The Music of George Orwell’s 1984

George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 is best known for its most famous ideas - Newspeak, Big Brother and Room 101 to name a few. But little has been written about the musical imagery and metaphor that permeates the novel. In this essay, I explore how IngSoc, the ruling party in Oceania, uses music to control and oppress the people and, as a result, how freedom of expression in music, and singing in particular, becomes the embodiment of an idealistic future for Winston. ‘The birds sang, the proles sang. The Party did not sing.’ ▶ Support my channel: ▶ Subscribe: ____________________ ▶ Website: ▶ Twitter: FURTHER READING/RESEARCH George Orwell - 1984: Speech, music and dehumanisation in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four: a linguistic study of metaphors (Anne Marie, Simon Vandenber
Back to Top