Speech on George Orwell ‘1984’ – Human Experiences

Resource Description

“How do 1984 and ONE related text of your choice represent the complexity of human experiences?”

Humans by default are individuals that are capable of perpetuating harm AND be beacons of kindness. These variations and inconsistencies reveal the human experience to be complex, and cannot be readily defined nor justified. This notion is explored through George Orwell’s 1949 novel “1984” and Amma Asante’s 2018 film “Where hands touch” which highlight the complexity of both individual and collective experiences through the portrayal of disempowerment, love, hatred and fear.

George Orwell’s 1984 represents the complexity of the individual experience of disempowerment, through the suppression of autonomy and the subduing of human agency at the hands of a totalitarian regime. The complexity is explored through the protagonist’s desire to utilise human agency to exercise the cathartic power of the written word through the possession of a diary. Orwell employs sensual visual imagery of, “smooth creamy paper, a little yellowed by age” to highlight Winston’s desire to possess the diary in a society dominated by juxtaposed images of “no colour…except the posters” in conjunction with high modality to highlight Winston as a societal anomaly, due to the inconsistency of his individual experience in relation to the totalitarian society of Oceania. As a result, Orwell can evoke a perplexed reaction from the readers, effectively enticing the audience to question their perspective on the world they live in. Furthermore, Winston’s disempowerment is further epitomized through the prohibition of human agency in a totalitarian society, as “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull” signifying through the vivid visual imagery and hyperbolic language used, the apparent dangers of having individual thoughts. Effectively providing a valuable paradox as a role of government is to organize and protect the people not oppress them.