1) What is dystopian fiction? Is '1984' a dystopian fiction?
Ans.
Dystopian literature is a genre of fiction set in future or near-future societies where life and social structures are in calamitous decline. Authors of dystopian literature typically use the setting to examine social and political systems and contemplate what would happen if these systems were amplified. The result is often a society in shambles, with rampant oppression, violence, poverty, and revolution.
The etymology of the word dystopia (dis-TOE-pee-uh) describes these settings succinctly but perfectly. By combining the Ancient Greek dys, meaning “bad” + topos, meaning “place,” dystopia literally means “bad place.”
Common elements of dystopian fiction include societies engaged in forever wars, and characterized by extreme social and economic class divides, mass poverty, environmental devastation, anarchy, and loss of individuality.
As the video details, social control is another major feature of dystopian fiction. Dystopian authors represent social control as wielded by any number of powerful entities, including:
Corporate
Religious/Philosophical
Technological
Bureaucratic
Reproductive
Totalitarianism — defined as total social control over a given population through techniques such as thought police and surveillance — is also a feature of dystopian fiction. It figures prominently in famous dystopian novels such as George Orwell’s 1984, which we investigate further below.
Dystopian literature is very common and has been around since at least the late 19th century. One of the first dystopian fiction novels is Erewhon (1872) by Samuel Butler, an early commentary on the dangers of artificial intelligence. Another example of early dystopian literature is The Iron Heel (1908) by Jack London, which prophecies the extreme class divides and fascist regimes of the 20th century.
Other famous dystopian novels include:
Brave New World (1932) - Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 (1953) - Ray Bradbury
Lord of the Flies (1954) - William Golding
A Clockwork Orange (1962) - Anthony Burgess
V for Vendetta (1982) - Alan Moore and David Lloyd
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and The Testaments (2019) - Margaret Atwood
The Children of Men (1992) - P.D. James
The Road (2006) - Cormac McCarthy
The Hunger Games series (2008-2010) - Suzanne Collins
Each of these famous dystopian novels has also been made into a movie, showing how popular the genre is with mass audiences. Elements of dystopian fiction translate well into cinema largely because the worlds are so epic and visually striking.
In this video, Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, discusses dystopian speculative fiction and her experience writing dystopian fiction:
While not all allegories are dystopias, dystopias are also almost always allegories. Allegories are stories that comment on and criticize contemporary events, people, policies, etc. The purpose of dystopian fiction as allegory is to serve as a warning about how things could go wrong if we don’t change.
Here's one of the most famous allegories — Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
George Orwell’s 1984 is a defining example of dystopian fiction in that it envisions a future where society is in decline, totalitarianism has created vast inequities, and innate weaknesses of human nature keep the characters in a state of conflict and unhappiness. Unlike utopian novels, which hold hope for the perfectibility of man and the possibility of a just society, dystopian novels like 1984 imply that the human race will only get worse if man’s lust for power and capacity for cruelty go uncorrected.
In 1984, characters live in fear of wars, government surveillance, and political oppression of free speech. The London of the novel is dirty and crumbling, with food shortages, exploding bombs, and miserable citizens. The government is an all-powerful force of oppression and control, and crushes the characters’ identities and dreams. This dystopian vision of the future, written thirty-five years before the year the novel is set, suggests that man’s inherent nature is corrupt and repressive. Orwell wrote the book in the aftermath of World War II and the rise of fascism in Germany and the Soviet Union, and paints a pessimistic picture of society’s ability to avoid further global disasters.
Dystopian fiction usually works backward from the present to find an explanation for the fictional society’s decline, and thus to provide a commentary on the reader’s society or a warning of how the future could turn out. In 1984, as Winston works to acquire objects from the past, find spaces without telescreens or microphones in them, and recover memories of the time before the Party, Orwell provides the reader with glimpses of how Winston’s society came to be. We learn about a nuclear war, a revolution, mass famines, and a period of consolidation of power by the Party.
Dystopian novels explore the effects of oppression and totalitarianism on the individual psyche as well as how the individual functions in a repressive society. Winston’s trouble retrieving and trusting his memories illustrates the way the Party has corrupted his emotional life as well as his daily existence, asking the reader to question the nature of memory and individual consciousness. By suggesting that Winston is initially complacent because he can’t remember whether or not life was better and he was happier before the Revolution, the book examines the importance of memory in creating a sense of self.
One of the most famous dystopian fiction examples is George Orwell’s 1984 (1948). Orwell's book imagines what England would be like under extreme fascist or totalitarian rule, such as that of Nazi Germany or The Soviet Union. The video below summarizes the novel and illuminates its dystopian elements, including thought police and loss of individuality.
1984 has influenced countless dystopian authors since its publication and has become a cultural touchstone, commonly referenced to describe dystopian threats to the real world. One famous example of its influence is Ridley Scott’s famous Apple commercial, which aired during the 1984 Super Bowl.
In the ad, Apple Macintosh is portrayed as the revolutionary brand bursting through the rigid constraints of the thought police.
2) What according to you is the central theme of this novel?
The primary theme of 1984 by George Orwell is to warn readers of the dangers of totalitarianism. The central focus of the book is to convey the extreme level of control and power possible under a truly totalitarian regime. It explores how such a governmental system would impact society and the people who live in it.
According to me, the central theme is the extreme level of Control Orwell gives us the idea of another thinking level. It seems like if that's the kind of people or party in power how they control others. Control of screen, Control on emotion, thoughts, writing, clothes, food everything control by them.
In novel there are thought police who thing again party or break the rules the caught them and give torture them at end those people love the party, they control food gram of chocolate in Rashan, people were clothes same every place big screen and speaker is very torture one or another way they only speak about war and other things you not find Peace for one second they control others language also.
3) What do you understand by the term Orwellian?
Meaning of Orwellian
used to describe a political system in which the government tries to control every part of people's lives, similar to that described in the novel "Nineteen Eighty Four", by George Orwell
"Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. It denotes an attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by propaganda, surveillance, disinformation, denial of truth (doublethink), and manipulation of the past, including the "unperson"a person whose past existence is expunged from the public record and memory, practiced by modern repressive governments. Often, this includes the circumstances depicted in his novels, particularly Nineteen Eighty-Four but political doublespeak is criticized throughout his work, such as in Politics and the English Language.
The term Orwellian according to me is like Actopase. Shaping over thoughts and opinions.
4) Write in brief about 'Newspeak' and refer to Orwell & Pinter's essay?
Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate that is the setting of the 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell. In the novel, the Party created Newspeak to meet the ideological requirements of Ingsoc (English Socialism) in Oceania. Newspeak is a controlled language of simplified grammar and restricted vocabulary designed to limit the individual's ability to think and articulate "subversive" concepts such as personal identity, self-expression and free will. Such concepts are criminalized as thoughtcrime since they contradict the prevailing Ingsoc orthodoxy.
In "The Principles of Newspeak", the appendix to the novel, Orwell explains that Newspeak follows most of the rules of English grammar, yet is a language characterised by a continually diminishing vocabulary; complete thoughts are reduced to simple terms of simplistic meaning. The political contractions of Newspeak Ingsoc (English Socialism), Minitrue (Ministry of Truth), Miniplenty (Ministry of Plenty)are described by Orwell as similar to real examples of German and Russian contractions in the 20th century. Like Nazi (Nationalsozialist), Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei), politburo (Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), Comintern (Communist International), kolkhoz (collective farm), and Komsomol (Young Communists' League), the contractions in Newspeak, often syllabic abbreviations, are supposed to have a political function already in virtue of their abbreviated structure itself: nice sounding and easily pronounceable, their purpose is to mask all ideological content from the speaker.
The word "Newspeak" is sometimes used in contemporary political debate as an allegation that one tries to introduce new meanings of words to suit one's agenda.
The language used in Nineteen Eighty-Four is deceptive and manipulative how the politician hijacks language. Orwell says in the essay laziness of writers favouring capitalism. Pinter says politician voice is power or maintain power not for truth.
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Also Social media plays a vital role in the use of such language. It uses the language add friend and unfriend they don't use the word enemy. Through this they try to show how they spread love and not hatred, while we the algorithms of social media play a major role in spreading hatred.
Playing with words, back in 2012 came the idea of ‘chowkidar’- ‘mein chowkidar’ which gives a hidden meaning that you are ‘chor’ - enemies and I will take care that you can't steal anything. Public is chor and authority is chowkidar.
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