The Repression of Human Nature in George Orwells 1984开题报告

Theterm—Human Nature is explanatory. Superficially, it means the force withinthe body that takes the helm to strive for survival. Precisely, it is alsointerpreted as a person''s inherent characteristics consisting of forms likethinking, feeling, and acting. Human nature is an important topic whichscholars and researchers can hardly omit in real life because it is a basiccriterion to discern whether a person could be deemed a human. Humans''sanctity includes freedom, suffrage, love, et cetera. Human naturedeprivation and repression would be a fundamentally severe conundrum as if itexists in real-life contemporary society.

GorgeOrwell''s 1984 builds up a grungy, gloomy, and grotesquedystopian world, where civilians live under extreme totalitarianism,surveillance, and coercion on behaviors as well as thoughts. These fictionaland imagined social problems are perfect examples to discuss the theme ofthis essay—The Repression of Human Nature.

So,this essay''s theme will revolve around what vile acts and mandates does BigBrother impose on his people, how do Oceania repress human nature. I willalso utilize these two things to dive into their symbolic meanings and revealGeorge Orwell''s real purpose to write this magnum opus.

Human nature, whichis an impulse, controls our behaviors in real life. From the perspective ofthe book''s protagonist—Winston, 1984 records the processof how the rebellious hero who initially has qualms about his ordinary lifegradually degrades into a condition like a walking dead. Winston''s trance isjust straightly insinuating that the repression of human nature brings thismelancholy scenario.

This idea caneasily lead to the crux of the matter—How could it be? It is a problem thatthis essay is devoted to solving. By diving into those attributions, such asnewspeak, celibacy, and doublethink, we can offer a legit answer tothis.

1. Introduction

1.1George Orwell and 1984

1.2Human Nature

1.3Present Studies

2. The Analysis of TheRepression of Human Nature

2.1Totalitarianism

2.1.1 Big Brother

2.1.2 The Inner Party

2.2Propaganda

2.2.1 The Ministry of Plenty

2.2.2 The Ministry of Peace

2.2.3 The Ministry of Love

2.2.4 The Ministry of Truth

2.3Love

2.3.1 Winston and Julia’s Sex Affairs

2.3.2 A Threat Towards the Power

2.4Doublethink and Newspeak

2.4.1 Brainwash

2.4.2 Deprivation of Thinking Ability

2.5Surveillance

2.5.1 Telescreen

2.5.2 Thought Police and Children

3. Conclusion

3．国内外研究现状:

1984 is thought of as themost audacious book George Orwell had ever written. He was always astaunching supporter for conveying a voice that aims to arouse people’sawareness against totalitarianism. After he published 1984, it was a trend to study the fictionaldystopian world due to fears of notorious Stalinism. Researchers and scholarsfocus on themes comprising propaganda, sexuality, brainwash, and privacy.However, the numbers of studies in China look pale in compassion with thosein western countries. Articles concerned with humanity and 1984 are nearly scarce because humannature itself is an intensely disputed and vague topic. Fortunately, somescholars dissected the book and mentioned humanity more or less in theiressays, which prepare potential resources for this essay.

1. Human Nature

Whatis Human Nature? It is a question that bothered our antecedents for thousandsof years, but in recent days, some experts offer their compact answers tothis conundrum. Hutchins (1924) claimed that human nature is your URGE TOMANIFEST, which tenaciously strives to make sure the body it controls tosurvive in the savage world, no matter what kind of creature it is. The greatthinker Nietzsche (1998) even went straightforward and said thanks to thepersistent slaughters and conflicts, our human eventually became the God ofprey and ascended to the zenith of various species, but inaugurated conflictswithin human beings. In an article called The Repression of Human nature(2020), it even said fruitions of modern western culture under the thinveneer called civilization consisting of religion, canopy, science, andphilosophy are aimed to dehumanize ordinary peoples’ instincts and impulses, snortedthe sanctity of human rights, as well as ultimately used as a doctrine toserve the aristocracy existing in the higher hierarchy.

Coincidently,these explanations remind me of the society that Winston Smith lives in,where Big Brother exploits his middle-class and upper-class and leaves prolesstruggling in their morass. It raises the question as to why inner partystrives to repress its people and how they do it?

2. The Types of Methods

The most important thingis to clarify what the themes of this book are? Themes could be a potentialsignal which indicates that there could be repression on Human Nature. Itincludes five distinct parts—Totalitarianism, propaganda, love, doublethink,and newspeak, as well as surveillance. So, what is Totalitarianism? Resch (1997)said that Orwell''s definition of Totalitarianism derived from Italianfascists, which was more likely to be a concoction of a party''s despotic ruleand state power in lieu of its original meaning as to the state''s realizationof the national idea. Some people''s analyses are much more straightforward. Enteen(1984) stated that Totalitarianism in George''s mind directly refers toStalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. This method always comes up with itshighest totalitarian, tightening up citizens'' private and public life, whichis concluded as undemocratic. Totalitarians also tend to pair its despoticrule with propaganda, an effective and convenient way to change peoples''minds. Stanley (2016) claimed that propaganda consists in a totalitariansociety because ordinary men do not even realize that propaganda infiltratestheir world. Every tier of that society worked like various cogs that runsimultaneously. Pramesti (1994) stated that:

The ministry of Plenty (Miniplenty), specializes in economicpropaganda. It promotes

confidence in economy. The ministry of Peace (Minipax)promotes the military typeby

using war films, military music, etc. Ministry of Love(Miniluv) reinforces or intensifies

ideologic propaganda. And the biggest, most responsiblecog in the machine is the

Ministry of Truth (Minitrue). Minitrue with its sloganWAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS

SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH not only producespolitical images and

rhetoricin accordance with Big Brother''s input but alsocoordinates and edits the output

of Miniplenty'' and Minipax.

Propaganda is a cog tobrainwash individuals, running perpetually. Bancroft (2009) expressed thatcountries construct laws and regulations to restrain human sexual expressionby bonding it together with marriage in current society. The situationin 1984 is even worse. Norris(2019) wrote in his article and said that the party persistently tries topervert the meaning of sexuality and erode it into a mere function thatserves the upper class in return. What’s worse, doublethink and newspeakare created to consolidate the power of the inner party. Courtine and Willet(1986) claimed that “Power must thus become master of language since languageis the living memory of man and offers him a space for inner resistance.”.The eternality of the Oceania government hinges on meditation deprivation,which boosts up the invention of doublethink. Those aristocrats require aperson not to have any qualms about rulers’ authenticity and credits eventhough there exists an abysmal discrepancy between the information theyreceive and the facts they grab. Simeon (2014) uttered that Doublethink is an abilityto blur the distinctions between black and white. This is indeed the main goalthat the demonic government would like to achieve—Humans are just Unperson.Surveillance is also one of Big Brother’s sidearms, which is more likely tobe a turf war of attrition. Rebels like Winston are always trying to escapethe telescreens and preserve the last piece of immaculate land. Celikkol (2018)indicated that Big Brother fathom a person holistically, from head to toe.There is also no place for you to dodge, let alone hide. At last, thosetopics I demonstrated before also collaborate, weaving an extremely abstinentand repressive society out of the aforementioned elements.

3. Previous studies on 1984 in China

The amounts of studiesin China are not comparable with those in western countries. They arerelatively scant and sporadic, but domestic scholars still come up with asignificant number of innovative perspectives. Tang (2006) saidTotalitarianism has already formed an obstinate spectrum of humans'' awareness and urged humans to contemplatethemselves continuously, which leads to an impeccable mechanism without BigBrother''s efforts. Luo (2011) also declared that a language''s dominationmeans the monopoly over power and self-consciousness. Li (2017) concludedthat all human emotions are prohibited other than a person’s veneration forBig Brother, which explicitly twists and oppresses human nature.

4. Summary

As we can draw asynopsis, no matter from what kind of angle it is, scholars all endeavor toadmonish us for how morbid that society is. That society depletes the core ofbeing a human—Human Nature. Individuals are paradoxically unable to beintelligent, independent, and creative enough to enjoy fundamental humanrights. This essay will try to be meticulous enough to present thisfilth.

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