The Appendix
Ironically, the most important part of the novel ‘1984’ is often left unread. It is here that Orwell reveals how language is probably the most potent tool in fighting totalitarianism.
“The Party’s plans—the abolition of the family, laughter, art, literature, curiosity, pleasure, in favour of a “boot stamping down on a human face forever”—are never achieved because Newspeak fails to take. Why? Because it was too difficult to translate Oldspeak literature into Newspeak. The text Orwell singles out to exemplify this, intriguingly, is the Declaration of Independence. The “author” of the appendix argues that these ideas cannot be expressed in
Newspeak, specifically the part about governments deriving their legitimacy from the consent of the people, and citizens having the right to challenge any government that fails to honour the contract. As long as we have a nuanced, expansive system of language, Orwell claims, we will have freedom and the possibility of dissent.”
Relevance to our world
“Consider the names of the post-9/11 programs that were ostensibly designed to protect the United States: the
Patriot Act, Boundless Informant, and practices like “enhanced interrogation techniques.” The justifications of these
1984-sounding schemes—and PRISM too—follow the obfuscating principles of Newspeak and the kind of manipulative euphemism Orwell skewers in his famous essay, “Politics and the English Language.” He writes:
“Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is
designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
Orwell maintains that misleading terminology and evasive explanations are endemic to modern politics. “In our
time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible,” including practices like imprisoning people “for years without trial,“ Orwell writes.
“When Orwell wrote 1984, he was responding to the Cold War, not contemporary terrorism. He did not anticipate the full reach of digital technology. Even so, he was correct in seeing a future where the government had greater control but also a belief in the people’s ability to use language for dissent.”
Ironically, when in 2013 Edward Snowden leaked top secret documents, which he had stolen from The
National Security Agency (NSA), he used the very technology which Orwell feared would be used to imprison and control us.
“In Orwell’s novel, technology is a purely oppressive force, but in reality it can also be a means of liberation. Snowden has claimed that tech companies are in collusion with the government, but he’s also using those same channels of technology to tell his story. Daniel Ellsberg had to photocopy the Pentagon
Papers and distribute them in hard copies; now our language of dissent includes emails, tweets, and IMs.”
Using quotes from outside of the text is a good way to strengthen your arguments in your essays, but remember to reference them:
Quotes:
Laura Frost, “You probably didn’t read the most telling part of Orwell’s “1984”—the appendix”, Quartz Media
2013
George Orwell, “politics and the English Language” essay https://qz.com/95696/you-probably-didnt-read-the-most-telling-part-of-orwells-1984-the-appendix/ http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit https://www.businessinsider.com/snowden-leaks-timeline-2016-9#iDOzB1QQBWyT4auU.99