Connections Between Orwell
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AP3 English
16 August 2011
A Taste of Freedom: Bittersweet
It is common belief that if a child is denied sweets at home, this child will over indulge when sweets are presented outside of the home, and have no boundary or concept of when to stop eating. This type of over indulgence is exemplified in a collection of works by George Orwell. George Orwell’s novel 1984, published in 1949, is his depiction of what the world will be like in the year 1984. His essay “Shooting an Elephant”, first published in 1936, is a real life story of his encounter with a rogue elephant while living and working as a British police officer in Myanmar. Both of these works share an idea in common. If freedom is completely denied, the subject will know not when to stop and become chaotic when freedom is presented.
The Thought Police in the novel 1984 are a secret law enforcement agency that watches closely over each citizen of Oceania. Not a single movement, word, or thought is missed or untraceable. Their job is to prevent rebellion against the government because it could result in loss of power. O’Brien, a powerful inner party member, tells Winston, the protagonist of the story, that, “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power” (217). The Party will go to great extents to have control over all citizens’ minds. This way, the citizens have no concept of what freedom is. If there is no knowledge of freedom, there is no desire for it, thus making a rebellion nearly impossible. This idea is actually very similar to “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave” in that ignorance creates subservience and peace.
The Party in 1984 strips their outer members of all knowledge that may be used against the Party. They even try to make it seem as though love should not exist at all. Winston still has his own thoughts, and he knows that he is in love Julia, a girl he often meets up with. Such relationships are prohibited, so...
16 August 2011
A Taste of Freedom: Bittersweet
It is common belief that if a child is denied sweets at home, this child will over indulge when sweets are presented outside of the home, and have no boundary or concept of when to stop eating. This type of over indulgence is exemplified in a collection of works by George Orwell. George Orwell’s novel 1984, published in 1949, is his depiction of what the world will be like in the year 1984. His essay “Shooting an Elephant”, first published in 1936, is a real life story of his encounter with a rogue elephant while living and working as a British police officer in Myanmar. Both of these works share an idea in common. If freedom is completely denied, the subject will know not when to stop and become chaotic when freedom is presented.
The Thought Police in the novel 1984 are a secret law enforcement agency that watches closely over each citizen of Oceania. Not a single movement, word, or thought is missed or untraceable. Their job is to prevent rebellion against the government because it could result in loss of power. O’Brien, a powerful inner party member, tells Winston, the protagonist of the story, that, “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power” (217). The Party will go to great extents to have control over all citizens’ minds. This way, the citizens have no concept of what freedom is. If there is no knowledge of freedom, there is no desire for it, thus making a rebellion nearly impossible. This idea is actually very similar to “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave” in that ignorance creates subservience and peace.
The Party in 1984 strips their outer members of all knowledge that may be used against the Party. They even try to make it seem as though love should not exist at all. Winston still has his own thoughts, and he knows that he is in love Julia, a girl he often meets up with. Such relationships are prohibited, so...