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毕业论文网 > 文献综述 > 文学教育类 > 英语 > 正文

An Analysis of the Distortion of Human Nature under the Totalitarianism in Nineteen Eighty-Four探析《1984》中极权主义下的人性扭曲文献综述

 2020-04-18 08:04  

1. Introduction George Orwell, a British left-wing writer, writes authentically with honest political beliefs. He is best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and the satirical novella Animal Farm. In A Collection of Essays, he says, "When I lacked political purposes, everything I wrote, without exception, was lifeless. It became flashy paragraphs, meaningless sentences, artificial adjectives, in short, nonsense" (Orwell, 2008). His writing relies on his own experience and feelings, which connects with the reality of other people's lives. He hates the social reform plans and theories designed by the elite intellectuals. Therefore, when he states his political views and social understanding, he chooses the written form that ordinary people could read and understand. He hates all kinds of political deception, especially the trick of fooling the people with words, so he writes with honest and sincere words. Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel, one of the "Anti-Utopia Trilogy" and has a profound influence in the future. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell builds a unique world, Ocean States, which is a terrible world. Except for several facets in the head of yourself, nothing belongs to you because Big Brother is looking at you. What's worse, the party sets up a crime, a crime of thought, "thought-crime does not lead to death: thought-crime itself is death" (Orwell, 1961). Under such brutal government, the people have no freedom at all. What#8217;s worse, almost all of them are accustomed to the rule and have never been doubted of the government. The "big brother" even controls people#8217;s thoughts. In order to make this comprehensive control effective, the Big Brother must make it deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and control people#8217;s external behavior by controlling their thoughts, consciousness, feelings, memories, hopes, desires and feelings. In the country, the creepy thing is the control of thought and the distortion of human nature. For instance, children have been trained at a young age to monitor their parents and couples get married not because of love but reproduction. 1.2 Need for the study Individual is important in the free development of human nature while freedom is the nature of human perceptual life activities. The human nature is not only universal, but also realistic and historical. The free development of human beings is based on the freedom of human nature, through education man could rise above his nature and become a fully developed human beings. It is an ideal to which politicians and educators even the whole country, particularly in today's climate of economic difficulty and apparent social disharmony, have continued to cling (Miller, Kim, 1988). An ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius said, "human nature is similar, practice made them apart" (The Analects). In Nineteen Eighty-Four, children are trained to monitor their parents by participating in juvenile reconnaissance teams from young age. Winston's neighbour, Paterson, was reported by his seven-year-old daughter because of saying ”overthrow Big Brother” in his dream. Then he was caught in the Ministry of Friendship. But he said sadly while proudly, "I don't hate her at all. I am proud of her. It shows that I have educated her very well." The daughter reported father while the father felt proud. This detail just shows the distortion of human nature that the training makes the children monitor their parents. Therefore, it is necessary to make an analysis of distortion of the human nature under such totalitarianism. 1.3 Research purpose The study intends to analyze the distortion of the human nature of the main roles who live in the society of totalitarianism in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Meanwhile, taking importance to the free development of human beings that they should rise up against the existential crisis. Meanwhile a new political system is imminent under which human dignity can be guaranteed by democracy and the rule of law. The thesis aims to help one gain a more thorough understanding of the novel by analyzing the main characters, probe into the harmfulness of the distortion of the human nature, take importance to the development of human nature and advocate individual character liberation. 2.Literature review 2.1. Definition of Totalitarianism What is totalitarianism? Totalitarianism appeared in 1925 and was invented by fascism. Mussolini was one of the inventors. It was defined as a nation, a country and a leader. Totalitarianism means modern despotism. It is essentially the same as the autocracy in ancient or medieval times, but different from these traditional autocracies, Totalitarianism has mastered the ruling means of modern politics, making political organizations, social life, tools of public opinion, artistic creation, historical tampering and even more (Huang, 2012). People's thoughts and privacy are all under the full and strict control. In the novel under the control of the ubiquitous Big Brother, which is beyond the reach of any tyrant in Chinese and foreign history, and even our imagination. Totalitarianism is modernity. It takes technology as its condition and imprisons the whole society in the state machine, namely, the pervasive political domination of people's non-political life. What is dystopia? Comparing to Utopia, it refers to a place full of ugliness and misfortune. If Utopian literature expresses the whole idea of an ideal society, then dystopian literature has written an eschatological myth through the reflection on the humanization of society and human beings. The Utopian novel explores its perfection through the hypothetical progress of human society in terms of technology, philosophy and social structure, so that perfect or near-perfect society can be reached in the future. Then Anti-Utopia is the consequence of the extreme Utopia. The imperfection of human beings has been pushed to its climax through the tragic inference of the trend of contemporary social development, and it is predicted that human society may become a depressing and frightening society (Wang 113). In the first half of the 20th century, the West experienced the end of the First World War, the Great Depression, the Second World War and the Cold War. In the era, totalitarianism had endangered the freedom and the lives of all mankind. Hitler and Mussolini's fascism prevailed, and bloody rule took place in many European countries, such as the appalling policy of genocide against Jews; from 1937 to 1938, Stalinism in the Soviet Union also carried out the policy of "great cleansing" against the opponents. In The Origin of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt points out that totalitarianism is an unprecedented new form of domination. In the past, no authoritarian dictatorship, however cruel, has divided people into "races or classes that ought to be eliminated" (Hannah, 2008) and carried out collective transformation and massacre. In the past, the totalitarianism regime merely persecuted the political enemies who opposed to the regime. However, totalitarianism ruthlessly annihilates the obedient people (Wang, 113). 2.2 Previous Studies on Nineteen Eighty-Four As a masterpiece of political fiction literature, Nineteen Eighty-Four has been studied by many scholars as well as literary critics at home and abroad from different perspectives, like political science, linguistics, feminism. George Orwell creates many new words in the novel, like "Big Brother", "double thought" and "Newspeak". All these words have been included in the authoritative dictionary, which is extremely rare in the history of literature (Lian, 2010). In this political novel, Orwell consciously shows a vivid future totalitarian world. Being a political fable, it shows a distinct theme of anti-totalitarianism. It is a warning to the possible emergence of dictatorship. Through the description of totalitarian society, it reminds people that power leads to corruption, and absolute power leads to absolute corruption. Utopian fiction explores the perfection of human society through the hypothetical progress in technology, philosophy and social structure, resulting in a perfect or nearly perfect society located on remote islands or in the future. History is like a black humor. In its roaring advance, human beings are always mercilessly derisive (Zhang, 2012). As Wang Xiaobo said in the preface to the Suspicion Trilogy, ”In 1980, I read G. Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four in university, which is a lifelong experience. This novel, together with A. L. Huxley's Brave New World and Y. I. Zamyatin 's We, is called the Anti-Utopian Trilogy. But for us, it is not Utopia any more, but history” (Wang, 2006:19). Until today, the lessons that Nineteen Eighty-Four still exist. It is a warning to the possible emergence of dictatorship. Actually, nothing is more depressing and chilling than Nineteen Eighty-Four, although it is just a fictional horror political prophecy novel. Anti-utopia is the consequence of Utopian extremism. By deducing the development trend of contemporary society through tragedy, it pushes the imperfection of human beings to its apex, and predicts that human society may become a depressing and frightening society. In anti-utopia, the optimistic description of the stable future of human society in utopian literature gives way to the stagnation of totalitarianism; individual freedom, especially the freedom to maintain and transmit heretical ideas, is ruthlessly depicted in anti-utopian novels. Contrary to the Utopian literature which beautifies the future of the society, the future described by the anti-utopian literature is to exaggerate the darkness of the reality to the worst degree to satirize the social reality (Zhu, 2000). Additionally, Utopian fiction explores the perfection of human society through the hypothetical progress in technology, philosophy and social structure, resulting in a perfect or nearly perfect society located on remote islands or in the future. Anti-utopia is the consequence of Utopian extremism. By deducing the development trend of contemporary society through tragedy, it pushes the imperfection of human beings to its apex, and predicts that human society may become a depressing and frightening society. 3.Methodology 3.1 Research Questions In this thesis, the following questions will be discussed and the thesis will be structured in accordance with these questions. To make sure of the consistency and reasonable logic order of the study. 1. What is the meaning of totalitarianism and what is the society like in the Nineteen Eighty-Four? 2. How does such a dominant pattern affect the development of human nature? 3. What happened to the protagonist and what is his ending? 4. What lessons that the novel can give us? 3.2 Organization of the Thesis Chapter one: Introduction. This part will make an introduction of the whole thesis generally. The introduction briefly gives an overview of Nineteen Eighty-Four and the author, including research background, research purpose, research significance and the framework. Chapter two: Literature Review. This part will introduce the previous studies on the novel, including its theme and influences. Former research methods of the interpretation of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Chapter three: This part will introduce the research methodology adopted in the thesis. The relevant theories of totalitarianism and its influences on the development on human nature. Chapter four: This part will concentrate on the analysis and discussion of the importance of freedom. At the same time, combining with the realities, according to the social realities of the ancient times, modern China and foreign countries, the thesis will analyze the influence of totalitarianism on human nature. Chapter five: This part is the conclusion of the thesis, including the inspirations of the novel, its significance to contemporary society and human nature. 4.Conclusion In Orwell 's view, if power is concentrated too much on any government or individual, it will inevitably lead to dictatorship. Some individuals and organizations have an insatiable desire for power, which exists in any country and in any era. As long as there is soil suitable for its growth, power will expand indefinitely. As Orwell put it in the words of O'Brien in Nineteen Eighty-four:" Power is not a way, but an end". People did not establish dictatorship to defend revolution; they revolutionized to establish dictatorship. The purpose of persecution is persecution, the purpose of torture is torture, and the purpose of power is power. From Qin Shihuang in ancient times, Octavian to Hitler and Saddam in the 20th century, representatives of dictators abound. Driven by the desire for power, their dictatorship did everything possible, as evidenced by the tyranny of Qin Shihuang and Hitler's Nazi rule. Therefore, he does not criticize a particular person or political system, but all the dictators and autocratic governments on the planet from ancient times to the present. Nineteen Eighty-Four exposed the ugly practices of personal dictatorship, and expressed the author#8217;s hatred for it and warned people against its dangers. Therefore, the author firmly believe that the dangers of personal dictatorship that Orwell warned us about will be effective for a long time. Today, the concept of democracy is becoming more and more popular. Rereading this novel is of great significance for us to speed up the process of democracy and prevent excessive centralization of power. Meanwhile, the novel has a significant impact on the development of human nature. References Hannah, Arendt. The Origins of Totalitarianism. 北京:三联书店,2008. Jenni, Calder. Open Guide to Literature: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. England, Open University Press, 1987. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: The New American Library Press, 1961. Orwell, George. A Collection of Essays.南京大学出版社,2008. Poupard, Dennis. Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Detroit Gale Research Company, 1985.8 Miller, Peter J; Kim Ki Su. Human Nature and the Development of Character: The Clash of Descriptive and Normative Elements in John Stuart Mill's Educational Theory. Journal of Educational Thought, 1988. Lian, Chunhong. [联春红], 《1984》的震撼和警示--衡水学院学报,2010(12): 51-52. Su, Huiquan.[苏绘泉], 《动物庄园》和《1984》中极权统治方式分析--绥化学院 学报,2008(28): 80-83. Huang, Liqing. [黄丽清], 地狱式的统治--解读《1984》的极权主义--赤峰学院学 报(汉文哲学社会科学版),2012(33):135-137. Zhang, Junmei. [张俊美],王小波与乔治#183;奥威尔的反面乌托邦写作--三明学院 学报,2012(29): 34-39. Wang, Xiaobo. [王小波],王小波全集(第二卷)--昆明:云南人民出版社,2006. Wang, Xiaofei. [王小菲],政治寓言:《1984》的反极权主义主题--大众文艺, 113-114. Wang, Suxia. [王素霞],精神的异化,人性的扭曲[J]--作家(下月半),2014(8). Gao, Lianfu and Zhang, Zixia. [高连福,张子夏],关于人的自由发展及其人性根 据的思考[J]--齐鲁学刊,2016(5). Zhu, Kunling.[朱坤领],奥威尔的反面乌托邦及其对现实政治的关注--浅评奥威 尔和他的代表作《1984年》--中山大学学报论丛,2000(6).

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