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The Rhetorical Analysis Of George Orwell's 1984

Decent Essays

1984 In an article by The New York Times, the author suggests that George Orwell’s 1984 was “a chilling exploration of absolute depravity.” Orwell’s purpose in writing 1984 was to warn the people of the dangers that could come from becoming a totalitarian society. Throughout 1984, Orwell exposes the dangers of a totalitarian society, such as the psychological torture and the physical brutality that one would experience living in such a society. A rhetorical device that Orwell uses in order to convey his purpose is juxtaposition. Throughout the whole novel, Orwell juxtaposes Winston’s point of view with the parties point of view. For example, Orwell names one of the ministries the Ministry of Love, while making the reality of this place for the people, a place of utter fear, and torture. Orwell deliberately uses juxtaposition in attempt to show what a totalitarian society is like; he implicitly provides the reader with the knowledge that the government is to be feared because everything that they create is exactly what is isn’t. Throughout the book, Orwell refers to the houses as “victory mansions”, and the drinks as “victory gin”, but then proceeds to describe the houses as smelling like "boiled cabbage and old rag mats", and the “victory gin” as something “like nitric acid” and “ being given the sensation of being hit on the back of the head with a rubber club.” In this way as well, Orwell uses juxtaposition as a means to inform the reader that within a society such as

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