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Author Topic: English: 1984 Common Module Essay  (Read 11991 times)

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NRUBB

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English: 1984 Common Module Essay
« on: July 16, 2019, 03:23:06 pm »
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Hey, I was wondering if I could get some feedback for my English Common Module draft essay. It is just general analysis without a question but it incorporates rubric points (e.g. individual and collective human experiences, power of storytelling etc.) so hopefully I can adapt it to most questions. Many thanks in advance!



The significant value of George Orwell’s third person omniscient perspective narrative ‘1984’ lies in its ability to ‘transcend’ time, acting as a cautionary tale about the dangers of abusive power and restriction of human uniqueness, whilst pleading his audience to resist oppressive governance collectively. Sprung from Winston Smith's human experiences of dejection arising from absolute control, his subsequent loss of freedom and individuality provided him with the impetus to action rebellious behaviour, providing the swiftian satire style novel with contemporary relevance as these are experiences that permeate through society today, and so Orwell teaches readership to valorise democracy and never acquiesce to repression.

The opening of Orwell’s ‘1984’ explores the powerful human experience of dejection arising from totalitarianism, because from these experiences, modern audiences are didactically instructed to collectively resist absolutist regimes to avoid “self abasement” in a “world of fear”. Orwell’s extended motif of ubiquitous surveillance “every moment scrutinised” harrowingly depicts a “monstrous world” devoid of individual liberty to allude to how the governments omnipresent gaze permeates through all facets of life, irradiating how through Orwell’s storytelling, and our receiving of his cautionary tale, we become more aware of the at times shared human experience of dejection arising from a repressive regime endeavouring to attain “power of the mind”. The high modal of “(The Party is) always watching your every move” similarly solidifies the shared paranoia, inferiority and dejection arising from experiences of absolute control, as Winston’s erratic diary entry “They’ll shoot me!” reinforces how rapidly human ‘freedom’ can be turned into ‘slavery’, and so Orwell again displays the power of storytelling to convey a warning about the dangers of unchecked totalitarianism on a helpless society.  The narrator’s reflective lamentful tone “(There was) a time when there was...privacy, love, and friendship” implies how INGSOC systematically kills the attributes that make Oceanic citizens human, leading to a subsequent melancholic state within in a world infused with “Uneasiness…fear…(and) hostility”. The tone of paranoia, “Winston kept his back to the ‘telescreen’” depicts the ‘faceless’ society that Big Brother generates, suppressing individual autonomy to elicit emotions of pure despondency. Thus, Orwell upholds textual integrity through his intricate exploration of the human experience of dejection arising from absolute control, instructing contextually diverse audiences to “become conscious of their own strength’’ and collectively fight dictatorships.

Additionally, Orwell reveals the powerful impact of the eradication of liberty and individuality through governmentally enforced linguistic degeneration and technology. Hence, the value of ‘1984’ lies within the fact that Orwell intends to warn readers of the dangers of these corrupting human experiences, as draconian regimes will inject “fear and hatred”, confusion and frustration into a psychologically manipulated populous to strip individual uniqueness to gain absolute control. Syme’s disturbing rhetorical question “‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?” denotes the despotic dictatorship’s desire(s) to diminish the capacity of individual human thought by eliminating traditional words from the English language and replacing them with Party-approved concepts, robbing citizenry of the ability to seek freedom and express concepts that counter INGSOC ideology. Syme’s further elaboration “We're destroying words...We're cutting the language down to the bone”  symbolises how with the reduction of language comes the eradication of intellect, therefore minimising the potential for rebellion, and here Orwell implicitly warns that a future totalitarian world is one of pure uglinesses.  The scatalogical pun of the “memory hole”,  “there were three orifices...for the disposal of waste paper” ironically epitomises the Party’s ‘sterilisation’ of language to destroy individual lococentricity and subsequently erect a bleak and futile world laced with “black terror”.  Orwell’s highly sophisticated use of punctuation in the parenthetical line “(the telescreen it was called)” visually draws the reader to the extent of the confinement of individual liberties, in which the intricate illustration of technology as a vehicle of control esoterically encapsulates the pervasive surveillance that ultimately manifests into the “swollow(ing) of slogans” or “vindictive” attempts to circumvent the Party’s rigid system. Derived from the ever present human experiences of freedom and individuality eradication peppered throughout the narrative, the value of ‘1984’ is that we are taught to hold on “the few cubic centimeters inside your skull” and value what forms one’s unique character.

From experiences of dejection and limitation of freedom and individuality arising from totalitarianism, Orwell crystallises how these harrowing experiences can breed rebellious tendencies, but warns that although rebellion is always possible, it is not always successful. Winston through assertive epizeuxis and empathic tone, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” reveals how utter suffering and dejection has provided him the incentive to acrimoniously convey his utter indignation towards the despotic INGSOC regime and even through Winston knew “the Thought Police would get him just the same”, he sets pen to paper to quench his thirst for thoughtcrime rebellion.  But Winston’s daring, subversive tone, “We (Winston and Julia) are enemies of the Party. We disbelieve in the principles of Ingsoc” anaphorically accentuates how expressing human qualities of rebellion is always possible but not always  successful because “when you are finally caught, you will get no help.”  Consequently, Winston’s exacerbant “revolt against the Party and all its ways” becomes short lived, explicated in the emotive anti-climax, “the struggle was finished...He loved Big Brother,” illustrating Winston’s conformity to INGSOC dogma, revealing the stark reality of humanity’s potential under such oppressive governance. Winston’s abandonment of rational thought, “2 + 2 = 4”, due to O’Brien’s desires to “fill you with ourselves (the Party)”, foreshadows the decimation of Winston’s hope for personal autonomy, eventually defeatedly acknowledging that “2 + 2 = 5”. Therefore, stemming from the human experience of rebellion, the value of ‘1984’ is that contemporary audiences are reminded that although rebellion is always possible, it breeds either a fruitful or a futile experience.

Through an in-depth examination of Winston’s human experiences of dejection arising from control, the subjugation of individual liberties provided an impetus to rebel, and so the value drawn from these experiences is that we should collectively resist dictatorships, value what makes us unique and understand that rebellion will either manufacture a successful or fruitless outcome. Perhaps Orwell amplifies universal and timeless pillars of the human experience to satirically allegorise a society that may not exist, although it certainly illuminates similar harrowing human experiences of oppressive regimes in the present day, such as North Korea.


caffinatedloz

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Re: English: 1984 Common Module Essay
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2019, 09:15:32 pm »
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This looks amazing! Sorry, I can't give more feedback than that, hopefully, someone with a little more expertise can! My only question would be (and certainly not a correction as I would have no idea), how would you end this essay? Do you have to come back to your contention?

NRUBB

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Re: English: 1984 Common Module Essay
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2019, 09:40:13 pm »
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Thanks!

Any feedback is great, cheers.

manellol

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Re: English: 1984 Common Module Essay
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2019, 11:21:34 pm »
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this essay looks really good in my opinion  :P are you thinking of memorising it for the hsc because i’m unsure whether to memorise my own essays!