summary is impossible without mentioning other characters) reveals a few facts of his biography. Nevertheless, the author himself said that this mysterious man has an important prototype - Gletkin from the novel “Blinding Darkness” by Arthur Koestler.
The second important actor becomes Julia.- also a member of the party. At first, Smith was suspicious of her, fearing that she was spying on him and could get her into the punitive organs. One day, Winston went to a residential area of the Prols (the proletarians - the lower class in society), where he was in a shop. Such trips were undesirable for party members. On the way back, Smith ran into Julia. He was horrified at the thought that the girl could tell where she saw him.
Secret meetings
However, the next day, Julia sentWinston secret note, which confessed to him in love. To do this openly was quite problematic - the relationship between men and women was extremely strictly controlled by Angsots. According to official ideology, all feelings were considered a relic of the past, and any sexual intercourse was only biological, it was a necessary measure for the birth of offspring.
But Julia and Winston understand that between themsomething more than just a public debt. They begin to meet in secret, arranging to meet each other in deserted places. In the area of spans, a couple rents an apartment in the very same retail shop where Smith once went.
Goldstein
Soon the main characters of the work are decidedopen in front of O’Brien. They hope that this mysterious and sympathetic person will be able to pair up with the mysterious Brotherhood. About this organization there were the most controversial rumors. According to Smith, there were opponents of the regime in the Brotherhood who tried to fight Angsots.
The main characters meet with O'Brien.He confesses that he is indeed a member of the Brotherhood. A party official secretly gives Julia and Winston a book written by a certain Goldstein. State propaganda called him an internal enemy number one. He was an oppositionist who tried to destroy the totalitarian regime of Oceania.
Decoupling
We can say with confidence that “1984” is a novel.with an unexpected storyline. Some time after the fateful conversation with O’Brien, Winston and Julia were captured by the police in their safe house. It turned out that the owner of the shop where they rented the apartment was a secret informant for the authorities. The police of thoughts just specialized in the search and capture of traitors, whose thoughts went against the party ideology.
Couple separated.Smith found himself in the dungeons of the Ministry of Love, which Orwell also invented. "1984" (you will find a brief summary in this article) at this point is coming to its close. Now, caught Winston will have to go through all the interrogations and torture, which, as usual, are carried out over state traitors.
Smith's abdication
To the surprise of the protagonist, his executionerO'Brien becomes the same person he confides in by telling about his doubts in Angsoce. Smith endures physical torture, but never renounces his convictions (this is what was demanded of him). Prior to this, novels in English did not contain this. Orwell described in detail the bullying and internal psychological state of Smith, who suffered pain and humiliation.
Постепенно Уинстон начал уступать О’Брайену.Internally, he hoped that he would succeed in deceiving the ministry of love by making all the necessary confessions, but not abandoning convictions with his heart. Finally, Smith has the last thing he has not yet renounced, love for Julia. But even this feeling was destroyed. O’Brien, during the last torture, pressed Smith’s long-time childhood fear. It was the fear of rats. Winston was chained to the cage, inside of which were hungry carnivorous rodents.
The fear was so acute that SmithHe agreed to confess anything to stop the torture. After that, he was released from the Ministry of Love and Room 101. In the final scene of the novel, the main novel sits in a cafe, drinks alcohol, listens to the radio and realizes that he has recovered from his own doubts about the correctness of the party.
Value of the novel
The finale showed what he wanted to portray so muchOrwell “1984” (we presented you briefly) is a novel about how the repressive machine of a totalitarian state can destroy any person. Even Smith, who resisted tyranny to the end, finally gave up. First, he was physically destroyed (in the literal sense of the word - he began to lose teeth, etc.). Then he finally lost his conviction.
Unlucky ending just added to the novelcult He instantly became a bestseller. Up to this point in the world has not yet published a similar book. Former novels in the genre of dystopia could not boast of such a carefully designed and described artistic world, which Orwell invented.
Впрочем, как уже говорилось выше, английскому the writer did not need to write anything. In fact, he only logically developed all the phenomena that Nazism and other totalitarian regimes of the first half of the 20th century gave rise to.
The success of the novel is also due to manymetaphors that have migrated to all the languages of the world. This is already described doublethink, “Angsots”, two minutes of hate, etc. Orwell became the author of the famous formula “two and two is exactly five”, which described the principle of false propaganda, as well as the image of Big Brother. The references to “1984” are important components of modern Western popular culture.
