Questions tagged [george-orwell]
Questions about the works of the English author George Orwell (1903 – 1950) or his life as a writer. Orwell is best known for the novels 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and 'Animal Farm'.
77
questions
3
votes
1
answer
202
views
What did J. B. Priestley mean by, "Comedy, we may say, is society protecting itself—with a smile."
One of the most popular J. B. Priestley quotes is:
Comedy, we may say, is society protecting itself—with a smile.
Source: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/j-b-priestley-quotes
https://literature....
4
votes
2
answers
137
views
What are "devices of orthodoxy" in this context?
White always mates because the better player has opted for the white
pieces. But black is free to win if he can.
In that its citizens are free to play the game of memory control, of
working out the ...
- 131
2
votes
1
answer
80
views
The distinction between the Orwell's belief about real world and his imagination
Orwell seemed to believe that the real world, as opposed to that of
his feverish and genuinely diseased imagination, was moving in the
direction of bigger and worse cacotopias.
1985 by Anthony Burgess
...
- 131
3
votes
1
answer
819
views
Do the rocket bombs in 1984 only ever strike prole quarters?
Relatively in the middle of chapter 5 in “1984” it says:
In some ways she was far more acute than Winston, and
far less susceptible to Party propaganda. Once when he
happened in some connexion to ...
- 133
3
votes
1
answer
297
views
Aren't there any thought criminals who commit suicide in Oceania and what would it mean for the government?
The Inner Party doesn't want Winston and Julia dead as long as they are opposing Big Brother and the government. Oceania's government wants everyone to "love" Big Brother and Ingsoc, and ...
3
votes
1
answer
428
views
Were Eurasia and Eastasia ever allied against Oceania?
In Orwell's 1984, the world is divided into three superpowers: Oceania (roughly equal to the Americas, Australasia, and Britain), Eurasia (roughly equal to the Soviet Union and mainland Europe) and ...
- 71.1k
2
votes
1
answer
179
views
What if it were named '*The* Animal Farm'?
This question was inspired by a recent comment to a previous question of mine. In that question, I asked about the literary effect of dropping the articles from titles of novels and films. Even there, ...
- 323
4
votes
2
answers
221
views
What is a "red lead firm"?
In George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying, the protagonist gets a job at a "red lead firm". From context, it seems to mean a well-established, maybe stuffy, firm. I wonder if anyone has ...
- 417
5
votes
1
answer
215
views
In "Keep the Aspidistra Flying", what is the joke about "Mice"?
In George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying, he writes:
Mice, by Gordon Comstock; a sneaky little foolscap octavo, price three and sixpence but now reduced to a bob. Of the thirteen B.F.s who had ...
- 417
6
votes
1
answer
714
views
What is the meaning of "pools of gold" in "Nineteen Eighty-Four"?
From the beginning of part 2, chapter 2:
Winston picked his way up the lane through dappled light and
shade, stepping out into pools of gold wherever the boughs
parted. Under the trees to the left of ...
- 61
6
votes
5
answers
14k
views
Does Winston Smith die at the end of 1984?
At the end of 1984, does Winston Smith die in the traditional sense of death, or just figuratively?
- 215
0
votes
1
answer
304
views
What did George Orwell try to communicate with "Animal Farm"?
What exactly is the message that George Orwell tried to communicate through Animal Farm? What exactly did he mean by
The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and
from pig to ...
- 147
2
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Where is Napoleon during the battle of the cowshed?
In Animal Farm, where is Napoleon during the battle of the cowshed? Is this significant? Please explain in detail.
1
vote
0
answers
170
views
In Animal Farm, what is the significance of the gun’s placement at the foot of the flagpole?
What is the significance of Mr. Jones's gun’s placement at the foot of the flagpole? Is there anything that this represents?
7
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What is the meaning of Benjamin the donkey's cryptic answer?
George Orwell's Animal Farm contains the following passage in chapter 3:
When asked whether he was not happier now that Jones was gone, he
would say only “Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ...
- 175
8
votes
1
answer
284
views
Where did Orwell ask whether British democracy would end through a Fascist takeover or by a Socialist revolution?
The Wikipedia article about Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighthy-Four contains the following statement:
During World War II, Orwell believed that British democracy as it existed before 1939 would not ...
- 44k
11
votes
2
answers
726
views
In 1984 why does the Newspeak dictionary have numbered editions?
A major theme in 1984 is that the Party is never wrong and commonly changes all past references to reflect this. Why would the Party have numbered editions of their Newspeak dictionary, as opposed to ...
- 111
5
votes
2
answers
870
views
In 1984, how did people think their thoughtcrime would be discovered?
In the novel 1984, Winston Smith writes:
Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death.
How exactly does Smith, or anyone else, think that Big Brother will discover their thoughtcrimes?...
- 141
2
votes
3
answers
522
views
What does George Orwell mean with "vague reverence"?
In Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell writes this:
Sometimes it stopped for a few seconds, spread out and resettled its wings, then swelled its speckled breast and again burst into ...
- 131
9
votes
0
answers
12k
views
Nineteen Eighty Four - the chocolate ration demonstrations
After the chocolate ration is reduced from 30 grammes per week to 20, the Ministry of Truth puts out the claim that it has been increased to 20 grammes (its supposed previous level is not stated).
...
- 286
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Looking for a quote from 1984 about the party's immortality vs personal mortality
What is the quote from 1984 where Winston tells O'Brien that O'Brien is mortal, and O'Brien responds that what matters is the party's immortality and not his own?
It was during a sort of "ask me ...
- 23
9
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Did the Brotherhood really exist?
In George Orwell's 1984, there is a mention of a secretive organization named Brotherhood whose main aim is to rebel against the Big Brother, and the Party in general.
In the later part of the prose, ...
- 954
7
votes
1
answer
321
views
When was the Party founded?
The boots were approaching again. The door opened. O'Brien came in.
Winston started to his feet. The shock of the sight had driven all
caution out of him. For the first time in many years he ...
8
votes
1
answer
542
views
In George Orwell's Burmese Days, what word is the censored "b--s" supposed to be?
Here's a passage where Westfield talks about possibly having to allow Natives into the European club:
"Got to put up with it, I suppose", he said. "B--s of natives are getting into all the Clubs ...
- 83
4
votes
1
answer
156
views
Do Orwell's and E. B. White's essays belong to a school?
I have always been charmed by George Orwell's and E. B. White's essays. They're insidiously plain, but extremely pleasant to read. The way that they talk is so different from authors today (for ...
- 149
1
vote
1
answer
308
views
Animal Farm — silent protest?
Is Animal Farm by George Orwell a silent protest against the Russian Revolution? I am correcting an essay about Animal Farm, and someone called it a silent protest. I am not sure whether I should ...
- 281
5
votes
1
answer
146
views
Would Julia have wanted to meet with O'Brien if not for Winston?
In George Orwell's 1984 I am trying to prove that Winston influenced Julia to be more proactive in rebelling against the Party. So I am wondering if Julia's views on actively trying to take down the ...
- 51
7
votes
1
answer
4k
views
What does "toby" mean, in London slang of Orwell's time?
In the George Orwell poem "A Dressed Man and a Naked Man", two men are haggling for the clothes of one of them (the other is naked). After a little research into the pounds/shillings/pence system for ...
- 71.1k
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What caused English intellectuals to be "ashamed of their own nationality", according to George Orwell?
Gary Gibbon, First-class BA History (Balliol College, Oxford). Breaking Point: The UK Referendum on the EU and its Aftermath (Haus Curiosities). p. 63.
And then there ...
user175
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Are these quotes from Orwell's 1984 similes, metaphors, or something else?
Winston's entrails seemed to have turned into ice.
I thought metaphor, but it's the "seemed" that's throwing me off.
It's not quite 'something IS something else' (i.e. his 'entrails turned into ice')...
- 31
2
votes
2
answers
6k
views
What is meant by Winston only had once a proof of falsification by the Party?
(From Chapter 3..) Winston Smith is doing his morning gymnastics in front of the telescreen and thinking about the Party and their actions. Quoting from the book itself (emphasis mine):
Sometimes, ...
- 147
4
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How bad is Winston Smith 's memory in the novel `1984`?
The book starts with Winston entering his apartment in noon, leaving work at noon by choice since we are given the information that
By leaving the Ministry at this time of day he had sacrificed ...
- 147
2
votes
1
answer
498
views
Why did George Orwell make "Oceania" totalitarian in his novel "1984"?
During his times the United States and Great Britain were seen as one of the few the greatest "true" democracies that have ever existed. Why did he decide to merge them into one totalitarian ...
user5115
6
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What might Syme have been thinking when he was captured?
I understand that Syme was vaporised because he overthought the concept of the newspeak, but would he have regretted being an avid follower of Big Brother and destroyer of language?
- 63
5
votes
4
answers
2k
views
What does this passage of 1984 mean?
There were also memories of another kind. They stood out in his mind disconnectedly, like pictures with blackness all round them.
He was in a cell which might have been either dark or light, because ...
- 61
13
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Is Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984 an unreliable narrator?
In a recent discussion in on online course about How to Read a Novel, someone suggested that Winston Smith in Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is an unreliable narrator. L. Kip Wheeler's glossary ...
- 44k
13
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why doesn't Winston ask Mr Charrington about life before the Revolution?
In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Winston goes to a pub and asks an old prole about life in the olden days. But it's all in vain, because the man can't remember anything Winston thinks is important, so Winston ...
- 233
6
votes
0
answers
729
views
Were the three slogans in Orwell's 1984 partly inspired by Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden"?
George Orwell did not like Kipling at all. I quote from this essay by Orwell:
Kipling is a jingo imperialist, he is morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting.
But this essay also shows that ...
- 11.6k
15
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Terminology and examples for what George Orwell calls "good bad poetry"?
Recently I bumped into an article where "The Poetry Foundation’s president, John Barr, takes a look at what separates “serious” poetry from the rest". Poetry being an art form, obviously no such ...
- 255
8
votes
4
answers
19k
views
In 1984, did Julia ever reach room 101? If so, what was her worst fear?
While O'Brian is torturing Winston, he reveals that Julia betrayed Winston almost immediately. Does this mean that she never reached room 101? If she did reach it, do we have any hints as to what her ...
- 211
2
votes
0
answers
152
views
1984 - What does O'Brien mean by this sentence? [duplicate]
While Winston is being held prisoner, O'Brien walks in the room for the first time and the conversation goes something like this:
Winston: They got you too!
O'Brien: Yes, they got me a long time ago.
...
- 211
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Is the speaker with an on-off switch a reference to Orwell?
I'm intrigued by this passage in Lois Lowry, The Giver, chapter 10.
He watched as the man rose and moved first to the wall where the speaker was. It was the same sort of speaker that occupied a ...
- 1,730
4
votes
2
answers
334
views
How did the Thought Police prevent themselves from becoming Thought Criminals?
The Thought Police presumably encountered Thought Criminals with at least some regularity. At a minimum, there were a fair number of people imprisoned at the Ministry of Love. With that said, how did ...
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why does Emmanuel Goldstein's book in 1984 have a title page?
I was rereading 1984 when I noticed something amiss in this passage:
A heavy black volume, amateurishly bound, with no name or title on the cover. The print also looked slightly irregular. The ...
- 280
12
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Does "Animal Farm" explicitly state anywhere in the text that it is in fact a political allegory?
I first heard of George Orwell's Animal Farm in high school when a teacher mentioned that it was an allegory of the Soviet State. So I read it two years later with that understanding.
While recently ...
- 493
7
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Why did the animals in Animal Farm confess to their crimes?
One of the things that I did not understand about Animal Farm is why the animals, after the hen's rebellion, simply came forward to confess their crimes.
Napoleon offers no incentive for coming ...
- 181
11
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Why wasn't O'Brien considered a thought criminal?
Given that O'Brien shows a high level of awareness of the Party's deceptiveness and malice (e.g. the fact that he admitted to being involved in creating and promoting the Goldstein myth), to what ...
7
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Why does O'Brien claim that the party didn't believe in solipsism?
In 1984, O'Brien claims that the party's philosophy is not solipsism. Why does he claim that? Was he telling the truth, and how does the party's philosophy actually differ from solipsism?
From chapter ...
13
votes
1
answer
469
views
Did George Orwell ever feel that Spain would be better off under Franco?
I recently read an article at Foreign Policy (archived here) stating the following:
[Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom] grounds Churchill and illuminates the grim conclusions Orwell didn’...
- 301
19
votes
1
answer
30k
views
Who first said this quote about how we only sleep safely because "rough men stand ready" to fight on our behalf?
One of my favorite quotes is Churchill's
"We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us."
But recently I found out that Orwell was attributed ...
Scarlet Kleen