George Orwell

George Orwell (born in 1903 in Motahari and died in 1950 in

London) was an English novelist and essayist best known for The
Farm of Animals (1945) and 1984 (1949). Orwell explores the
risks, the mechanisms, and dynamics of authoritarian regimes. The
goal of Orwell's works was to warn European readers about the
dangers of totalitarian regimes and to expose the cruelties and
horrors of war.
Let's look at the Russia-Ukraine scenario to see how relevant this
topic is today. Russia has defined this conflict as a special military
campaign aimed at destabilizing Ukraine. Of course, we all know
that the Nazis are no longer in power, but Russia is utilizing
dictatorial authority to distort information and control the minds of
its inhabitants through propaganda.
Orwell was first interested in authoritarian governments of the
period, such as communism in Russia and fascism in Spain and
Italy. He first supported communism, but during the Spanish Civil
war, he understood that the communists fighting beside him were
no better than the Fascists, whom they saw as the villains of the
situation, he changed his political beliefs.
Voyage to Catalogna (1936)
- In 1935, he chooses to fly to Catalogna (Spain) to report on
the events of the civil war between the military led by fascist
commander Franco and the insurgents: it was a very
disappointing experience.
- In 1936, he joined the left-wing troops fighting against
Franco's National Army because he believed communism was
a liberating force
- In the end he realized that none of them were better

1984
George Orwell writes this novel in the immediate postwar period,
putting it in the very near future: the original title should have
been “The Last Man in Europe” but Orwell decided to give his novel
a futuristic quality and chose to turn inside out the last two
numbers of the year he had written it.
 Orwell also seems to imply that this is what will happen if
totalitarian leaders are allowed to thrive
- Dystopian novel: the vision of a future civilization that turns
into the horror of a world that is worse than the one existing ≠
utopian novel describes the dream society
PLOT
It is 1984, and the world is divided into three continents (Oceania,
Eurasia e Eastasia) ruled by forces who track their residents' every
move to limit their freedom. Oceania is under the supervision of Big
Brother, who spies on the citizens in all their space and context of
existence.
Winston Smith, the protagonist of the narrative, begins to write his
journal, recording events and ideas. He works for the ‘ministry of
truth’ that rewrite the history so that it pleases the Big Brother. He
despises the totalitarian dictatorship and, together with his partner
Julia, chooses to fight against it by joining a clandestine
organization. O’Brian, Winston's buddy, and fellow party official,
turns out to be a member of the police force that gets Winston
arrested. The protagonist is subjected to severe torture, which he
initially fights until succumbing to the feared room 101 and
revealing Julia's participation to the authorities. Winston is exposed
to violence, which causes him to think and feel bad for challenging
and questioning Big Brother, and he will wait for death, stricken
with regret.
The mechanisms of power
- Constant propaganda
being able to choose what people minds think
- Constant surveillance
Residents are constantly informed that the authorities are
monitoring them, particularly by signs that proclaim: "Big Brother is
watching you."
- Control of the past (ministry of Truth): they rewrite history
and modify history to cover up the Party's defects and
inadequacies
-> in fact, keeping a diary or historical documents is forbidden
because it is evidence of the Party’s lies
 - constant war let citizen think that the party is strong and
necessary to protect them
- creation of a new language: reshaping the language because it
is the way we express our thoughts and by not being able to
express ourselves we don’t represent an enemy for the party
a. it contains less words (they eliminate words that can shape
risky thoughts: freedom, rebellion etc.)
- citizens are forbidden to experience positive emotions such as
love, mutual respect, and trust; marriage is an agreement
between people who have the duty to procreate
- double think: men are led to think two contradictory thoughts
because they don’t believe in their own capacities: through
mind manipulation people truly believe the opposite of what is
true; thus, white is black, slavery is freedom, war is peace,
ignorance is strength, and two and two equals five
A political novel
Orwell aimed to highlight what he saw as an existential threat
posed by authoritarian rulers like Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler
- He draws inspiration both from personal experiences and
historical events that convinced him that it was necessary to
raise awareness about the harmful nature of authoritarian
regimes (horrors committed by European totalitarian
governments during World War II, the Russian revolution, and
the Spanish Civil war)
The author uses several events from the Soviet Union as examples:
1. In 1949, the Cold War had not yet broken out, and the
Soviet Union was frequently presented in the American
press as a grand moral experiment
2. "2 + 2 = 5" was a real Soviet Union political slogan
promising to finish the industrializing Five-Year Plan in four
years: Orwell mocks this statement to show the inclination
of authoritarians to deny reality
3. many of the atrocities recorded by the Party originate from
the Soviet Union's Great Purges of 1936–1938

Hitler is another historical figure who influenced him:

 1. Hitler’s rise was affected by mass media, which had a huge
impact on public opinion; Orwell adds intrusive telescreens
into the Party's control mechanisms, taking inspiration from
Nazi Party public propaganda
"1984" was written three years after the events of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, and Orwell makes several references to nuclear war
throughout the novel.