Discussion Topic
Imagery in George Orwell's 1984
Summary:
George Orwell's 1984 employs vivid imagery to enhance its dystopian setting and themes. The novel opens with paradoxical images like a "bright cold day" and clocks striking thirteen, establishing a sense of dissonance. Sensory details, such as the "vile wind," "boiled cabbage," and "bluebells," convey the oppressive environment Winston inhabits. Orwell contrasts the grim realities of life under the Party with moments of sensory richness, highlighting the regime's control and the fleeting nature of rebellion and freedom.
What imagery is depicted in part 1, chapter 1, and part 2, chapter 2 of 1984?
Much of the imagery in part 1, chapter 1, helps to establish the ominous tone of the story and the threatening setting Winston Smith inhabits. From the opening sentence, both are fairly bleak:
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.
The bright day is contrasted by the reality of the cold. Winston is trying to "escape" a "vile" wind and the clocks strike the ominous number thirteen (also heightening the alien-but-familiar nature of the story—as a normal analogue clock only has twelve hours). The imagery here allows the reader to immediately be swept into Winston's cold, unwelcoming world that is not...
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too unlike their own.
Later in this same chapter, the reader is able to ascertain the total control of Winston's government from a description of his home:
By sitting in the alcove, and keeping well back, Winston was able to remain outside the range of the telescreen, so far as sight went. He could be heard, of course, but so long as he stayed in his present position he could not be seen.
This imagery allows the reader to conceptualize the far-reaching influence of the oppressive state into the private lives of citizens—monitoring their daily actions through the telescreen.
In part 2, chapter 2, Winston has been captured, and the imagery once again returns to show the now more threatening setting he finds himself in:
He was lying on something that felt like a camp bed, except that it was higher off the ground and that he was fixed down in some way so that he could not move.
Winston suffers more beatings than he can count, and the imagery is descriptive of his suffering as well as the moments in between them:
He remembered a surly barber arriving to scrape his chin and crop his hair, and businesslike, unsympathetic men in white coats feeling his pulse, tapping his reflexes, turning up his eyelids, running harsh fingers over him in search of broken bones, and shooting needles into his arm to make him sleep.
Even the conversations are vivid in imagery:
"You are afraid," said O'Brien, watching his face, "that in another moment something is going to break. Your especial fear is that it will be our backbone. You have a vivid mental picture of the vertebrae snapping apart and the spinal fluid dripping out of them. That is what you are thinking, is it not, Winston?"
The imagery is menacing in both sections of text—and throughout the book, for that matter. Orwell crafts language around the experiences of Winston Smith that use various sensory assaults to shock the reader to contemplate the idea of governments that gain to much influence and exert too much control over their populations.
In both of these chapters, Orwell uses a wide range of sensory images to bring to life the experiences of the protagonist, Winston Smith. In Part One, Chapter One, Orwell opens the story with a tactile image of a "vile wind" which bites at Winston's neck. He also employs a gustatory image to describe the setting, Victory Mansions:
The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats.
In Part Two, Chapter Two, Orwell continues with the creation of vivid, sensory images to depict Winston and Julia's first meeting in the woods. There are a number of tactile images, including:
The mass of dark hair was against his face. . . he was kissing the wide red mouth.
These are followed by a strong gustatory image to depict the sensation of eating the black-market chocolate Julia brings with her:
The first fragment of chocolate had melted on Winston’s tongue. The taste was delightful.
Finally, Orwell closes this chapter with a visual image of Winston studying Julia as she sleeps:
There was a line or two round the eyes, if you looked closely. The short dark hair was extraordinarily thick and soft.
This visual image leads Winston to his important conclusion: having sex with Julia is a "political act" which represents the beginning of his rebellion against the Party.
What imagery is depicted in the beginning of Part 2, Chapter 2 of 1984?
Orwell uses different types of imagery in Part Two, Chapter Two of 1984. In the opening paragraph, for example, Orwell creates an auditory image of doves "droning" in the background and, later, of a person stepping on a twig, which makes a "crackling" sound. He also evokes the "sickly" smell of bluebells, which is an example of olfactory imagery.
Orwell uses visual imagery, too. Firstly, there is the image of the "overflowing" carriage, which he uses to travel to this clearing in the woods. Later, there is an image of Winston holding a large bunch of bluebells, which he has picked for Julia.
The purpose of this imagery is to create a stark contrast between this clearing in the woods and the city. For Winston, the woods are reminiscent of the past, of a time before the Party came to power, and of his hopes for the future. The city, in contrast, represents the brutal and oppressive regime of the Party.
1984 Part 2, chapter 2 is filled with nature imagery, connoting a "Garden of Eden" rendezvous between Winston and Julia in the Golden Country.
Colors dominate the landscape: "dappled light and shade, stepping out into pools of gold"; "misty with bluebells"--all of which symbolize Spring, freedom, re-birth, and love.
It is May, and the smells of flowering buds fill the air: "He had got together a big bunch and was smelling their faint sickly scent"; "Winston followed, still clasping his bunch of flowers. His first feeling was relief..."; "The sweetness of the air and the greenness of the leaves daunted him."
Winston is a bit paranoid still, as he is escaping the watchful eye of Big Brother and traveling secretly to the country. Sound imagery is also prevalent: "the unmistakable crackle of a foot on twigs"; "She shook her head, evidently as a warning that he must keep silent."
The scene is reminiscent of Adam and Eve about to partake of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil for the first time. They are about to have carnal relations away from God's watchful eye. They sense their impending fall and shame, yet they are excited by the rebellion nonetheless.
How does George Orwell use imagery to enhance the meaning of 1984?
Much of the imagery in 1984 is concerned with stressing the poor physical quality of everything around Winston: disgusting food and drink, grimy, broken furniture and dull, dreary architecture. The function of this imagery is to emphasize the dichotomy between the Party's triumphant rhetoric of continual improvement and the actual experience of everyday life for a citizen of Oceania. There is, for instance, the Victory gin that Winston drinks:
It gave off a sickly, oily smell, as of Chinese rice-spirit. Winston poured out nearly a teacupful, nerved himself for a shock, and gulped it down like a dose of medicine. Instantly his face turned scarlet and the water ran out of his eyes. The stuff was like nitric acid, and moreover, in swallowing it one had the sensation of being hit on the back of the head with a rubber club.
Then there is the horrible nondescript food available in the filthy cafeteria at the Ministry of Truth:
He began swallowing spoonfuls of the stew, which, in among its general sloppiness, had cubes of spongy pinkish stuff which was probably a preparation of meat.
The grimy, greasy, battered, broken world Winston inhabits is particularly highlighted by the contrasting imagery in the one interlude where he glimpses a more gracious and luxurious way of life. This is when Winston and Julia visit O'Brien's apartment.
The whole atmosphere of the huge block of flats, the richness and spaciousness of everything, the unfamiliar smells of good food and good tobacco, the silent and incredibly rapid lifts sliding up and down, the white-jacketed servants hurrying to and fro-everything was intimidating.
The living quarters of Inner Party Members are described as completely different from the rest of the city in terms of every sense. Even the taste of the wine, though disappointing, is contrasted with the acrid, oily gin Winston normally drinks (indeed, it is because he is so accustomed to the inferior spirit that he is unable to appreciate the wine). The imagery here makes the filth and squalor of the rest of the book, including the physical descriptions of Winston after he has been tortured in the Ministry of Love, even more harrowing by contrast.
Imagery in a work of literature is often employed to inspire a personal response in the reader; imagery can also function to emphasize the thematic significance of different events in a literary work. Orwell's descriptions of the dystopian world inhabited by Winston and other characters certainly come to life thanks to the imagery contained in the novel 1984. One powerful example of meaningful imagery can be found in Chapter 5 of Part 3, when Winston must face the terror of Room 101.
The visual descriptions of the furnishings and the environment of the room in which Winston finds himself are memorable, but perhaps most memorable of all is the description of Winston's physical restrictions as he sits strapped to a chair. Even the smallest movements of his head are controlled, thanks to "a sort of pad that gripped" him from behind. This sensation, combined with the auditory imagery of the "roaring sound in your ears" described by O'Brien and the visceral response of Winston's "bowels turning to water" at the sight of the rats, all contribute to the cruelty of the regime in power in the novel. This regime, represented by O'Brien in this moment of the novel, seeks to dehumanize their underlings, so Winston's experience in this chapter is one many may experience at some point. The imagery heightens Winston's fear and his vulnerability; much like the rats presented to him by O'Brien, he has nowhere to go thanks to the straps on his chair and his future is dangerously uncertain. In this situation, the imagery contributes greatly to the meaning of Winston's trials in room 101: the regime will do everything it needs to do to keep the people under control, even if it means compromising their humanity.
Imagery is used by an author to create mental
pictures for a reader. Imagery is specifically created using
words that relate to the five senses, such as touch, taste,
sound, sight, and smell (Bainbridge Island School District, "9th Literary
Terms: Imagery"). Abstract words, such as love and hate, cannot create mental
pictures because a reader cannot literally see love or hate. Hence, when
looking for imagery, we are looking for only words and phrases
that pertain to the five senses.
We can see examples of imagery all throughout George Orwell's dystopian novel
1984; he especially makes use of imagery in the very first
paragraphs to describe the bleak setting of the novel
and to begin to introduce themes. In particular, Orwell even
uses paradoxical images to begin to draw out the theme
concerning the paradox of the totalitarian government: Seldom
are these governments established to make things worse for what it
considers to be its citizens; yet, liberties within these sorts of governments
are restrained in such a way that the attempt to make things better
for its citizens paradoxically results in making things consequentially
worse.
One example of paradoxical imagery can be seen in the phrase
"bright cold day" within the first clause of the first sentence: "It was a
bright cold day in April" (Ch. 1). The words "bright," "cold," and "day" count
as image words because we can see brightness, see and
experience daytime, and feel coldness, so these words create mental pictures in
our heads as readers. But more interestingly, bright and cold
can also be seen as paradoxical concepts. More often than not,
though certainly not always, cold days are often cloudy; a bright day can only
be generated by the presence and visibility of the sun, so brightness often,
though not always, goes hand in hand with warmth. Yet Orwell makes a point of
setting the story on a "bright cold day," which is particularly interesting and
paradoxical if we remember most of the story is set in London
in the year 1984, a typically rainy location all throughout
the year, even in April. Hence, the image a "bright cold day" can be considered
paradoxical because the images are opposites, and this paradox
helps to draw out the theme concerning the paradox of totalitarian
governments.
A second paradoxical image can also be seen in the second
clause of this exact same opening sentence of the book: "...and the clocks were
striking thirteen." Since we can see clocks, see clocks striking any hour, and
even see the number 13, all of these words count as sight
images. Yet, we also all know that clocks certainly do not have 13
hours; therefore, describing a clock as having 13 hours is
paradoxical. And, again, this paradoxical image helps to draw
Orwell's theme concerning the paradox of totalitarian
governments.
References
In George Orwell's 1984, what imagery is depicted in the first chapter?
George Orwell’s 1984 begins with poignant imagery.
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
Anyone familiar with Britain’s unpredictable weather can relate to the first part of the sentence. In this way, Orwell sets up a familiar world only to have it come crashing down words later. In reality, clocks do not strike thirteen times to announce 1:00PM. By using the number thirteen, Orwell is telling the reader that something is terribly off about the London which Winston Smith inhabits.
For British readers who picked up 1984 the year of its publication, 1948, they saw more reflections of their present as Winston enters his shabby apartment building, “The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats.” London, along with all of Britain in 1948, was still recovering from the Second World War. The boiled cabbage alludes to the rationing that lasted for years after the war’s end. As Winston looks out his window, Orwell makes sure to mention other sights that wartime Londoners knew all too well: craters pockmarking the city and decaying Victorian buildings.
Taken as a whole, the imagery in 1984’s first chapter makes the novel’s dystopia realistic because it is a reflection of living conditions present in Britain during the immediate post-war era.