1984

Introduction

Ce que l'on a ici est un extrait du livre de Georges Orwell, intitulé 1984 qu'il a publié en 1949. Le livre est une dystopie qui nous décrit un monde utopique sombre, où les gens sont constamment surveillés par Big Brother et la police de la pensée.

Il décrit une Grande-Bretagne trente ans après une guerre nucléaire entre l'Est et l'Ouest censée avoir eu lieu dans les années 1950 et où s'est instauré un régime de type totalitaire fortement inspiré à la fois du stalinisme et de certains éléments du nazisme2. La liberté d'expression n’existe plus. Toutes les pensées sont minutieusement surveillées, et d’immenses affiches sont placardées dans les rues, indiquant à tous que « Big Brother vous regarde » (Big Brother is watching you).

Dans cet extrait, nous faisons connaissance de Syme, un ami de Winston, qui travaille à la création d'un nouveau langage, sensé être plus pratique et plus compact, mais dont le but principal est finalement de réduire le pensée des hommes.

Dans quelle mesure peut-on dire que la destruction du langage influe sur la façon dont nous percevons le monde, et permet au dictateur d'éviter toutes sortes de révoltes?

What is Syme's job? What are his feelings as regards Newspeak? Why?

Syme is working on the dictionnary : he says that he and his collegues are getting the language into its final shape. Actually his job consists in destroying words, he says that there are schools of words which are userless because they have "subsiduary meanings". The new language can be limited to the roots of a few words and some prefixes. So he must cut the language to the boam. He seems to be very enthusiastic about his job : he brightens ups at the mention of dictionnary and finds it fascinating. He adds that the destuction of words is a beautiful thing. He claims that the revolution will only be complete when the language is perfect. By destroying words, he is convinced that he is changing the word for the better. He is quite self-satisfied and seems to worship Big Brother who had the bright idea of destroying words.

Why doesn't Winston speak much? What sort of hero do you think he is?

Winston does not speak very much because in such a society the last you speak, the better. Totalitarian regims do not permit ideas to be freely expressed. Winston is probably an outsider, maybe a rebel and knows that he has to be quiet. He is aware that Big Brother is spying on everybody including Syme, who is in the favor of the regime. If he expressed his thoughts, he would probably say how much he disapproves of the destruction of words. However, the fact that he doesn't speak much may eventually proove to be a mistake because Syme, who has notst his lack of enthousiasm about Newspeak, may report him to the Thought Police.

What is the ultimate aim of Newspeak?

Syme explains tht the ultimate aim of Newspeak is to nrrow the range of thought. That means that words have to be destroyed. In the end a concet will only be expressed in one word, modified by prefixes and suffixes. The meaning of these words will thenbe precisely defined. There awill not be any shades of meaning because that could lied to be the hate which is unacceptable in a totalitarian regime. By eliminating words expressing concepts or thoughts, the aim of Newspeak is actually yo deprive people of the ability to think about anything that is not desired by the state (this would be a thought-crime), let alone to act against the state. Newspeak was created because the Thought Police had to develop a method of reading people's mind to detect the dissent.

Do you think destroying words can "narrow the range of thought"?

The ain concept in Newspeak is that if people don't poseess the words to express an idea, such an idea doesn't exist. For instance f the word "Revolution" does not exist, people will not be able to revolt.

In 1984, "ignorance is strenght" is one of the free solgans of the party. The orther two are "war is peace" and "freedom is slavery".

Why is it important for dictators to narrow the range of thought?

Because the knowledge is power. That is why in 1984 language is systematically destroyed. Reality is then more easily shaped by the oppressor. All dictaors destroy the educated first. and always try to prevent people from expressing themselves. They all try to narrow the range of thought, to turn man into a brain less creature incapable of critical thinking. Culture is what dictators hate, because the more people think, the less they can be manipulated. Consequently dictators always try to control education and communication, especially the media. because for them, "ignorance is stenght", which in facts means that the ignorance of the people implies the strenght of the dictators party.

Conclusion

To conclude, we can say that this story is a dystopia, since it depicts an imaginary society organized in such a way that it prevents its members from achieving happines, but we can also say that in this dystopia, the characters justify all the problems by the construction of utopia, une société idéale sans défaut.

Nous pouvons ici faire un parallèle avec le roman de science-fiction satirique "Nous Autres", écrit en 1920, dont les auteurs comme Orwell se sont très probablement inspirés. Dans ce roman, Évguéni Zamiatine nous présente un futur sombre dans lequel un État totalitaire prétend régir toutes les activités humaines (décrites avec précision dans la Table des heures) et faire le bonheur des gens au détriment de leurs libertés individuelles et dans lequel les hommes sont déshumanisés, ils n'ont pas d'identité, pas de prénoms. Tout cela est décrit par un homme, qui s'appelle D-503, qui au cours du roman, se rend compte qu'il devient, malgré lui, de plus en plus attiré par l'ancien monde (qui est le nôtre), caractérisé par la liberté, l'imprévisible et la précarité du bonheur.