Language Techniques - Orwell's 1984

[rrahulk]

Hi,

It would be of great help if someone could please find the language techniques in the following quotes from the novel 1984?

1. “In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
2. "To mark the paper was a decisive act."
3. "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen.”
4. "Every record has been destroyed or falsified...”
5. "The instrument (the telescreen) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely."

Thanks

[carolinewang206]

Hi,

It would be of great help if someone could please find the language techniques in the following quotes from the novel 1984?

1. “In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
2. "To mark the paper was a decisive act."
3. "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen.”
4. "Every record has been destroyed or falsified...”
5. "The instrument (the telescreen) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely."

Thanks

Hey! - I'm just a student still so some of these may be wrong, but I'll do my best to help!

1. It's an aphoristic depiction of the extent of Ingsoc's control and how by narrowing the available vocabulary of newspeak, they narrow the ability to exercise autonomous thought. The definitive 'no' indicates its impossibility and stifles any possibility of stopping this.

2. Marking the paper (an illegal act) serves as a metaphor for Winston's rebellion and its transition from thoughtcrime into decisive physical act.

3. The thoughts are personified to 'wander', depicting their fluidity in a previous time, but this is contrasted by the notion that it is 'terribly dangerous' shows the supreme power of the Party to not only permeate every aspect of personal life but also individual consciousness.

4. Highly modal and definitive

5. Serves as a synadoche (check that spelling) for the extend of the party's power, its ubiquity and omnipotence.

Hope this helps!!

[elysepopplewell]

Hi,

It would be of great help if someone could please find the language techniques in the following quotes from the novel 1984?

1. “In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
2. "To mark the paper was a decisive act."
3. "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen.”
4. "Every record has been destroyed or falsified...”
5. "The instrument (the telescreen) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely."

Thanks

Hey! I'm not sure what the context of these quotes are, and not sure what you need them for in the essay, so I'll name every technique/structural decision I find and then if you have trouble linking them to your ideas just let me know! Caroline has added some extra awesome analysis so hopefully these will work together to give you some ideas!

1. Inclusive first person "we" narration, high modality.
2. Short/simple sentence, past tense, unembellished writing style.
3. Past tense, allocation of "you" to second person, adjective "terribly" to dangerous.
4. Not sure about this one!
5. Perhaps you could talk about the conjunction/preposition of but.

All of these don't make a lot of sense until you pair them with something, but I think these will give you some things to focus on