The appendix

[SteveH]

I have read it suggested that the appendix to 'Nineteen Eighty-four', on the principles of Newspeak and the organisation of society under the regime, offers hope, in that it is written in the past tense and in standard English, as though about a regime that once existed but does not exist any longer. It was suggested that we are supposed to regard the appendix as having been written by someone further into the future, after the regime has collapsed or been overthrown and has been replaced by something freer and more humane. Any thoughts on this idea?

[The Atheist]

Must be a popular notion, that identical question was asked here (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23580)a couple of weeks back. Answers in that thread apply.

No hope at all, unfortunately.

Remember, search is your friend!

[TheFoxxx]

Okay this is my perspective and some people might disagree with it but I believe that the appendix in 1984 is the actual conclusion of the book. For example, in no way does Orwell refer to 1984 as a text or novel which would be common in most cases. He refers to it as a reality, a year in the past so to say. The appendix is written in the form of a student conducting a researched essay on history which is even mentioned in the text. In one line he even talks about the differentiation of the language used in the present and the language that was used in the past (see page 322) when he discusses the C vocabulary. As I mentioned in another post, the appendix is written in past-tense, it starts of with “Newspeak was the official language of Oceania….” Now if Orwell was talking about this as a novel he most likely would have used these lines instead “In my novel, 1984, Newspeak is the official language of Oceania….” which he doesn’t.

In my opinion I think Orwell wrote the appendix in hope that people would derive their own conclusions to the novel and everyone’s opinions would not be the same. So far, I have never seen an author write a chapter on his own book as himself referring to it as a past reality unless he was going insane. The sad fact is as of today there is no real way of finding out the truth to this matter since Orwell passed away many years ago but because the appendix is in the back of that book there is also no proof which suggests that Big Brother was not eventually overthrown since no one can answer this claim on behalf of the author, the true ending to the novel will forever be unknown.