Predicting the Future: The Relevance of George Orwell`s Works in Modern Times

Written by: Matko Marković (FFOS)

Issue 1 (March 2018)

George Orwell is widely considered to be one of the most important literary figures of our time, and rightfully so. He managed to encompass and present practically everything that had gone wrong with the world at the time of his most prolific writing, which would be the first half of the 20th century, more precisely the years when the Second World War was raging on. But what made Orwell so popular at that time, and makes him equally as popular today? It seems as though Orwell had some sort of a prophetic ability to predict the course of political development thus making himself important at the time of the publishing of Animal Farm and 1984, but making himself even more important now that some of his ideas, particularly from 1984 can be put in the context of today`s modern world.

To fully understand Orwell`s specific point of view it would not be wrong to take a glance at his origins and life. Born in Bengal, India, in 1903, Orwell was quickly exposed to the evil ways of British imperialistic policy and to the hipocrisy of the elite school system his parents enrolled him into. Disgusted by the system, as a young man he developed strong socialist views which he expressed in his essays and public speeches that left no one biased. Even though he stood by his socialistic views, he was equally critical of totalitarian regimes in Soviet Russia and budding capitalism of both Great Britain and the USA. It can be said that he was probably one of the few people who was not enamored by the seeming freedom communism offered. He was very aware of the terrible crimes and systematic eliminations of political opponents Joseph Stalin, the leader of the country, thought of as problematic and disposed of shortly and quickly, either by direct assassinations or by exile. His political standpoint on the matter was strongly expressed in his novella Animal Farm, which can be seen almost as a direct allegory of the Soviet Union. In the novella Orwell directly exposed all of the flaws of the system, such as the violent revolt of the Russian people sparked by Lenin`s energetic and charismatic speeches. Lenin's persona is most directly seen in the character of Old Major who invites the animals to an all-out uprising against the evil human masters. His speech touched loosely upon what Lenin, Marx and Engels themselves called upon in the doctrines of communism, and that is that society should be organized on camaraderie, hard work and social equality: “And above all, no animal must ever tyrannize over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any animal. All animals are equal.” (Orwell 16). However, despite the obvious invite to camaraderie and perhaps a form of democracy, the natural choice for the leaders of the newfound Animal Farm, after chasing off their human masters, fell upon the pigs, more precisely upon two large boars called Napoleon and Snowball. In the novella, Napoleon is seen as the charismatic and cunning leader, very capable of forming alliances behind the scenes and leading the animals into prosper with his charismatic speeches and clear plans for the future, while Snowball is seen as the ingenious and intelligent boar who relies on his intellect and has clear and philanthropic plans for the future of the Animal Farm. As it turned out, in a violent coup led by Napoleon Snowball is chased away and forced into exile. After the Farm experienced its first crisis of choosing sides they practically betrayed the ideal of camaraderie at the very top of the hierarchy. This conflict closely resembles the real life conflict of Stalin and Trotsky, in which the latter was exiled after strongly disagreeing with the direction in which the communist party was heading as Stalin was trying to gain absolute power, which he attained and held on to up to his death in 1953. In the upcoming events the Animal Farm loses its credibility and ideals of friendship and equality, and even becomes the hated regime it so strongly opposed. The corruption of pigs and their budding love of power and all things human, seen as evil, proved too interesting to the pigs, and they quickly betrayed their fellow animals. First they indulged in alcohol and smoking, which culminated in full rejection of the ideals of the Animal Farm, as can be seen in the detail of the pigs walking upright, Napolen the Great Leader carrying a whip and adjusting the past, present and future to his own liking. The final insult was socializing with humans, inside the very institution they seemingly so strongly despised: ”The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell 66).

As we can see, by using simplistic language and very clear allegories Orwell successfully presented all that was wrong in the communist regime of the Soviet Union. Even though Animal Farm was much more relevant at the time it was published, Orwell expressed his ideas on the corruptibility of mankind when given power and influence, and ominously predicted its downfall that came shortly after World War II. His message was that no matter how positive the changes may be, and no matter how strongly you relate to the people you are trying to save, once the leaders get even a taste possible power, the corruptibility of mankind would inevitably prevail and lead to abuse. Obviously, it happened in Russia; after the successful revolt and murder of Tzar Nicholas Romanoff, the leaders of the communist party actively engaged in “fixing” the lives of their people, but quickly, out of ambition and pure desire for more power, rejected their ideals and started living as the oppressors before them, effectively becoming a totalitarian monarchy. The scary thought is that the whole principle can be applied to almost every ruling system in the world, be it socialism or democracy, and this has never been more obvious than in today`s modern world.

As far as Orwell`s most famous novel 1984 goes, the situation and symbolism is even more grim. A dystopian novel through and through, it chronicles the path of indoctrination of one man who believes that he is different from others, and is effectively fighting for freedom and love, while at the same time being foolishly manipulated to his own demise. The book was published in 1949, a year before Orwell`s death, and is set in London, the capital of Airstrip One, province of a superstate Oceania, which is in a constant state of war with Eurasia. The regime itself is based upon the principles of English Socialism, or INGSOC in Newspeak, a whole new language fabricated by Orwell to further expand upon his ideas of indoctrination and budding stupidity within his own society. Its people are ruled over by The Big Brother, who nourishes a cult of personality and is seemingly omnipotent in his knowledge, love for his subjects and justice, while at the same time controlling the society with the thought police, a sort of semi-secret agency which deals with crimes committed by the citizens within themselves. In this cruel world, everything is subject to perpetual war, lack of love, empathy and subject to lies fabricated by the regime, because: “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” (Orwell 749). Orwell`s “prophecy” has never been more accurate with all of the conflicts and political change that have happened, such as the ongoing state of war and unrest from the Cold War till today; Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Turkey, Syria…

It can even be said that some of the concepts Orwell proposed back then are only applicable in today`s time, and some of the symbols and movements he cleverly predicted are clearly coming into their own as we speak. Newspeak for instance is a new kind of language designed to desentisize and lessen man`s intellectual ability to properly express himself not only in relation to other human beings, but to themselves is now being instituted in some powerful nations in the form of politically correct speech. Long gone are the days of flamboyant and precise expressions for phenomena known to man in its simplest form; today`s governments almost exclusively have a tendency to cover up their tracks and to give senseless names to those same phenomena we branded nonchalantly and treated as such. When it comes to sex in 1984, it is seen merely as a tool for continuous reproduction, it is completely without emotion or love, and even the concept of male or female sexuality is frowned upon, therefore it is no wonder the relationship between the hero and heroine (Winston and Julia) is considered unnatural and should be banned. The regime went so far as to organize the Junior Anti-Sex League, whose sign is a red sash, and the organization can be compared to a today`s real life organization by the name of Anti-Aids Celibacy League, whose sign is, ironically, a red ribbon. Furthermore, probably the most ominous symbol of oppression and control in the work, besides Big Brother himself, is the dreaded telescreen, a device which closely resembles our television and is used to monitor activities of the citizens, who are obviously under constant supervision. Also, the telescreens cannot be shut off and are running 24 hours a day, similar to how our programs are in use 24/7 and the people rarely shut them off, often being sucked into the virtual reality it presents. The regime also organized lotteries, marches and collective games to offer people some sort of an illusion of fun and comfort, similar to how in our modern world sports and lottery are used to offer an escape from our everyday routine and to offer comfort as well. However, similarly enough, the real winner is always the government, who practically extorts money from its subjects and takes almost half of the income on the price of tickets and on the prize winnings.

When it comes to media and history, which often go hand in hand, they are being rewritten on a daily basis, whether we are aware of it or not, just like the citizens of Airstrip One. Media manipulation is a viable way to keep the masses at peace, therefore it is no wonder the numbers and articles are often being rewritten to soften the possible blow the general public could receive, which leads to us believing what we are being served without questioning the ulterior motives of the party, or of the government. History as a whole is no stranger to alterations; in the book the party deliberately takes credit for the inventions of military equipment and denies anything that preceded the party, and it is being done today, albeit on a smaller scale. If we look at cartoons of today, we can notice that for instance, in Tom and Jerry, the racially stereotypical character of mama has been deliberately removed from the cartoon, which can be seen as an insult to the history of a particular group of people or even a whole nation. When it comes to war, it is said in 1984 that as long as its people can remember Oceania had been at war with Eurasia, creating a state of perpetual war that not only reduced economic growth, but also depleted man power and created a depressing present in which its citizens were forced to live in. If we just take a look at current affairs, we can see that the world truly is in a constant state of war, even if it isn`t official. The USA had been at odds with Russia since the 1950`s, leading to conflicts in Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Afghanistan and so on and so forth. Even the modern war on terror seemingly has no end, even if half of the world knows it is a war out of interest, and that the enemy was basically created by the governments themselves in order to boost their own economies, while the people involved suffer beyond measure. It can be said that Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, Turkey and many other countries truly have not enjoyed a single day of peace, similarly to the citizens of the world created by George Orwell, who are basically stuck in an imposed war.

To conclude this research paper, it can be said that George Orwell was a “prophetic” writer who understood where his government and, indirectly, people themselves are being led to. His critique of communism in Animal Farm offered an easily understandable insight into everything that was wrong with the perceived equality its people enjoyed, and in a way helped expose the brutal consequences normal people suffered if they chose to rebel. But, perhaps more importantly, in his most famous novel in which he created a world that is eerily similar to own, he had practically foreseen everything that would be wrong with the state of mind of our world leaders some 70 years ago. It is truly a scary thought that two books have so accurately described our past, present and future in such a gory and brutal way a long time before any of it actually happened, but is definitely happening now. The past, the present and the future is now.

Works Cited:

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Penguin Books, 1989.

Orwell, George. 1984.

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_orwell1984.htm. Accessed 10. March. 2018.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/24/george-orwell-relevant-today-ever. Accessed 10. March. 2018.