Orwell's 1984

[pirategirl19]

Why do you think Orwell ended the book this way?? What point is he trying to make? I need opinions.

[kevinthediltz]

School project? Or just curious?

[The Atheist]

Why do you think Orwell ended the book this way?? What point is he trying to make? I need opinions.

It ended there because it was the only possible ending - Orwell's intention was to show the absolute power of the Party and that no escape from their clutches was possible.

Once Winston had come to love BB, whether he survived another second or another 40 years is immaterial - he had been completely converted and would never rebel in future. The Party has kept itself 100% clean of all infections of unorthodoxy.

[pirategirl19]

I'm curious.

[kevinthediltz]

I'll agree with him because if I dont he will make me look like an idiot. The Atheist is pretty much the Orwell official on this site.

[The Atheist]

I'll agree with him because if I dont he will make me look like an idiot. The Atheist is pretty much the Orwell official on this site.

:lol:

Very wise.

Only Bazarov dares question The Authority! (I have a Room 102, just for him - you do not to know about that one.)

[kevinthediltz]

:lol:

Very wise.

Only Bazarov dares question The Authority! (I have a Room 102, just for him - you do not to know about that one.)

That made me :lol:
I'll still offer my opinion as long as this bloke ^ promises not to tear me apart like I know he can. :D

[The Atheist]

That made me :lol:
I'll still offer my opinion as long as this bloke ^ promises not to tear me apart like I know he can. :D

As if I'd do such a thing.

;)

[Jack Fields]

Well I think, that there was no need to continue in that story. Just like The Atheist said, once Winston loved Big Brother, there was no hope for him to ever become the same man, as he was before he got arrested and before he was taken to room 1O1.

And I also think, that this is just what Orwell intended to do. Some writers wrote a page or so, after the main line of the story is ended. (e.g. Hemingway and his A Farewell to Arms, there is this last sentence about Henry walking into the rain outside the hospital, which is quite irellevant to the whole story).
And there are some authors who just write the last sentence in the way, that it is remarkable and sometimes even like one of the most important things in the book. (Like in All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque - The last sentence (which is also the title of the book) says, that everything is OK on the Western Front, but in the fact a man had died there that day. I think thats the biggest message from the author, and it is the same thing with 1984.
I think, that his point was like to escalate the story to the top ending up with the last sentece, which make you feel almost shocked when you finish it. It is the same with Animal Farm, there was also this "ending sentence" (animals could not recognise a man from a pig).

[bazarov]

:lol:

Very wise.

Only Bazarov dares question The Authority! (I have a Room 102, just for him - you do not to know about that one.)

Oho! Interesting! And what do you have for me?

I will agree this time, fear of 102 will prevail. :lol:

[The Atheist]

:D

It's a bit like Room 101 - except, at first you think it's a dream come true.

Then it is!

[Sindel]

I think Orwell ended the book this way because, as already said here by some, Winston has lost. He truly loves BB, now and forever.
For a person like Orwell, giving up your personal convictions because your foe has narrowed all your possibilities to only one was certainly the ultimate defeat. He lived the era where propaganda became an industry (Goebbels showing the way), and it's easy to understand why he considered it the main danger of his times for a free-minded person.

Propaganda is now "part of the landscape" (Saddam's WoMD, Financial system collapse only due to some abusers, but hey...no alternative system, right?). Hopefully, we don't live in 1984's mad world. Still, every now and then, our leaders put up things in a way which leaves us as defeated as poor ol' Winston: There is no choice, period.

Preventing you to imagine a future not controlled by them is an eternal trademark of dictators, whatever their good manners.

[Gladys]

Hopefully, we don't live in 1984's mad world. I am troubled by the assertion, purportedly Orwell's own words, that 1984 is a novel about the danger of totalitarian regimes. Set as it is in London, I think it very much deals with totalitarian tendencies in the West, and in particular the threat of invasive technologies and propaganda (euphemistically tagged 'spin').

Geographically, Oceania excludes traditionally totalitarian strongholds - both then and now. As he wrote 1984, I suspect Orwell was very conscious of the growing anti-communist hysteria in the West, and was therefore guarded when speaking publicly about sensitive themes in the book, such as repressive and anti-democratic measures by Western governments. Nevertheless, the book speaks for itself.

Besides, the heyday of communist sympathies in the West ended with World War II, except for a remnant of party diehards.