GEORGE ORWELL

I want to present the theme of my work, which I have titled "Two trains crushing", because it seems to me that Orwell is like a point of connection of two different aspects in our life, as literature and policy are. Inside this big theme will treat a compound of ideas, reasons and motives which many authors comment on George

Orwell, following their own point of view. This compound, full of political meaning, will treat politics, life, language, way of thinking, predictions, etc. So I expect this work to be the lector’s liking.

George Orwell, pen name Eric Arthur Blair, was born in Metiari, India, on 25 June in 1903 and died in London the year 1950.He was the author of two brilliant satires against totalitarism, "Animal Farm" and "1984", which have turned into classics nowadays. So, without any doubt he is one of the most important voices of this century. His life would be formed by his life, moments, language or political ideas.

According to Richard A. Johnson, Orwell had to fight against Communism and was forced to flee for his life.

It is unavoidable to be affected by determined actions or different circumstances. All this was reflected in Orwell’s thoughts. As Norman Ershler affirms, "during the XX Century, mass terror against civilians during the wars had become an instrumentality of national will". Politicians and government leaders realised the effectiveness of terror as an instrument of power. This terror could fragment societies and alienate individuals.

According to Ershler, Orwell’s writings and his life itself were concerned with the process and consequences of this alienation. From this point of view, Orwell distinguishes himself by his view of the connection between the form of social interaction and the individual emotions. Ershler also affirmed that Orwell’s work treats the individual and the group, from the political, social and psychological point of view.

In relation to these problems of society, Paulo da Costa admits that "George Orwell is the author who shaped my politics and social attitudes away from those typical of my social class in Brazil". He says that there is a problem between the proletarian and the middle class. The problem is to know the class, which I belong to. Da Costa affirms that workers like officers have the same enemies as the working class, all are deceived by the same system. He cannot understand why some of them still don’t want to be relationed with working class, and he perhaps relations them with a ready-made Fascist party. All this can make us understand how important and decisive is this entire political environment to Orwell’s work. Thus, the most important reason for Orwell to write was the political purpose; other reasons were to be remembered after death.

Regarding the political purpose, it is worth mentioning Bernard Crick, the author who treated the prologue written by G. Orwell for "Animal Farm". Crick knew very well the writer’s work and also knew that all his work was created because Orwell believed with enormous strength in his beliefs. According to Crick, many authors thought that could be dangerous "speaking too much clearly". Mr. Crick considered that Orwell’s writings went directly to attack communism and the corruption created by bad use of power, but not only against Stalin, it was an open and universal message.

As we know now, Orwell’s philosophy is based mainly in politics, he was anticommunist and had a pessimistic vision of future. He introduced new terms referring to his vision such as Newspeak or Doublethink, that will make us understand that language and politics are joined in the author.

The term "Newspeak", according to Alan Folmsbee, is a" new form of English, in which the vocabulary was being gradually in power", referring to the use of "innocent" or inoffensive words that could control public opinion. Alan Folmsbee affirms that "Newspeak" has some new words nowadays, is alive and "divides people into smaller groups", talking about Mexicans, Latinos, etc.

About this "Newspeak", Steinhoff affirms that when Orwell created the term was demonstrating his belief in the power of language, the language used by people inside a politic system, "Orwell made Newspeak projection of the existing tendencies toward destroying English in politics".

Richard A. Johnson comments on the term "Newspeak" that it was Orwell’s wartime work for the BBC what gave him the idea of the "bureaucratic hypocrisy" and what inspired him to create this term, defined by A. Folmsbee as a way of reducing people’s power.

Another term Orwell used was "Doublethink", which, as Folmsbee describes, is "the ability to believe two contradictory ideas without feeling confused". This means that "Doublethink" is a way to deceive, to make the truth more acceptable when it is bad or incomprehensible, it is a way of seeing the two heads of the coin without realising too much of the difference. We can find some examples of Doublethink given by A. Folmsbee, War-Peace, Freedom-Slavery, and Ignorance-Strength.

One of the most important points inside Orwell’s philosophy is the language, English, something that he considered very important, because of its usefulness and dangerous capabilities. His predictions about this, like comments the Internet’s article "George Orwell and the English language", are coming true today.

According to Steinhoff, Orwell wanted to see English language used to the fullest extent. He was very interested in its changes, and how these changes would affect the word. Steinhoff admits that the government used to deform language for its own gain.

Folmsbee comments that Orwell’s ideas about the danger of language were founded, saying that nowadays some ambiguous words that are used could form a kind of Newspeak. Calder supports Steinhoff’s opinion, and comments that, like Orwell though, clear expression is absolutely necessary for political integrity. Calder affirms that Orwell’s beliefs "have been proven to be sound in today’s world".

According to Folsbee, today’s version to Newspeak is used to reduce the power of people. He admits that in the United States, it is called "political correctness" to the fact of using "better" or "less offensive" words, almost always changing its real meaning. Fleming comments that Orwell’s predictions were not only about political aspects, he was including too predictions about language that now are taking place. Fleming thinks that Newspeak is a form of mind control in which are used different methods of distortion, euphemisms, misinformation, etc. which sometimes provoke the division of citizens and confusion of public opinion.

Fleming also comments that all this creates a kind of cynicism and a lack of action, very dangerous for society. He also says "it is our duty as citizens to hold our elected officials responsible for their actions, and to put the power back in the hands of people".

Language is very important in Orwell’s philosophy; it is the expression, the power, and the danger. Crytting comments, with an example, those salespeople are "effectively using Newspeak to control people’s minds".

Finally, we must observe that Orwell was a brilliant man. We must remember why he believed in their ideas with so much strength, the fight against the bad use of power, corruption, communism and the power of language, beautiful but dangerous. Therefore we must care of it and give it a good and clear use.
 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Animal Farm. George Orwell. Longman Literature.
Rebelión en la granja. George Orwell. Destinolibro.
Relationships. Antonella Mignani. Cideb. Genoa, Italy.
Information by internet:

Animal Farm. Jay Hardwig. The Austin Chronicle.
Newspeak and Doublethink Homepage. Alan Folmsbee.
George Orwell. Richard A. Johnson.
George Orwell. Paulo da Costa.
George Orwell. Norman Ereshler.
George Orwell & English Lang. Calder, Fleming & Grytting.

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SERGIO AULA MONRABAL 1999

NARRATIVA II