Historical context of 1984-george orwell
George Orwells 1984 is one of the most important pieces of political fiction; it is a timeless political satire that demands to be read to be truly appreciated. Published in 1948, and set 36 years into the future, 1984 eerily depicts where the world is going, where the truth is shunted and lies are promoted by all mainstream media. Perhaps one of the most powerful science fiction novels of the twentieth century, this apocalyptic satire shows with grim conviction how the protagonist Winston Smiths individual personality is wiped and how he is recreated in the Partys image until he does not just obey but loves Big Brother.
Some critics have related Winston Smiths suffering to those Orwell underwent before the writing of 1984. Orwell maintained the idea that the novel was written with the intention to alter other peoples ideas about the society they should strive after. But perhaps, to truly understand the concepts explored and the purpose it was written, we should first consider the historical context of the novel, the period leading up to the writing of 1984 in order to answer just what kind of book he was writing.
One of the things that make 1984 such an important work of political fiction is the fact that it was written in a period of unprecedented political instability. It was the end of the worlds great imperial powers and the rise of a new age of politics. Democracy, fascism and communism were vying for dominance and the outcome of their struggle could not be predicted.
Most people at the time were content to read 1984 as a straightforward allegory of the about the melancholy fate of the Russian revolution. From the minute Big Brothers moustache appears in the second page of the book, people were immediately reminded of Stalin just as how the despised part heretic Emmanuel Goldstein is like Trotsky. This however did not prevent the novel being marketed in the US as an anticommunist tract.
Written in 1948, 1984 arrived in the Mccarthy period where communism
Some critics have related Winston Smiths suffering to those Orwell underwent before the writing of 1984. Orwell maintained the idea that the novel was written with the intention to alter other peoples ideas about the society they should strive after. But perhaps, to truly understand the concepts explored and the purpose it was written, we should first consider the historical context of the novel, the period leading up to the writing of 1984 in order to answer just what kind of book he was writing.
One of the things that make 1984 such an important work of political fiction is the fact that it was written in a period of unprecedented political instability. It was the end of the worlds great imperial powers and the rise of a new age of politics. Democracy, fascism and communism were vying for dominance and the outcome of their struggle could not be predicted.
Most people at the time were content to read 1984 as a straightforward allegory of the about the melancholy fate of the Russian revolution. From the minute Big Brothers moustache appears in the second page of the book, people were immediately reminded of Stalin just as how the despised part heretic Emmanuel Goldstein is like Trotsky. This however did not prevent the novel being marketed in the US as an anticommunist tract.
Written in 1948, 1984 arrived in the Mccarthy period where communism
Bibliography: ww.wikipeia.org- Spanish civil war-cold war-George Orwell-Joseph Stalin-Mao tse Tungwww.bartleby.com/65/to/totalita.htmwww.britannica.com/eb/article-9073017/totalitarianismww.answers.comhttp://www.liferesearchuniversal.com/introduction.htmlhttp://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/scw/scw.htmwww.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade50.htmlbooks.google.com.au/bookswww.online-literature.com/orwell/www.george-orwell.org/www.netcharles.com/orwell/articles/col-totalitarianism.htmFinding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin1984 by George Orwell (foreword by Thomas Pynchon) 2003 editionLiterature and its times by joyce moss