My radiant wall by ELENA

George Orwell, whose original name was Eric Arthur Blair, was an English author and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language, and a belief in democratic socialism

1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four)

Nineteen Eighty-Four (mostly written 1984) is a 1948 dystopian fiction written by George Orwell, about a society ruled by an oligarchical dictatorship. The Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control. Oceania is ruled by a political party called simply The Party. The individual is always subordinated to the state, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity. In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's propaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct, yet his meager existence disillusions him to the point of seeking rebellion against Big Brother.

Plot

In 1984, Oceania is an omnipresent state ruled by the Big Brother with a totalitarian society and in permanent war, presently against Eurasia, with intention of keeping the proletariat without education and possibility of capital accumulation. People from the upper classes follow the "Ingsoc" philosophy and are under permanent surveillance of Big Brother through the "telescreen" - a monitor that is television and also spies the life of each individual. However, the proletariat is free of the control of the state. The Party has just released the 10th edition of the Newspeak Dictionary, with the intention of reducing the words to make people be limited to express any feeling against the Party. In the "Minitrue" (Ministry of Truth in Newspeak), the bureaucrat Winston Smith rewrites history to control the future of the party and is quite indifferent to his society. Winston is approached by the party member O'Brien that gives a copy of the new released dictionary to him. When Winston meets the brother Julia, they commit "sexcrime" and fall in love for each other. But they are captured by the fearful Thought Police and Winston is interrogated and brainwashed by O'Brien that explains the logic of the party to keep the power. But in the end, the human spirit prevails.

Nationalism

Nineteen Eighty-Four expands upon the subjects summarised in Orwell's essay "Notes on Nationalism"^[40] about the lack of vocabulary needed to explain the unrecognised phenomena behind certain political forces. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Party's artificial, minimalist language 'Newspeak' addresses the matter.

Positive nationalism: Oceanians' perpetual love for Big Brother; Neo-Toryism, Celtic nationalism and British Israelism are, as Orwell argues, defined by love.
Negative nationalism: Oceanians' perpetual hatred for Emmanuel Goldstein; Stalinism, Anglophobia and antisemitism are, as Orwell argues, defined by hatred.
Transferred nationalism: Oceania's enemy changes, and an orator changes mid-sentence. The crowd instantly transfers its hatred to the new enemy. Transferred nationalism swiftly redirects emotions from one power unit to another (for example, Communism, Pacifism, Colour Feeling and Class Feeling). It happens during Hate Week, a Party rally against the original enemy. The crowd goes wild and destroys the posters that are now against their new friend, and many say that they must be the act of an agent of their new enemy and former friend. Many of the crowd must have put up the posters before the rally but think that the state of affairs had always been the case.

O'Brien concludes: "The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."

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