РефератыИностранный языкA A Comparison Between Orwells Concerns And Methods

A Comparison Between Orwells Concerns And Methods

A Comparison Between Orwell?s Concerns And Methods Of Making His Points With Swift?s Essay, Research Paper


A


Comparison between Orwell?s concerns and methods of making his points with


Swift?sEric Arthur Blair,


now more commonly known as George Orwell was born in India in 1903, and his


father was an official in the Indian Civil Service. Throughout Orwell?s childhood


he felt a deep sense of isolation, a factor to later influence his


writing.? In 1911 he was sent to a


boarding school on the Sussex coast where he was distinguished by his poverty


and intellectual brilliance. He grew up a


morose, eccentric boy and in 1953, wrote of his miseries in an autobiographical


essay, ?Such, Such Were The Joys.? Orwell won


scholarships to Winchester and Eton.? He


chose Eton and stayed from 1917 to 1921, and during this time published his


first writing in college periodicals. Despite being offered a scholarship to


University, Orwell became an Imperial servant at Burma in 1922, serving in a


number of countries.Yet he had a desire to become a writer, and when he


realized how much the Burmese were ruled by the British against their will, he


felt increasingly ashamed of his role. He later recalled his experiences and


reactions to Imperial rule in his novel, ?Burmese Days? and in two


autobiographical sketches, ?Shooting an Elephant? and ?A Hanging?. In 1927, Orwell


retired his post and left Burma, choosing to live among the poor, outcast


people of Europe.? He resided for some


time within the slums of England and France.?


These experiences were conveyed in, ?Down and Out in London and Paris?


where he voiced his concerns for those worst off in society. Orwell?s politics


as a socialist writer became progressively more anti-Communist and also


patriotic. After his failing to enlist in World War II, due to grounds of ill


health, Orwell joined the Home Guard and increased his journalistic output. He


became the literary editor of the Tribune and as did Swift, contributed


articles to many papers.? Orwell


had a family life, and after the death of his first wife in 1945, married Sonia


Brownwell and moved to a Scottish Hebridean island also with his sister and


adopted son. However, in 1950 his health had gradually declined and Orwell died


of tuberculosis a few days before hoping to visit Switzerland to improve his


health. ??????????? Orwell?s


first popular success ?Animal Farm? was published in 1945. It conveys political


tyranny and its effects on a society. As the title suggests the novel is set on


a farm, detailing the farm animals struggle with the farm?s manager to achieve


an equitable, sharing and harmonious community.? Orwell?s motivation lay within his life experiences and


influences, as did Swift?s. The two novelists had each experienced different


forms of power and regime, yet both were able to express and convey the flaws


of these authorities in different styles. ???????????? Today, Swift?s novel would be unbelievable in the


context that he wrote it.? However, by


using this approach, he managed to avoid political retribution. Orwell in


comparison, expressed his views, but in an unbelievable style to add interest


and amusement. ?I write it because there is some lie I want to expose, some


fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a


hearing. But I could not do the work of writing a book, or even a long magazine


article, if it were not also an aesthetic experience.? As with ?Gulliver?s


Travels,? ?Animal Farm? can be read on different levels.? It is subtitled ?a fairy story,? drawing the


readers? attention to the artificial aspects, yet we know it is not ?a fairy


story? as there is no happy ending. The reader, by being drawn in has to look


closer, exploring and interpreting the true intentions of Orwell?s


writing.? Orwell uses animals to make


serious moral points. Another example of this is ?Aesop?s Fables? where the


characters do not behave naturally or realistically but are symbolic of certain


human attitudes and ideas?. Although Orwell


satirizes dictatorship and individuals? abuse of power in general, there are


many points the novel makes that correspond with the Soviet Union and events


following the fall of the Tsar in 1917.?


A few examples of this include: many of Marx?s? ideas lying within


Major?s speech, the failed attempts to create an equal society, the


disagreements between Stalin and Trotsky that correspond with the animals Napoleon


and Snowball, and the increase of Stalin?s, and therefore Napoleon?s power, in


the use of terror and propaganda in becoming a dictator. Swift satirizes


human nature in general, but of individuals putting him and his friends down


rather than the society around him, perhaps creating more of a personal


retribution in his writing. Orwell struggled


throughout the majority of his life and received conflict at the hands of


power, whereas Swift generally had a more comfortable upbringing receiving


hardships at the beginning, yet with personal disagreements throughout.? Orwell and Swift both satirize the abuse of


power and suggest the moral of human nature, that Utopia?s are not possible due


to the flaws that will always be found and created by individuals.? Orwell once said,


?Totalitarianism has abolished freedom of thought to an extent unheard of in


any previous age.? He believed this idea was achieved by forbidding freedom of


thought or action but also by telling the people exactly what to think. This is


demonstrated in ?Animal Farm? right from the start where Major?s statement,


?whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy? has been condensed to ?four legs good


two legs bad? in order that the unintelligent sheep could understand the


principals of Animalism. This simplification caused its loss of meaning, and


later has appalling implications, when used to drown out or prevent uproar and


revolt. This parodies the less intelligent masses of the Soviet Union and the


disregard of attention to these people?s understandings of events. There are


indications that the proposed utopia will never materialise. The animals?


society is not an equal one as three pigs are seen immediately taking the best


positions in the barn. Some animals are protective to others, whilst others


seem intent on fig

hting amongst themselves.?


The irony of the first chapter is clear in that it establishes through


Major?s speech an idealistic vision of the future in contrast of the suffering


under Jones. The eventual progress of ?Animal Farm? shows that as the pigs


distort Major?s ideas, they alter and corrupt the principles of Animalism The element of


realism is introduced by the first actions of the dogs, directly after Major?s


speech where they attack the rats. This openly contradicts what Major has just


stated. The rats represent the majority of the rural peasants whom the


revolutionaries tried to shape to their views.?


Orwell suggests here that human behaviour is essentially selfish and


ruthless.? Swift made the same point


when Gulliver discovered how the court were planning to blind and starve him


slowly to death. In ?Animal Farm?


the equality Major emphasized so much is jeopardised by the pig?s greater


intelligence, ?with their superior knowledge it was natural that they should


assume leadership.?? By becoming the


farm?s administrators, the pigs avoided physical work. Orwell suggests here


that there is not equality, labour not being equivalent to ?brainwork?.?? Napoleon?s rise to


power begins from his nature, ?a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar,


the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for


getting his own way.? This description implies power through aggression, which


is exactly what happens.? When


Napoleon?s dictatorship is threatened by Snowball from the animal?s preference


to his idea of the windmill, he is chased out of the farm by the nine dogs.


Napoleon, who generally represents Stalin, saw Snowball, representing Trotsky?s


strategies, and his attempts to educate the other animals, as a threat.? He understood that if he kept the animals unintelligent,


they would be easier to control for his own benefit, rather than the farms.? It is clear these


are his intentions from the start, privately rearing the nine puppies. The nine


dogs represent the secret police that silenced, many by death, any rebellious


individuals. Their presence in the novel adds a sense of fear and darkness that


symbolises corruption, while their actual contribution, is by fighting in the


battle of the windmill, and even this is beneficial to Napoleon?s leadership.? Boxer, the


hardest working animal on the farm, ?who is universally respected? represents


the lower class, hard working society of Russia, without him the farm would not


succeed. His two maxims?, ?I will work harder? and ?Napoleon is always right?


are both results of his experiences at the hands of dictatorship and limits his


thought. There is again no thought given to his feelings or emotions, and even


his ?retirement? is exploited to the advantage of the pigs. The pigs? use of


language makes the suffering of the animals sound acceptable. This is the use


of propaganda. Squealer?s use of this is crucial to Napoleon?s success in


convincing the animals of Napoleon?s fitness of power and validity for the


apparent ?sacrifices? made.? Many words


and even whole speeches are not fully understood by the animals, and they are


not questioned, due to the convincing act Squealer puts on.? The threat of the nine dogs, their own vain


hope that things are okay, and that their faith in their leaders, prevents them


seeing themselves being systematically betrayed. Propaganda was used


throughout the Russian revolution and this is the point Orwell is making, that


the shameless use of it has conflicting effects. Humour is used in


both novels to similar effect. In ?Gulliver?s Travels,? ?toilet humour? is used


throughout, ?to ease myself with making water; which I very plentifully


did.?? This is rare in any writing but


Swift continually refers to it, which is quite shocking to the reader.? Swift describes his actions with the same


tone and format that he uses throughout the story, thereby creating the ironic


humour.? Orwell similarly applies humour


but with greater subtlety, ?with some difficulty (for it is not easy for a pig


to balance on a ladder) Snowball climbed up.??


Here the reader can imagine the event Orwell has described, which


creates the humour.? The idea of


including humour teaches the reader to study other ideas, specifically the


satirical aspect. Both Orwell and


Swift wrote about politics. The treatment they received at the hands of those


in power influenced their writing. As Orwell once said, ?Every line of serious


work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly,


against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism.? Orwell suggested


that language had to try, as far as possible to reflect the truth of an issue.


In his writing style, thoughtless language and complex writing was avoided, and


straightforward wording used. This technique was used in the hope of not


misleading the reader and helped make the message as clear as possible. There


is the satirical parody here of the contrast of how political writing is often


distorted and purposely relays false meanings.?


Swift was not able to do this with the same impact.? This was probably due to the fact, that by


making his point too obvious, he would endanger himself from the people he was


satirising, this creates a sense of irony. The main point that


both these novels compare on is the great irony in the general outline of each


story.? ?Gulliver?s Travels? tell us of


the supposedly successful, civilised people of Lilliput.? Gulliver exposed them as corrupt, disloyal


and animal-likes individuals.? Animal


Farm however, tells us of these apparent, well-meaning and thoughtful animals


that are exposed as having careless, slovenly and corrupt human


characteristics.? Despite several


hundred years separating the two authors, there are many similarities and


contrasts between ?Gulliver?s Travels? and Animal Farm?. The novels were both


very successful and were appreciated by a wide audience.? On a personal level I found, Gulliver?s Travels? and


?Animal Farm? equally appealing. I was surprised to find how subtle techniques,


use of language and the general style, left me to interpret the writers?


intentions.? Both novels are exceptional


and have inspired me to find and explore similar styles of work.

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