Apologia.

Matt McCabe

Mrs. McConkey

ENG3UE

Dec. 2, 2011

There is much debate on the topic of what makes a novel classic. Some simply state that it needs to stand the test of time, "No matter whether the novel is universally liked" (Johnson, 2), whereas others are much more strict. However, I have chosen my own criteria for what I believe gives a novel the right to be compared to the works of the greatest novelists of all time: the piece must be relatable and relevant to various generations, it must contain some form of warning or message from which a lesson is learned, and it must have some aspect of historical significance or cultural impact. Through it's superior calibre of writing the novel will prove itself to outlast it's competition and to be well respected amongst literary circles. Based on the above criteria, I wholeheartedly believe that George Orwell's 1984 is a classic novel.

In an interview for Business Software Review during the year of 1984, Orwell gave the following statement: "I'm saddened, in a way, that my book is still read, because that means it's still politically relevant." (Orwell, Palmer.)"Although as ironic as it seems, it is true. 1984 is just as relevant in today's society as it was when it was originally published in 1949, directly after the end of World-War II. Orwell brought to life a dark vision of how our society's future could possibly have ended up in the coming years. How is it that such a dismal prediction of the "future" can still remain relevant today, years after the estimated time-frame? As a very involved political observer himself, Orwell had sought to utilise the basic horrors that he saw a totalitarian society would create if allowed to come to fruition. Through 1984, Orwell is commenting on social status, greed, power-lust and just how easily we as human beings can be controlled. Through brainwash, propaganda and corporal punishment "The Party" is able to abuse the people's fears against themselves in a way to create an in-balance of power between themselves and the government. So long as people are still afraid of being oppressed by their leaders, those horrors will never slight. By bringing these fears to the surface, Orwell exposes a whole arsenal of human insecurities and doubts that people of any generation would register within themselves and their lives. Through this, Orwell is able to make the novel relatable and completely relevant to nearly any audience, no matter the time period.

In the same way that within the novel "The Party" uses fears against their inmates, Orwell uses the fear of totalitarianism to issue a social warning in a way that is easily understood and felt by nearly anyone who might happen to read the novel. In short, Orwell is warning people to take note of the amount they are being subjugated by their "leaders"; to be aware of their rights as a human being and to be sure to utilise them to their fullest extent. "As interpreted by writer Paul Rance, "Big Brother is not someone to be worshipped. Hitler and Stalin gained power because people were slow to spot the danger, and there's Orwell's warning." (Rance, 5), you can see that there is a very real danger involved in totalitarianism; real danger which requires as real a warning to heed it's arrival. By shedding light onto the subject of giving complete governmental control over a group of people to a single mind-set, Orwell foretells the relatively quick downfall of a healthy society. From censorship to sexual repression, "The Party" controls literally every aspect of daily life and after reading 1984 it forces readers to re-evaluate their own lives and positions in society.

1984 has had an immense cultural impact on our world in many ways. Due to the emphasis Orwell put on the way language can be used to manipulate people, he created concepts within his novel, concepts which are now widely recognized and understood throughout the world; concepts such as Big Brother, memory holes, and doublethink have wormed their way into being considered as common phrases of the english language. In literature, media and virtually every instance possible, these terms wrought from Orwell's mind have taken on a much larger scale than originally intended. Greek politician Evangelos Venizelos recently stated "Our weakness is our strength"... a prime example of doublethink. As well as creating new terms, Orwell unintentionally created the suffix of "-speak" and the adjective birthed of his name; Orwellian. For a novel that based many of it's themes on the power of language, what greater form of twisted flattery is there than to adopt it's concepts into daily life? How could a novel that is not "a classic" have such a big impact on the world?

There is no doubt in my mind that George Orwell's 1984 is a classic novel. It has proved itself for over half a century now to not only be relevant and entertaining as well as thought provoking, but at the same time still easily understood. Combined with Orwell's excellent style of writing and characters, 1984 is unquestionably a titan amongst classic novels.