1984 : The Setting

2 Pages 582 Words

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell portrays a bleak and perverted society ruled by a well-established totalitarian government. He creates a dystopian setting in which life is extremely bad due to deprivation, oppression, and terror; a place where humans have no control over their own lives, where nearly every positive feeling is suppressed, and where people live in misery, fear, and repression. To bring this setting to life, Orwell uses imaginative descriptions, a racy style, and harsh language.
Geographically, the entire world is divided into three super states: (1)Oceania, comprising the American continents and stretching to the British Isles; (2)Eurasia, which comprises the entire region of Europe; and (3)Eastasia, including the Far East and Southeast regions of the world. It is a world in which Oceania is permanently at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia, with continuous bombings and air raids.
The novel is set on Oceania’s mainland, Air Strip One. The actual story takes place in London and the small village of nearby Paddington in the year 1984. Politically, Oceania is divided into three segments or classes. The first/high class is the Inner Party consisting of less than 2 percent of the population; this is the ultimate ruling class and includes O’Brien and Big Brother. The middle class is comprised of approximately 18 to 19 percent of the educated workers (including Winston Smith), and is known as the Outer Party. The lowest class, the Proles, are the poor, uneducated workers who comprise the largest percentage of Oceania.
The setting that Orwell chose for Nineteen Eighty-Four is a vivid picture of a World War II-era city complete with dilapidated Nineteenth century buildings, their windows broken and covered with cardboard, insufficient heat, and strictly rationed food. It is a place of pure horror and its revulsion is crushingly apparent from the very first line of the novel via a foreboding image of a “cold d...