1984 Nationalism
1
1984 and Nationalism
Thesis Statement: In “1984” George Orwell portrays a society derived from several forms nationalism, which has one point – to isolate the individual citizen to achieve unwavering allegiance to the Party. However, Orwell reveals the mechanisms of nationalism are not just to forge submission to the Party but rather to eradicate any other allegiances that would distract from the Party’s agenda.
George Orwell, in his novel “1984”, invents an authoritarian future society that is controlled by a centralized government that exercises near total control over the freedom, will, and thought of the people. Orwell struggles to find the appropriate language essential to describe this political government, settling on variations of nationalism. From
Orwell’s letters published in 1945, he attempts to describe nationalism as: “I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests” (Orwell, Letter).
Orwell builds this fictional future by incorporating elements of both civic and ethnic nationalism to create a despotic state that divides and controls the populace based on allegiance to the ruler and the Party rather than to the state of Oceania. In “1984”, Orwell states “Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness” (Orwell, 1984, p. 48). Essentially, this is the true goal of the Party; it wants more than mere compliance, it wants obedience. The Party wants complete surrender of everything that makes a person a human being. The Party demanded of its members that they be pure not only in their actions, but also in their thoughts. This is the
2 regime that invented the notion of “thoughtcrime,” the idea that what one thinks, even if one does not act on whatever that thought may be. It is a thoughtcrime, though an unconscious one, that gets the conscientious Party member Parsons imprisoned.
This unique
1984 and Nationalism
Thesis Statement: In “1984” George Orwell portrays a society derived from several forms nationalism, which has one point – to isolate the individual citizen to achieve unwavering allegiance to the Party. However, Orwell reveals the mechanisms of nationalism are not just to forge submission to the Party but rather to eradicate any other allegiances that would distract from the Party’s agenda.
George Orwell, in his novel “1984”, invents an authoritarian future society that is controlled by a centralized government that exercises near total control over the freedom, will, and thought of the people. Orwell struggles to find the appropriate language essential to describe this political government, settling on variations of nationalism. From
Orwell’s letters published in 1945, he attempts to describe nationalism as: “I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests” (Orwell, Letter).
Orwell builds this fictional future by incorporating elements of both civic and ethnic nationalism to create a despotic state that divides and controls the populace based on allegiance to the ruler and the Party rather than to the state of Oceania. In “1984”, Orwell states “Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness” (Orwell, 1984, p. 48). Essentially, this is the true goal of the Party; it wants more than mere compliance, it wants obedience. The Party wants complete surrender of everything that makes a person a human being. The Party demanded of its members that they be pure not only in their actions, but also in their thoughts. This is the
2 regime that invented the notion of “thoughtcrime,” the idea that what one thinks, even if one does not act on whatever that thought may be. It is a thoughtcrime, though an unconscious one, that gets the conscientious Party member Parsons imprisoned.
This unique
Cited: Orwell, George. "1984." August 2001. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt. Online. 25 Januaury 2014. —. "George Orwell 's Letter on Why He Wrote 1984." 18 May 1944. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/12/george-orwell-s-letteron-why-he-wrote-1984.html. Online. 25 January 2014. —. "Notes on Nationalism." October 1945. http://orwell.ru/library/essays/nationalism/english/e_nat. Online. 29 January 2014.