The Emotional Impact of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

An academic essay exploring the emotional impact of George Orwell's dystopic novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

 

                Throughout history, there has always been the struggle between justice and corruption. As human beings, it is one's nature to determine what is just and what is corrupt, so that one may come to the decision to lead their lives in either one direction or the other. These thoughts leave extraordinary imprints and questions with oneself, often unanswerable by science or logic. Such is the case with George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell can be considered to have a profound impact upon oneself, which can be seen through the involved plotline of the novel, the potential reasons why one may choose this novel to read, and what the readers may discover about themselves through reading the novel.

                The plotline of the novel is extremely deep and philosophical, delving into questions impossible to answer with certainty. In the novel, the protagonist lives in a world completely corrupted by the government. This government wields so much power and influence to the point where they control every aspect of the protagonist's life. Through this unlimited power, the people are corrupted and brainwashed to believe that justice is corruption and vice versa, which prompts the question of whether justice or corruption are one in the same. The plotline of Nineteen Eighty-Four involves deeper thinking and questions about the world.

                Due to the overwhelming concepts raised in Nineteen Eighty-Four, there are an extensive amount of reasons why one may become engrossed in this novel. Naturally, human beings want to know the unknown, to discover what has yet to be discovered, and to learn more about oneself and the world around them. This is essentially the predominant concept of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and asks the very questions human kind has been desperately craving the answers to since the beginning of human existence. What is corruption? What is justice? How can one define these terms? If one is made to believe that what is just is corrupt, then does justice become corruption in and of itself? Human kind is naturally curious; therefore the possibility of these questions and philosophies being answered is a largely compelling reason for one to be attracted to this novel.

                As with any other great piece of literature, the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four leads readers to discover things about themselves and also about the world around them. The concepts written in this novel are so heavy and overwhelming that readers lose their innocence through grasping the true meaning of the novel. If one truly were to understand the intense gravity of the philosophies and theories presented in the novel, one would come to the possible realization of the hopelessness of life itself, and the impossibility of rising against what is corrupt in the name of justice. These realizations can leave one with a much darker, yet wider view of the world. The novel Nineteen Eighty-Four leaves one with a much greater understanding of themself and the world in which they are a part of, which essentially causes a very different outlook upon nearly everything.

                Through the examination of Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, one may find that the novel has a vast and profoundly lasting effect upon readers by the plot of the novel, the reasons for enjoying the novel, and what the novel reveals about the readers themselves. These prevalent questions of the difference between justice and corruption leaves readers with ever-growing, unanswerable questions. It is human nature to ask these questions, which have been repeated again and again throughout history.

 

Works Cited

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker and Warburg, 1949.

 

Author's Note

I had a one hour time limit to complete this essay; it was an in-class assignment back in high school, so it is much vaguer than I would have liked it to be. There is just far too much to discuss in a novel like this to put forth an essay which explores it fully in one hour.