-
Essay / The historical context of 1984
History has been and always will be a question of perspective. Wars, for example, will be perceived and taught differently depending on the countries involved. Some things will be written off and forgotten, while others will be ensured that they remain remembered. In George Orwell's 1984, history is often falsified for the benefit of the government. However, while the past may not be accurate in the minds of the citizens of the utopia, the true past sometimes persists in other forms. In this novel, the past is preserved in objects rather than in words, as in a picture and a field. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Knowing that the protagonist, Winston, alters newspapers and other records to rewrite the past in ways that protect and enable the government to persist and continue to run their totalitarian ways. However, as he explores his world, he unknowingly stumbles upon relics of the past that are unchanging and keep alive a time before the world he knows. One thing Winston discovers is an old photo of a church called St. Clement's Dane, which, "it seemed vaguely familiar" (97). Even the slightest recognition of an old building is vital, because it's what prompts Winston's mind to think about every little artifact he discovers. This one in particular is a preservation of not only a building that once existed, but also an ancient culture. This past culture included more sophisticated literature and language, evident in a simple nursery rhyme told by the store owner who accompanies the St. Clement Dane: "'Orange and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement!' » (98). Although the rhyme seems simple, its mere existence implies a world once adorned with silly rhymes, important or not. This involvement also involves creativity, and with creativity comes freedom, two things that have been or are trying to be abolished in Oceania. Although a more obvious and tangible relic of the past, it is a clear reminder of the world before the Revolution with its accompanying poetry, enough to create "...the illusion to actually hear the bells, the bells of a lost world. London which still existed somewhere, disguised and forgotten” (99). Not only is creativity an element that the photo of the church preserves, but also the religious aspect of these bells. The photo recalls a time when religion was more part of the daily routine. In Winston's time, religion seems rare and almost extinct, as evidenced by a church he remembers as now "...a museum used for propaganda exhibits of all kinds" (99). To this end, the photo also preserves a lost element of life by capturing the image of a church, a symbol of religion that practically did not exist in Winston's time. The photo keeps the past alive with a much more complex language and where there was more freedom. A “lost London” endures in the image of the church, and it reminds Winston that what he knows has not always been. Although a “lost London” lives in one image, a lost connection survives in the first place where Winston and Julia meet. . Julia brings Winston to a natural clearing in the woods, which Winston calls “…the golden land…a landscape [he] saw sometimes in a dream”” (123). The domain preserves nature and natural drives and instincts, such as sexual urges, in a world where such connections and drives are actively resisted. Here, Julia and Winston give in to these impulses for the first time and allow themselves to temporarily live in another era. No.