The social aspects of g. Orvelll's novel"1984" contents I. Introduction Main body

"Newspeak" in the structure of the novel "1984" by G. Orwell

The genre of anti-utopia is inconceivable without its antipode - utopia; both utopia and dystopia have their origin in man's most ancient mythological conceptions of heaven and hell. These ideas are reflected in the religious, scientific, social and literary spheres, so utopia and dystopia have a social meaning in the minds of the majority of the inhabitants.
There are many theories and concepts regarding the essence of the genres of utopia and dystopia, however, the concept of Mannheim (Mannheim, 1991) is considered fundamental. According to Mannheim's theory, there is a line between ideology and utopia: ideology is ideas that "organically entered the picture of the world", i.e. without having a transformative effect; utopia is an attempt to realize these ideas. In addition, Mannheim argues that utopia is inextricably linked with the presence of an all-encompassing ideal of a new all-encompassing ideal of a new social order.
Morson also studied the genres of utopia and dystopia . In his book The Limits of Genre, he declares the anti- genre orientation of dystopia. G. Morson defines the specifics of dystopia as the establishment of parodic relations “between anti- genre works and works and traditions of another genre – the genre being ridiculed” ( Morson , 1990: 233).
Utopia and anti-utopia are a type of understanding of the world , a system of values expressed in scientific, artistic, political and other forms. In these genres ideal and reality collide. Utopia and dystopia are one, however, it is advisable to consider dystopia as a derivative of utopia.
Until the 20th century, dystopia was not singled out as an independent literary genre, but performed an auxiliary function for a satirical image, it was a kind of ideological commentary for utopian works. By the 20th century, dystopia acquires a close connection with science fiction and, having acquired its own specifics, is formed as a special literary genre.
The classic dystopian novel is anthropocentric , the central line is the conflict between society and the individual, who can no longer put up with the arrangement of the environment. Dystopia is dynamic, since the predominant type of speech is narrative, and not description, as in a static utopia. The peculiarity of narration in dystopia is to display a view from the outside, a new vision of the old problems of society. The society or state described in the dystopia has its own prototype, which is well recognizable, however, the time and place of action are removed from the author's.
The novel "1984" by George Orwell combines all of the above characteristics of a work in the genre of dystopia. The novel is so close to reality that it has become not just a classic work in its genre, it has become part of modern Western culture. The work is based on a caustic satire on the real horrors of Stalin's Russia. However, it would be wrong to view 1984 only as a satire on the Soviet regime. The author himself considered his book a kind of warning about the excesses that threatened England, which did not leave attempts in the fight against Stalinism.
In "1984" the utopian world is exposed "from within", through the feelings of its individual inhabitant, who experiences its laws and is "placed before us as a neighbor" ( Galtseva , 1988: 219). The novel begins April 4, 1984 at the Airstrip One (this is how England is called at this time, according to the author). Airstrip One is part of the vast and powerful state of Oceania, located in the territories of North America, South Africa and Australia.
The population of Oceania is divided into Party members and Proles : 19% are Party members and the rest are classified as Proles . The party itself is divided into internal (1% of the population) and external (18%). Members of the Inner Party have advantages and all sorts of privileges, holding high positions in the institutions of state power. The Party organizes collective events, marches, competitions, and games, which are obligatory for all, in order to control and determine the life of the country. Refusal to participate in such events is considered a crime and severely punished. Children are brought up, not in the family: they are common, they are brought up by the state according to the principles of Ingsots (English socialism). The party teaches children to denounce others and even their parents to the police if they were seen in conflict with the official ideology by word or thought.⁸
Following E. Zamyatin, G. Orwell focuses the reader's attention on the fact that science and technology are used by the state as a means of establishing political dictatorship ( Galtseva , 1988: 219). Impact and control are mainly carried out with the help of technical means. The Party conducts incessant surveillance of every citizen of Oceania: on the streets of the city, and even in apartments, " telescreens " are installed that control every movement; "joy camps" (labor camps) were created to punish people who committed any act contrary to the laws of Ingsots .
Most of the population of Oceania is engaged in agriculture and work in production - this part of the population is called the proles . They live in the poorest and almost completely destroyed parts of the city, and the party treats them like a labor force and even compares them to animals: one of its slogans reads "Free animals and the proletariat!". Proles have no contact with party members and are almost completely ignored by the state authorities (until they commit a crime) policemen and " telescreens ". Due to the lack of total surveillance, in the quarters of the proles you can find something that is not found where the members of the party live (old books, knick-knacks, furniture, alcohol, women of easy virtue). Nothing has changed in the life of the proles for a very long time, even technological progress has not left a mark on their life.
The development of the plot of the novel is accompanied by the division of the whole work into three parts. In the first part of the novel, the author shows a totalitarian state that completely subjugates and controls all spheres of human activity and even his consciousness. It also introduces the protagonist of the work, Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party who begins to question its ideology. The second part of the novel is filled with events of love content: we are talking about the novel of Winston and Julia, his colleague. By cheating the system, they find a way to be together, but their happiness cannot last long. Their idyll is destroyed by O'Brien , a member of the Inner Party, whom Winston mistakes for an underground member. In fact, O'Brien not only does not share Winston's doubts about the state system, but is also the main ideologue of the state party. In the third part, the author describes in detail the system of "re-education" of the unfaithful to the party: Winston, accused of betraying the party and thought crime , is interrogated, tortured, and mocked. At the same time, Julia is being "re-educated". In the interval between the tortures, Winston realizes that the process of "re-education" does not end with death, as he would like, since death could be equated with freedom: if he had not given up his beliefs, he would have died a free man. Finally,
Winston gives up: betrays Julia, accepts the ideology of "love for Big Brother", unable to endure the physical and psychological pressure. Thus, the plot is simple and consists of a series of successive elements, including the uprising of one person, the search for like-minded people, love and understanding, arrest, torture, and finally surrender.
The novel does not contain a description of different models of social behavior, since the political system excludes the element of choosing a behavior model. Life in Oceania is unified, so the whole novel is built around the figure of a "rebel", his thoughts, experiences, decisions, thus the author describes the reaction of an individual to totalitarianism, prohibitions and cruelty.
The emergence of "newspeak" is due to both linguistic and literary factors. "Newspeak" contains all the shortcomings and least attractive features of English grammar and vocabulary that have appeared in the English language in recent decades, according to G. Orwell. The author argued that supporters of totalitarian regimes deliberately pursue a policy of simplifying the language in order to limit the thought process, narrow the scope of consciousness, and force citizens to think in the “right” direction. “One gets the feeling that one of the goals of totalitarianism is not only to make people think "right" but also in depriving them of their sanity" ( Orwell , 1957: 214).
Fictional precursor languages from the novels of E. Zamyatin, G. Wells, and O. Huxley served as a kind of basis for Newspeak, so they have some similarities. The idea of control over the thoughts of citizens by the state of G. Wells, the tendency to empty talk and bureaucratization of the language of O. Huxley, the idea of rationalization and simplification of the language of E. Zamyatin - all this G.Orwell combined in his fictional language.
The English language organically implements the style of newspaper headlines, which Orwell called as " the language of lyrics poetry , and also of headlines '" (language of lyric poetry and headlines) ( Bolton , 1984:155). Newspeak incorporated many elements of this style: elliptical constructions with the omission of most prepositions, pronouns and connecting words, conversion, and the absence of an article.
Some researchers, including W. F. Bolton , note that "Newspeak" has the characteristic features of the initial level of language learning: its syntax, primitive vocabulary and regularity of grammatical forms.
The focus of linguistic research in the first half of the XX century. was the study of the links between language and thinking, language and culture. Myra Barnes
States - the British Empire, in fact, two of them [superpowers] have developed. <...> Eurasia occupies the entire northern part of the European and Asian continents, from Portugal to the Bering Strait. Oceania includes both Americas, the Atlantic islands, including the British, Australasia and South Africa ”(p. 239).
Monetary units adopted in Oceania become explicit means of organizing artistic space. Dollars and cents replaced the traditional English pound and pence. The names of the traditional currency survived only in the memory of the proles and in the old song. The replacement of the usual English currency by the American one suggests that G. Orwell considered it possible for the United States to fully expand in the future.
However, by creating the illusion of the authenticity of the events described in the novel, the author allows the reader to imagine the world of "1984" as fiction. Orwell uses implicit means to expand the boundaries of the real. Implicit means of spatial characterization include fictitious geographical names: Oceania ( Oceania ), Runway I ( Airstrip I), Malabar Front ( the Malabar front ), Eastasia ( Ostasia ), Australasia ( Australasia ), etc.
The indication of exact time periods, and in particular event dates, is used in the novel as an explicit temporal localization. These absolute temporary indicators are autosemantic : "For example, it appeared from the Times of the seven- teenth of March that Big Brother in his speech of the previous day, had predicted that the South Indian front would remain quiet..." (p. 35). - “For example, from the report of the Times of March 17, it was clear that the day before in his speech, Elder Brother predicted a lull on the South Indian front ...” (p. 119).
In addition to explicit means, the novel also contains implicit means of temporal localization. These include lexemes with the semantics "time" and "referring to the previous period of time" ( past , old , archaic , old-fashioned , ancient , dead , etc.), as well as anthroponyms,