Today I will be discussing with you two texts, 1984 and Animal Farm, both by George Orwell, and the way in which the concept of power is represented through both individuals and institutions in each text.
1984 is a story about one man’s rebellion against his government, known as the party. The party controls all aspects of life and there is very little to no tolerance of anyone found to have broken the law. Even if you have not yet broken the law but only considered it, or considered hatred of the party, this is known as though crime and is an offense punishable by death. For Winston, his crimes begin very early in the novel and despite knowing the consequences, both he and Julia know it is only a matter of time until they are uncovered.
Animal Farm, similar to 1984, contains many of the same totalitarian themes. As one of Orwell’s shorter novels, it depicts the events that take place on an English farm where the farm animals, lead by the pigs, plot and successfully overthrow the farmers. In the beginning the pigs claim to bring about equality, however as time progresses it can be seen that this idea is challenged when they begin to drink, walk on two legs and ultimately treat the less intellectual animals in a much worse fashion than humans ever did.
Early in 1984, Winston’s rebellion is first shown to us when Orwell writes: Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing. This shows us that Winston’s fear of the party is so deep seated, he believes that through the telescreen even his back may give away his rebellion. To the reader, this gives a snapshot into Winston’s mind and illustrates just how prevalent the control of the party is not only over him, but the whole of society.
Orwell then later provides a further example of the power of the party as an institution, in writing: The next moment a hideous, grinding speech burst from the big telescreen at the end of the room. It was a noise that set one's teeth on edge and bristled the hair at the back of one's neck. The Hate had started. As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, had flashed on to the screen. In an effort to unite the people to rally against a common cause, the party show Emmanuel Goldstein to be society’s enemy and make him their scapegoat, to redirect the peoples hate toward him and away from their own governing body. Of course, the people do as they are told, as they’ve been under such strict rule for so long that all but a few have been successfully brainwashed into loving the party and their heavily restricted way of life.
In Animal farm, we see this same idea represented a little differently, by the motif that is the pigs chant throughout the text. It begins as “four legs good, two legs bad” however toward the end of the book this becomes “four legs good, two legs better” as the pigs act more like men and the intellectually inferior animals are fooled into following. The consistent chanting of the phrase drums this idea into the minds of the unintelligent animals so that any doubt they may have had is soon drowned out. We see this when Orwell writes: But just at that moment, all the sheep burst out into a tremendous bleating of "Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better!”
It went on for five minutes without stopping. By the time the sheep had quieted down, the chance