Abdelwahed 1

Sara Ahmed

Ola Gabr

English

21rst November, 2022

The Power of Interpretation

“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree”

(Pound). “1984” is a novel written by George Orwell in 1948 as a prediction and warning against

the ruling of a totalitarian regime in the future. In the novel, people are under constant

surveillance and are brainwashed with facts that make them blindly obedient to the Party. This

system helps in achieving absolute control which the Party is originally striving for. With the

existence of this motivation in the novel along with Orwell’s vision coming to life in the real

world, readers all over the world have read “1984” and have been amazed by it. To this day,

countless references of the novel are still being made in movies, podcasts, and newspapers. With

its increasing popularity, the book had many different interpretations. These interpretations rely

on trying to understand the meaning behind a literary work and thoroughly searching for

important events which would help the reader formulate his or her opinion about it. Following

that, 1984’s worldwide readers have developed many different insights on and interpretations of

the novel, depending on different cultures, time periods and morals.

First, the upbringing of a person in a place and culture that differs from what he or she is

introduced to in a literary work affects the way the person analyzes and forms his or her opinions

on the writing. For instance, if an American citizen were to read “1984”, he would not have a

normal reaction to it. In fact, he would be shocked by the dictatorial, authoritarian rule presented

in the book. Since Americans live under a democratic government and have the rights of freedom
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issued in the First Amendment, for them, life under a dictator is a life of horror and dread. Even

though some could disagree and state that Americans were put under an authoritarian ruler

during Trump’s presidency, this situation was nothing compared to a country that was

experiencing real oppression from rulers like Stalin, Putin and much more. Moreover, throughout

Trump’s time, the judiciary and social media were available and free. On the other hand, in

countries like Turkey and China, people could entirely relate to the events of “1984” as they are

unfortunately experiencing them daily. Like “1984”’s citizens, Turkish people do not have

freedom of speech or freedom of thought; their president Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not allow

them to access the internet and share news with the rest of the world, imitating the novel’s three

states; Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia, who cannot communicate with each other. Erdogan also

bans people’s thoughts by jailing, executing, firing and forgetting them, which is typically

mentioned in the novel as well. So people who were fortunate enough to live a life in a

democratic country would definitely have different meanings in the back of their minds on the

book compared to people who live under a dictatorial leadership.

Furthermore, the time period in which the reader decides to read the book can affect the

reader’s understanding as well. For example, a person who read the book once it was published

would not think of its meaning in the same way that a person who read the book after centuries

of its publication. As many reviewers claim that Orwell’s intention for writing the novel was to

educate people and warn them against the dangers of a totalitarian society, his goal was achieved

but only when people believed that they live in this type of society, which was in the future. A

person who read “1984” in the past could not relate to its events and could not grasp the meaning

behind it since it was just a warning back then, unlike a person who reads it today knowing for

certain the existence of such a society in multiple countries today. In addition to that,
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technological advancement over time is considered a vital tool that has helped readers and

affected their way of thinking. This improvement over time provided future generations a better

chance at communicating with countries all around the world and helped them to stay updated

about each country’s government status with its changes every year. Thus, a reader from the

future will have much more knowledge about the book’s themes, analysis, and plots which will

help him reach a greater explanation of the book’s hidden gems, when compared to a reader from

the past, who was not exposed as much to many sources that would help him form a stronger

meaning.

In addition, the morals of a person affect his reading widely. If a child was raised on

being kind, thoughtful, and obedient, he would not have the same interpretations as that of a

child who was neglected and raised on being judgemental and hurtful. These children would

eventually have either good morals or bad morals. Depending on that, the person develops his

identity which specifies his way of thinking. When a well-raised person reads “1984”, he would

react with shock and would be inevitably disturbed. A person of good morals is characterized by

having a sense of humanity which would make him sympathize with the people of “1984”. The

tortures that the novel’s characters faced and the cruelty of people like O’Brien present, would

make the person’s interpretation more sophisticated and meaningful as they are reflecting on

something that is extremely different from what they are usually exposed to. Whereas a person

with bad morals wouldn’t find the novel to be that brutal or inhumane, as he knows that deep

inside, the characteristics in the novel and the characteristics of himself share similarities.

To conclude, people all over the world are created with different mindsets which rely on

divergent cultures, different time periods ranging from the past to the future and the main

principles or morals which a reader learns from an early age. Due to this wide range of
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personalities with multiple mindsets, interpretation is considered a broad word that is always

changeable. With “1984”’s dystopia taking place in real life, readers are becoming innumerable,

increasing their variety of understanding and perception of the world.

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Works Cited

7 Things You Need to Know About the First Amendment | the Free Speech Center. www.mt-

su.edu/first-amendment/page/things-you-need.

Cetingulec, Tulay. “Orwell’s 1984 Comes to Life in Erdogan’s 2015 Turkey.” Al-Monitor: Inde-

pendent, Trusted Coverage of the Middle East, 2 Mar. 2021, www.al-monitor.com/origi-

nals/2015/08/turkey-erdogan-intelligence-support-from-headmen.html.

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London, Secker and Warburg, 1949.

Pound, Ezra. “Quotable Quote.” Good Reads, www.goodreads.com/quotes/1304427-great-litera-

ture-is-simply-language-charged-with-meaning-to-the#:~:text=%E2%80%9CGreat

%20literature%20is%20simply%20language%20charged%20with,to%20the%20utmost

%20possible%20degree.%E2%80%9D.

Rubin, Michael. “Which Country Today Is Most Like Orwell’s 1984 Authoritarian Nightmare?”

Newsweek, 26 July 2017, www.newsweek.com/which-country-most-orwells-1984-au-

thoritarian-nightmare-636478.