...Lakoff, George. "What Orwell Didn't Know About The Brain, The Mind, and Language." EScholarship. UC Berkeley, 2008. Web. 23 Oct. 2015. Lakoff tells of George Orwell’s 1984 and how he used to love the book, but now since he has more knowledge of the mind and how it works his opinion has changed. George Lakoff is Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Senior Fellow at the Rockridge Institute. This paper seems reliable from the credential he has and how he voices his opinion with facts to back it up. The uses of this article helps show by the authors facts and opinion how Orwell didn't know much about the brain. That how Orwell describes how the mind is working within the citizens is inaccurate, because the lack of knowledge in the time period the book was wrote. This sources is good to compare with the knowledge we have now about the brain and how realistic was Orwell's version of mind control compared to what mind...
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...1. Would you read another novel by this author? Why? Why not? a. Yes, George Orwell has impressed me thoroughly. Through both the complexity of his writing and his use of vocabulary, I felt a wide range of emotion including sadness, anger, surprise, happiness, curiosity, and fear. Orwell has proved to be a proficient user of the English language, as well as a creative visionary with a depth to his writing. It appears as though his novel 1984 is non-linear entirely. Although it has a general plot, given the characters names and possibly a brief description; one could pick the novel up at any point and capture its meaning. The clarity of his objective in writing as well as his upfront attitude about delicate subjects is precisely the style of...
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...George Orwell’s political views have been developed throughout his life based on personal experiences, although some may argue Orwell had no political label, due to his many different facets and aspects. Orwell witnessed Stalin’s Soviet Russia, the dictatorships of Mussolini and Hitler, the Spanish civil war and World War 2. Orwell’s literary works such as 1984 and many others, touch on aspects of imperialism, anarchism, socialism, Nazism, capitalism and totalitarianism. “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical” in 1984, is a text within a text that Winston reads to understand many things about the totalitarian world he lives in. The purpose of the text within a text is to parallel the corrupt socialist world of 1984 with that of Stalin’s USSR, expand on Orwell’s ideas of imperialism, and to sound an alarm to warn readers of what a worst case scenario totalitarian world could be like. Firstly, “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical” was to provide greater insight, for Winston and the reader. Goldstein’s text takes apart each section of the party’s slogan “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is strength” (Orwell, 1), and explains what they mean to the party. After reading the text, Winston learned some new things, but the text mostly just reinforced things he already assumed or knew. Secondly, when thinking from a political standpoint, one could say that the point of this text within a text was to parallel the corrupt socialist world of 1984 with that of Stalin’s USSR...
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...In the essay “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell Orwell sees imperialism in multiple points-of-view. First off, while Orwell is describing the prisoners he shows a hidden the cruelty of imperialism. Orwell draws the picture of “wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of lock-ups” some with “scarred buttocks [...] had been Bogged with bamboos” (2). Orwell is showing that the prisoners, treated as animals, being humiliated by their oppressors. In addition, Orwell believes imperialism ‘destroyed the freedom’ of the native population. In the moments before shooting the elephant Orwell perceives “that when a white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom he destroys”(7). By saying this Orwell points out the irony of imperialism. Orwell...
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...Sylver Baker 2016 Professor Hendrix ENC 1102 23 May 2016 Formal Assignment 1: Analysis of “A Hanging” by George Orwell “A Hanging” by George Orwell is a short story based on the author’s experience while working as a police magistrate. In the story he talks about the experience of witnessing an execution. The prisoner is escorted to the gallows by the warders for his hanging. Once there everyone is ready for the execution to be done so that they can all go have a drink. Using descriptive words so that one feels and experiences what he experienced Orwell argues that Capital Punishment is wrong. Orwell focuses on the negative to set the tone of how unpleasant and depressing an execution is. He describes the day “a sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light, like yellow tinfoil” which sets a gloomy tone. He describes the cells, “condemned”, “a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages”. In creating such a gloomy setting Orwell proves he is concerned and nervous about the execution. If he was not affected by the hanging, then the mood would not be so melancholy. Orwell can’t simply ignore the capital punishment and nor can anyone else. All people feel some kind of anxiety about the inhumane and cruel punishment. Orwell describes the superintendent and other characters’ emotions before and after the hanging, who is against capital punishment. The prisoner cries out in a rhythmical tone, “Ram! Ram! Ram! Ram!”, not out of fear or for help but as though...
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...Orwell’s Cruelty George Orwell is an Indian police officer worked East of Burma where he served 20 years as a dependent officer around the town. While, being in there unarmed he was hated by a large number of people in his neighbor’s yard the only time in his life that he felt so important around town. Orwell had been tripped up once or twice by a nimble Burman on a steep field where the elephant is about to be killed. However, his main focus to keep a story of lies that came from a young woman away from him during the attack toward the elephant. They were waiting for him in the quarter where the elephant had seen and ready to be torque by Orwell. It was a very poor town and people were ready to see the killing take place of the mannequin...
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...Response to “Politics and the English Language” In this essay, George Orwell brings to light common mistakes that are found in contemporary English style of writing and argue that we, users of the English language, have the power to fix these problems through adjusting our own writing habits. The mistakes that Orwell brings up are not the typical mistakes of grammar, punctuation or spelling. No, he attacks the very way that a whole generation of English writers has grown accustom to writing and expressing their ideas, and I could not agree with him more. Orwell breaks these simple mistakes into four major types: dying metaphors, verbal false limbs, pretentious diction and meaningless words. When used, these mistakes create sentences that do not express ideas clearly and use common terms and phrases “copied and pasted” from one writer to another. This leads to a lack of originality and writing that is more of a conglomerate of catchy phrases and buzzwords rather than cohesive, well thought-out sentences. I agree with this school of thought. I have seen many students my age who are afraid of writing the wrong thing or having their ideas rejected, so they write in the manner which Orwell is concerned with as to mask their inner writing insecurity. Many also think that using dying metaphors, verbal false limbs, and pretentious diction makes them sound smarter or acceptable at the college level. However, these habits do nothing but make the readers’ job harder and make the...
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...Is our technology taking us closer to the world of Big Brother? People may answer yes or no but it all depends on how the way you think of it. In the book 1984 written by George Orwell, he talks about the government is presented as a totalitarian state and how it is set up in this book also how George Orwell describes the life in Oceania. Some allusions that Orwell uses are deliberately used to describe Oceania of what it is and what it should not be “Though Winston is technically a member of the ruling class, his life is still under the Party’s oppressive political control. In his apartment, an instrument called a telescreen—which is always on, spouting propaganda, and through which the Thought Police are known to monitor the actions of...
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...In George Orwell’s “1984”, reality is not always what you perceive it to be. Orwell uses a theme that is comprised of the horror of a totalitarian dictatorship, which is demonstrated throughout the novel in the laws, and leaders of “The Party”. There is also a Big Brother character that helps to accentuate the totalitarian theme and brings a reality to the reader that the world is hidden behind this figure. The theme of reality versus appearance is a theme that is displayed throughout the novel in many different ways, such as characters, slogans and war. I will examine a couple of examples of reality versus appearance in George Orwell’s “1984” over the next several paragraphs. We are introduced early in the novel to a character by the name of Julia. Julia’s relationship with Winston mixes love and partnership in the strife against Big Brother. Julia is a survivalist and a rebel, she is a Party supporter, and very sexually promiscuous. Julia says, “Have you done this before? Of course. Hundreds of times – well, score of times, anyway.” (Page 104) In this quote from Julia it is first presenting to be another foolish drone of the party but Julia is uncovered to be an insurgent that uses her sex appeal and anatomy as a way to rebel....
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...Cable News Network, 3 Aug. 2013. Web. 01 Nov. 2015. Lewis Beale a CNN journalist wrote a news story on how George Orwell's 1984 is happening now in today's society. Beale goes on to tell on how the government is constantly monitoring citizens through social media and surveillance cameras in public areas. using fear to shape citizens into the civilians the government wants them to be. He compares today's society to the scary futuristic community Orwell imagined. Lewis tells on how today's society is willing to give up freedom and their right to privacy because of fear. That the government uses fear to spy on everyone, he gives the example of the government using terrorism as way to spy on citizens through social media. With this article being opinion based, Beale makes it clear and understandable for the reader to see his viewpoint. It has a easy to read layout with bold titles making it clear on what each paragraph is about. The Fact that the article was published on CNN, makes it...
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...George Orwell was born in India, 1903 as Eric Arthur Blair. His father was a British Civil Servant who was working for the British Arms. His mother took him and his younger sister back to England a year after George was born to attend an English boarding school. Gorge first experienced social classes when he was attending his school. Eric learned about social classes from school when he realized that the rich children were treated better than the poor. George did not have any friends, so he took an interest in reading and writing. He wrote poems describing his situation and how people were treated. George did well in school, and got good grades, for that reason he got a scholarship to attend Eton College. Orwell studied through college, however...
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...In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell is placed in a situation with an “untamed” elephant. Orwell is a police officer stuck on duty in Burma from which he desperately wants to leave. He is well aware of the fact that the Burmese people do not like him at all; however, he is the one who they call on when there is trouble. According to me, Orwell uses his story of shooting the elephant to exemplify the peer pressure he feels in Burma from its people. As we read in his essay, after much debate with himself of how the elephant did not intentionally harm anyone he still decides or is pressured into shooting the elephant. Complications of his ego, and fear of losing his dignity puts the life of the harmless beast in secondary priority. The unexplainable love-hate situation between the colonizer and the colonized is one of the factors of Orwell’s decision of shooting the elephant. According to Orwell, the colonizer he feels that whatever is happening in Burma with the colonized is wrong. "I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I chucked up my job and got out of it the better. Theoretically - and secretly, of course - I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British" (Orwell 525). Though he likes the Burmese people they still don’t give him the same respect. By shooting the elephant he thinks he will gain their respect. We can...
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...SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT PRATIK THAPA "Shooting an Elephant" tells a story of George Orwell as he struggles between his moral objection to not shoot an elephant and legal responsibility to shoot it. Throughout his adventure, he decides that it is best to kill the elephant however he believes that It is against his rationale. Though, he feels bad about killing the elephant, he kills it at last and he tries to justify his act throughout the whole essay explaining how pressuring and compelling the situation was and why he had to do it. First of all, he describes how destructive the elephant was. I think this, as his first justification for killing an elephant. He thinks it is important to kill something that is endangering public lives and public property. He quotes, “It had already destroyed somebody's bamboo hut, killed a cow and raided some fruit-stalls and devoured the stock; also it had met the municipal rubbish van and, when the driver jumped out and took to his heels, had turned the van over and inflicted violence upon it.” Even with this judgment, it seems difficult for him to decide if he really has to kill that animal and he waits for alternative. Secondly, he continues to describe the Elephant being more violent. As he passes, the village, he sees many acts of the elephant that he describes as cruel and unkind. He also sees “a dead man’s body sprawling in the mud.” His use of words such as “head sharply twisted to one side”, “the teeth bared and grinning with an...
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...Everyday every person faces to moral dilemma .According to urban dictionary a moral dilemma is a conflict in which you have to choose between two or more actions and have moral reasons for choosing each action.Like in the essay “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell finds himself in a moral dilemma. Our main character a police officer in the British Raj, and he writes about his experience or moral dilemma in his short story, 'Shooting an Elephant. To save face, he shrugged it off as his desire to 'avoid looking the fool'; (George Orwell, 283). In truth, the atmosphere of fear and pressure overwhelmed him. His inner struggle over the guilt of being involved in the subjugation of a people added to this strain, and he made a decision he would...
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...If ‘1984’ by George Orwell had been written in a different time and place, how and why might it differ? The novel ‘1984’ by George Orwell, written in 1948, is a tragic illustration of what the world would be without the freedom to think independently. The internal context of the novel, which is set in London in 1984, whose protagonist is a rebellious low ranking party member called Winston Smith, is meant to portray a world of government domination defined by fear, hatred and ultimate control. The mode of the novel is written and the tenor is close as the story is told in limited third person. The target audience of the novel is people interested in reading and politics. Orwell wrote ‘1984’ as a warning against totalitarian tendencies and...
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