Orwell’s Lifelong Interest in Language
George Orwell’s extensive interest in language is reflected in the novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. The profound interest in language is thoroughly depicted in the novel through “Newspeak”, the media’s psychological control and euphemistic phrases. Orwell also demonstrates his deeply rooted passion of language in his essay “Why I Write” by casting light on the novel. The basis of Orwell’s language in his novel is established upon his experiences of falsities in history, parallels to World War II, the Spanish Civil War, encounters with Stalin and Hitler, Soviet Propaganda and working for the BBC.
In “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, Orwell expresses his curiosity of language by illustrating the importance of the altered language, “Newspeak”, proposed to the society by the Party members. This fairly modernized language is, as Syme explains: “the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year” (35). Newspeak, unlike …show more content…
The obvious goal of Newspeak is to alter society’s ways of thinking and eliminate the culture and history associated to the language; consequently, shortening people’s memories. By eliminating a word, an individual has a more troublesome way of organizing his thoughts and communicating them to others. As Orwell quotes: “Thought corrupts language, language corrupts thought”. Therefore, Newspeak, not only works towards destroying language, but also towards the discontinuance of “thought crime”; thinking against the ideologies of the party, and reducing the exchange of ideas between individuals.
Furthermore, Orwell criticizes media’s profound psychological control towards the usage of language in “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. The telescreens in the novel are used as the main sources
George Orwell’s extensive interest in language is reflected in the novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. The profound interest in language is thoroughly depicted in the novel through “Newspeak”, the media’s psychological control and euphemistic phrases. Orwell also demonstrates his deeply rooted passion of language in his essay “Why I Write” by casting light on the novel. The basis of Orwell’s language in his novel is established upon his experiences of falsities in history, parallels to World War II, the Spanish Civil War, encounters with Stalin and Hitler, Soviet Propaganda and working for the BBC.
In “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, Orwell expresses his curiosity of language by illustrating the importance of the altered language, “Newspeak”, proposed to the society by the Party members. This fairly modernized language is, as Syme explains: “the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year” (35). Newspeak, unlike …show more content…
The obvious goal of Newspeak is to alter society’s ways of thinking and eliminate the culture and history associated to the language; consequently, shortening people’s memories. By eliminating a word, an individual has a more troublesome way of organizing his thoughts and communicating them to others. As Orwell quotes: “Thought corrupts language, language corrupts thought”. Therefore, Newspeak, not only works towards destroying language, but also towards the discontinuance of “thought crime”; thinking against the ideologies of the party, and reducing the exchange of ideas between individuals.
Furthermore, Orwell criticizes media’s profound psychological control towards the usage of language in “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. The telescreens in the novel are used as the main sources