Chronological Sequence In 1984 By George Orwell

812 Words4 Pages
Every story has a beginning, middle, and end. This chronology is natural, and usually, guides the telling of said stories. However, when an author decides to abandon this chronological sequence of events, it is usually either to set up a significant flashback or to emphasize the importance of a certain event or order of events. This disregard for the traditional, chronological sequence of telling a story is seen in George Orwell’s, dystopian novel, 1984, as well as Joyce Moss and George Wilson’s journal article, “Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them.”
Chapter 6 of Part 1 of Orwell’s novel follows the protagonist, Winston Smith, as he writes in his diary about his traumatic sexual experience with an older prole -- a prostitute. His first flashback interrupts his writing. He remembers seeing a party member, just weeks before, who had an involuntary facial spasm and reflects on how this subtle spasm would be misinterpreted by the oppressively observant government. Surely, the party member would be executed for this. The jump in time helps explain why Winston had to resort to quietly writing in his diary, rather than releasing his anger in other, more animated ways, such as banging his head on the wall. Orwell used this break in chronology because he understood the opening scenes of the diary entry would be far more appealing to the reader without this explanation. Starting the chapter with, “Winston was
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