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    LIT 515B, 1984 Title Importance

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    Camila Zurita
    The document discusses the significance of the title of George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984". It provides context that Orwell published the novel in 1949, setting it in the year 1984, which was meant as a warning about a possible totalitarian future. Key themes in the novel include a totalitarian government, perpetual war, surveillance, and the distortion of history and reality through "doublethink". The title highlights how governments that control information can manipulate the past and future. Overall, the title flags the novel as a cautionary tale about allowing power to become overly concentrated and the importance of protecting free thought and truth.

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    LIT 515B, 1984 Title Importance

    Uploaded by

    Camila Zurita
    15 views2 pages
    The document discusses the significance of the title of George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984". It provides context that Orwell published the novel in 1949, setting it in the year 1984, which was meant as a warning about a possible totalitarian future. Key themes in the novel include a totalitarian government, perpetual war, surveillance, and the distortion of history and reality through "doublethink". The title highlights how governments that control information can manipulate the past and future. Overall, the title flags the novel as a cautionary tale about allowing power to become overly concentrated and the importance of protecting free thought and truth.

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    LIT 515B, 1984 title importance

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    The document discusses the significance of the title of George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984". It provides context that Orwell published the novel in 1949, setting it in the year 1984, which was meant as a warning about a possible totalitarian future. Key themes in the novel include a totalitarian government, perpetual war, surveillance, and the distortion of history and reality through "doublethink". The title highlights how governments that control information can manipulate the past and future. Overall, the title flags the novel as a cautionary tale about allowing power to become overly concentrated and the importance of protecting free thought and truth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    15 views2 pages

    LIT 515B, 1984 Title Importance

    Uploaded by

    Camila Zurita
    The document discusses the significance of the title of George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984". It provides context that Orwell published the novel in 1949, setting it in the year 1984, which was meant as a warning about a possible totalitarian future. Key themes in the novel include a totalitarian government, perpetual war, surveillance, and the distortion of history and reality through "doublethink". The title highlights how governments that control information can manipulate the past and future. Overall, the title flags the novel as a cautionary tale about allowing power to become overly concentrated and the importance of protecting free thought and truth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    LIT 515B

    Camila Zurita Tapia

    What is important about the title of 1984?

    1984 is an example of dystopian fiction that envisions a future where society is in


    decline, there is a totalitarian government and there exists weaknesses of human
    nature that keep the characters of the novel in a state of conflict, loneliness and
    unhappiness.
    A dystopia is a society where there is great suffering, rage, cruelty, and man's lust for
    power.

    An investigation says that Orwell's father was a civil servant in the British Empire,
    and Orwell himself served in the Indian Imperial Police. These experiences likely
    shaped Orwell's views on imperialism and totalitarianism, which are central themes
    in 1984. Also, Orwell wrote the book in the aftermath of World War II and the rise of
    fascism in Germany and the Soviet Union. So this was a time where everything had
    a pessimistic air.

    In 1984, we know that characters live in fear of wars, government surveillance, and
    political oppression of free speech. The London of the novel, named Oceania, 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.
    "We are not interested in the good of otherd, we are interested solely in power" page
    275

    We know from the title that it is the year in which the novel is set. This year is
    significant because it is a near-future date. Orwell published the novel in 1949, and
    the year 1984 was only 35 years in the future. This means that the novel's depiction
    of a totalitarian society could have been seen as a warning about a possible future
    for humanity.
    "The Old civilisations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is
    founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage,
    triumph" page 279
    "There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love,
    except love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph
    over a defeated enemy:" page 280

    And for Orwell it was an imaginary world we could live but up to date it is our reality
    or the reality of some nations such as North Korea, China, Cuba, Venezuela,
    Russian which citizens live in oppresion, under surveillance and with food shortage
    and fear.
    The distortion is evident in many aspects of the novel, such as the Party's use of
    doublethink, which requires people to accept two contradictory beliefs as true at the
    same time. For example, the Party slogan "War is Peace" is a classic example of
    doublethink. "Freedom is Slavery", "Ignorance is strenght"
    "Doublethink means the power to hold two contradictory beliefs in one's mind
    simultaneously, and to accept both of them." Page 223

    And like that we can see the importance of 1984 as it says


    "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the
    past." Page 260
    Where totalitarian governments are in total control of people's lives. They have so
    much power that are able to change their futures and to erase theie pasts.

    Some interesting conspirations of the title 1984

    Orwell originally envisioned the title to be "The Last Man in Europe."


    I can see that in page 283 "you are the last man" "you are the guardian of the human
    spirit"

    But his editor decided that "The Last Man in Europe" was not a good title so Orwell
    changed it to 1984
    Lne speculation is that Orwell wrote the book in 1948 so he just changed the last to
    digits to make it 1984
    Or that maybe he wanted to honor his late wife, poet Eileen Maud O'Shaughnessy,
    and named the book after her poem, "End of the Century, 1984".

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