1984 George Orwell Essay

Though he has had many great works one of George Orwell’s most significant was the novel 1984. Orwell first started writing this work of fiction after the devastating Spanish Civil War, which he fought in, and like another one of his books, Animal Farm, represents the dangers of totalitarianism. Additionally he draws many parallels to the dictatorships of Communist Russia, and their Big Brother like figure Joseph Stalin, as well as Nazi Germany, and their vindictive SS or Thought Police. Irrevocably Orwell’s goal, separate from all his previous works, however, was to include in his latest novel 1984 the indubitable loss of free will, thought, and ideology. Ultimately though the novel revolves around a single setting in which the values of the book and their importance orbit the apartment above Mr. Charrington’s shop. In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, he foreshadows Winston and Julia’s ominous fate from the discovery of the loft above Mr. Charrington’s shop to their predetermined capture through symbols, imagery, and irony.

Symbolism throughout the narrative contrasts from an encouraging mood in rebelling against the Party towards the depressing prospect of losing one’s individuality. The symbol that ultimately leads to Winston’s and Julia’s demise is the glass paperweight. In the beginning of the novel the paperweight represents a world filled with light and hope, a tiny piece of coral inside of glass which no one can reach. At the end of the narrative, however, a member of the Thought Police shatters it and symbolically obliterates Winston’s hope for the future as well as sexual freedom with Julia. The emblem of hope inside the glass, the coral, further foreshadows Winston’s downfall when he says, “The fragment of coral, a tiny crinkle of pink like a sugar rosebud from a cake, rolled across the mat. How small, thought Winston, how small it always was!” The aforementioned quote represents that although the pink shard of coral represented hope, the possibility of...