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What is the atmosphere in George Orwell's 1984, and how is it created?
Quick answer:
The atmosphere in George Orwell's 1984 is ominous and oppressive, created through detailed imagery and diction. From the outset, the environment is presented as bleak and threatening, with descriptions of cold weather, dilapidated buildings, and pervasive surveillance. This mood is reinforced by Winston Smith's frail appearance, the inescapable presence of the telescreen, and the menacing architecture of the Ministry of Love. Orwell's choice of words like "cold," "boiled cabbage," and "barbed-wire" further enhances the sense of despair and control, setting the stage for the dystopian narrative.
The atmosphere of 1984 is ominous, and this mood is established from the first pages. As Winston Smith is introduced to us, the clock is striking thirteen (itself an unlucky number) on a cold day. When he enters the Victory Mansion, the halls smell of boiled cabbage and old rag mats.
Winston isn't a specimen of health, either:
He moved over to the window: a smallish, frail figure, the meagreness of his body merely emphasized by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the party. His hair was very fair, his face naturally sanguine, his skin roughened by coarse soap and blunt razor blades and the cold of the winter that had just ended.
His health seems to be further impeded by the cold days he's endured, and Winston needs to rest frequently as he tries to climb stairs.
A telescreen is turned on, and it reportedly cannot be...
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turned off. Readers are quickly introduced to the Thought Police, the Ministry of Truth, and Newspeak. Winston surveys the landscape around him and makes note of the physical decay of buildings, homes, and bombing sites, all encased in a cold and bleak world outside Winston's window.
Winston also notes slogans which surround him:
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Even the building which should provide the reader with a sense of hope is seemingly named in irony:
The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all . . . It was a place impossible to enter except on official business, and then only by penetrating through a maze of barbed-wire entanglements, steel doors, and hidden machine-gun nests. Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers were roamed by gorilla-faced guards in black uniforms, armed with jointed truncheons.
At every turn, Winston narrates a scene of hopelessness, despair, and coldness, and the ominous atmosphere this creates drives much of the conflict to follow.
George Orwell’s 1984 has been called a depressing dystopian story. A dystopia is a future world where things have gone wrong (the opposite of “utopia,” a perfect future world).
To achieve this effect, Orwell has to create a negative atmosphere in which his characters struggle to understand and escape forces that are beyond their control. Writers typically create their mood and atmosphere through diction (word choice) and imagery. Some words and images have more power to convey ideas to readers. A skilled writer like Orwell can create a dreary, depressing future world by carefully choosing what words and images to use.
The reader doesn’t have to go far to find a good example of this in 1984. Here is the very paragraph in the book:
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.
This opening paragraph immediately tells the reader that the main character, Winston Smith, is in a hostile environment. The atmosphere here is threatening and disheartening. A clock that strikes thirteen signals to the reader that things just aren’t right in this place. And notice the little environmental detail near the end, the “gritty dust” that follows him through the door. Orwell does not write this accidentally. The presence of the dust suggests uncleanness. The fact that the dust follows him, apparently against his wishes, portrays Smith as a person in danger and under surveillance, which is the case throughout the story.
The atmosphere created by Orwell leaves the reader with no illusions about the direction the story is going after the first paragraph. This is not a happy, clean world, and events are not going to be favorable for the main character.