Aditya, your business card gives me nightmares. But I suppose that’s very appropriate, considering you read Orwell’s dystopian novels of 1984 and Animal Farm. You did a good job of explaining both of these works in context, how both books were a warning against the concentration of power and the corruption of government. As I have read both of the books, I think you portrayed the dark tone of both novels well, by alluding to the fearful real-world parallels that made Animal Farm and 1984 so relatable.
One literary technique that I felt you could expand upon was irony. After all, in your research paper you discuss the verbal irony of how the commandments of Animal Farm are reduced to nothing, but I feel like situational irony abounds in Orwell’s works: although Napoleon opposed the windmill before Snowball’s fall, Napoleon now pretends he was always for it; although Winston believes he evaded the secret police until contacting O’Brien, he finds out he was watched ever since the day he started his diary; and 1984 ends full circle with the scene in the Chestnut Street café. It is that irony that is designed to break the human spirit. 1984 is so depressing because the irony is that it is too late for Winston to change anything. I concur with your argument that Orwell made his novels so dystopian to persuade humanity to back away from dictatorship before it was too late.
Aditya, your business card gives me nightmares. But I suppose that’s very appropriate, considering you read Orwell’s dystopian novels of 1984 and Animal Farm. You did a good job of explaining both of these works in context, how both books were a warning against the concentration of power and the corruption of government. As I have read both of the books, I think you portrayed the dark tone of both novels well, by alluding to the fearful real-world parallels that made Animal Farm and 1984 so relatable.
ReplyDeleteOne literary technique that I felt you could expand upon was irony. After all, in your research paper you discuss the verbal irony of how the commandments of Animal Farm are reduced to nothing, but I feel like situational irony abounds in Orwell’s works: although Napoleon opposed the windmill before Snowball’s fall, Napoleon now pretends he was always for it; although Winston believes he evaded the secret police until contacting O’Brien, he finds out he was watched ever since the day he started his diary; and 1984 ends full circle with the scene in the Chestnut Street café. It is that irony that is designed to break the human spirit. 1984 is so depressing because the irony is that it is too late for Winston to change anything. I concur with your argument that Orwell made his novels so dystopian to persuade humanity to back away from dictatorship before it was too late.