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Orwell's Anti-Totalitarian Themes Explained

George Orwell's works, particularly 'Animal Farm' and '1984', serve as warnings against totalitarianism, exposing the dangers of power and the impact of oppressive governments on individuality. 'Animal Farm' is a political allegory highlighting the threats of revolution driven by selfishness, while '1984' presents a dystopian future characterized by surveillance and psychological control. E.M. Forster, meanwhile, navigates between Modernism and tradition, addressing controversial topics through a refined narrative style that emphasizes plot over stream of consciousness.

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18 views2 pages

Orwell's Anti-Totalitarian Themes Explained

George Orwell's works, particularly 'Animal Farm' and '1984', serve as warnings against totalitarianism, exposing the dangers of power and the impact of oppressive governments on individuality. 'Animal Farm' is a political allegory highlighting the threats of revolution driven by selfishness, while '1984' presents a dystopian future characterized by surveillance and psychological control. E.M. Forster, meanwhile, navigates between Modernism and tradition, addressing controversial topics through a refined narrative style that emphasizes plot over stream of consciousness.

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martina.parise
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ORWELL

Anti-Totalitarian, his works are a warning against the mystification of power and the
dangers of totalitarianism in society.
He had a strong sense of moral awareness and aimed to transform political writing into art.
He wanted to expose lies, bring to light some facts of totalitarianism.

ANIMAL FARM:
In “Animal Farm”, we can see clearly his political position and commitment.
It's written as a political allegory, in which human characters are replaced by farm
animals.
The novel represents the dangers of all kinds of revolutions and denounces the threat of
selfishness and greed that characterises human actions.

“1984” written in 1948


It’s a novel which contains a strong anti-totalitarian message, a dystopian novel set in a
bleak future London. He denounces the dangers of totalitarianism in a world in which human
individuality has been cancelled by the actions of an oppressive government.

PLOT:
London, the capital of Oceania, is governed by “big brother” whose governance is
characterised by constant surveillance, violent policing and psychological conditioning.
Winston Smith is a journalist who has to rewrite old newspapers with the new language so
that the history supports state policy. Winston rebels against the regime and he keeps a
diary with all real events. Winston and Julia are a couple but they are discovered by the
thought police, they are arrested, tortured and brainwashed until they are cured. They betray
each other and by the end they are convinced of their guilt.

Wistont Smith → reference to winston churchill and smith who is a common


english man
Big brother → represents totalitarianism because he spies everyone (all-knowing
and all-seeing) and doesn’t allow thoughts.
Language was mystified.
Newspeak → new language which eliminates irregular forms, reduces vocabulary
and independent thoughts like ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’.This is an example of
how languages can be used for power and coercion. They also use ‘doublethink’
the ability to hold two contrasting ideas at the same time.

Utopian: best world (not real)


Dystopian: worst scenario

FOSTER

He stood between Modernism and tradition: rejects Victorian moralism and deals with topics
with controversial issues such as imperialism, colonialism, homosexuality and discrimination.
On the other hand his style is [Link] narrative technique was refined and based on
the central role played by the plot, so he doesn’t use the stream of consciousness. He uses

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