Review of the 1984 and the Animal Farm by George Orwell
This is the review of the 1984 and the Animal farm by George Orwell
Before we began one must understand few socio-political terms -
Totalitarian Society: Oxford writes, “a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state”. It is basically a form of government which is authoritative in nature to an extreme. Some common aspects of a totalitarian state include massive censorship, control over private (like family, home) and public sphere (like the internet), political power is held by one individual (or a group, dictator), almost everything is state-owned, continual propaganda to reinforce the belief that the social conditions are improving.
Hegemony: The Ways of thinking, cultural and social norms of the society (in our context, of ruling class). Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci came up with the idea of Cultural Hegemony. He tried to reason, “Why do workers not oppose capitalism?”. He argued because of hegemony. The ways of thinking are s.t these lead to bourgeois world view. If rebellion against the present order, it will re-create the same order again. Hegemony is created by intellectuals of the ruling class. Consider the example of Orientalism (Book by Edward W. Said). It talks about the division of the West and the East. These are not geographical terms, rather cultural. East as Others V/s the west as self. The west being seen as civilized, rational , progressive, scientific, and the East the polar opposite. The West represented the Orient as the lower end of a series of binaries which defined both. These categories of thought (hegemony) creates the colonial subject who is disciplined into submission, and sees the world through western categories. I.e. Orientalism normalized the European gaze. It erases non-European histories, delegitmizes non-European ways of being, claims all this destruction is progress and civilization. The Oriental now sees his own history as a pale copy of the west. Gramsci talks about the need of Counter-Hegemony, i.e. values, ideologies that counter ruling class hegemony. He calls it “War of Manoeuvre”. One more aspect is that the ruling class appropriates some ideas of the subalterns and thus maintain (or extend) there rule.
About the Author
George Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair on June 25, 1903, in Motihari, India, was a renowned British writer known for his keen social commentary and critiques of totalitarianism. He spent much of his life in England, although he also lived in Burma, Spain, and France. Orwell attended Eton College but did not pursue a university education. His most famous works include “Animal Farm” (1945), an allegorical (with hidden meaning) novella satirizing Soviet communism, and “1984” (1949), a dystopian novel exploring themes of surveillance and oppressive government control. Orwell’s writing remains influential for its exploration of political and social issues.
1984
Set in 1984 many years after WW2, a dystopian future, where the ruling party is “The Party” headed by the “Big Brother”. The world is still in constant turmoil, news of land being captured and prisoners of war hanged is a regular occurrence. The world power is divided into 3 masses Eurasia, EastAsia and Oceania. Each one in conflict with the other.
Political structure in Oceanic is totalitarian (English Socialism, or Ingsoc as they say in Newspeak) . The striking features being -
Mass surveillance, every word you speak to every little inflection of the muscle is being scrutinized. One is never alone, except within the few centimeters of the grey cells.
Re-writing of the past. Documents, books, are constantly being altered to suit the present narrative. No document in circulation can prove otherwise. As one progresses through the story, one realizes how jarring the hegemony becomes. What the party says is true, doesn’t matter what you remember, there is no way to prove otherwise
Newspeak: The language developed to enforce the ideas of Ingsoc, and doublethink amongst other. A language which is created such that it doesn’t allow to intellectually arrive at logical conclusion other than what the party says, i.e. to limit free thinking. As a consequence it has a limited vocabulary, with each word having a very definite meaning. It is created to ensure that the person can speak without thinking, inline with doublethink, to arrive at a conclusion mechanically or unconsciously and than forgot of the they were unconscious.
Doublethink: No words can match the words used by Orwell to describe doublethink. So I quote directly from chapter 7, “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word ‘doublethink’ involved the use of doublethink.”
Thoughcrime: Not just the act but even to think about something that goes against the system is a crime and punishable offence.
We follow the life of a Winston Smith, an outer party worker. The party being divided as the leader (Big brother), inner party (members are elected based on a examination conducted at some young age), and outer party member. One more sector of society is proles (the lower class). The living conditions are very bad, but the propaganda distills into the minds that the society is improving from before. Winston comes in contact with a women and they start having an affair which is equivalent to death in Ingsoc. To be married or in relation to women should only serve the purpose of child bearing. The higher-ups being afraid that formation of groups and bond can destabilize there power. Things take some sharp turn and the story … well read it.
The story is not per sai about Winston Smith, but rather of an ordinary indiviual and the life therein. The harsh living conditions, always within walking distance of death, lack lustre life, hegemonization of society (especially the youth, with the spy culture and Junior anti-sex league) and the feeling of overwhelming power over ones head. The story was meant to depict the world we are heading (which has merit to-date), and there are many takeaways that should be taken.
The writing style is unique, one feels anxiety and uneasiness the character. And before I move on , I have to mention the famous quote, “Big Brother is watching you”. Its just iconic …
Farm Animal
Very similar in spirit to the 1984. It is allegorical novel, with animals (on a farm) undertaking an act of revolt (kicking out the owner of the farm), forming party and hierarchies (laborers, “thinkers”, etc) thereafter. It is a the story of how political structure evolves, and how people are left behind (both literally and metaphorically as in the thoughts administered during the uproar are slowly substituted with the thoughts of the previous ruling class, thereby feeling of alienation for the older generation). One can see how the hegemony (of humans, i.e. totalitarianism) is being passed on to the ruling class formed therein. It is a very short read, and depicts steps of evolution via milestones like formation of a new class, new rules, new projects, methodical demolition of previous thoughts, etc.