George Orwell's Influences for 1984

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George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was essentially influenced by the events occurring throughout his life. Orwell lived through one of the most destructive and violent periods of world history, which heavily influenced Nineteen Eighty-Four. The events that occurred throughout his life consisted of WW1, Russian Revolution’s, the Great Depression, WW2, and Communist China. Each of these events helped to influence his morals, beliefs and his hatred for authority. The violent events occurring throughout his life were his primary influence for Nineteen Eighty-Four, however continual illness and the death of his wife helped to form his morals and beliefs, which essentially influenced his greatest novels. The setting of Nineteen Eighty-Four is essentially influenced by Orwell’s sickness and the current state of war around the world. The novel is set in a particularly gloomy era, where Winston feels like everything is not quite right. "Orwell himself told his friends that 1984 would have been less gloomy had he not been so ill—it was a very dark, disturbing, and pessimistic work”. This gloomy atmosphere is influenced by Orwell’s current state of depression, as he has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and he is still recovering from his wife’s death. The melancholy setting of the novel commences from the first page of the novel where it was a “…cold day in April, …vile wind…a swirl of gritty dust… The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats.” The super-country of Oceania is constantly at war, and bomb explosions are abundant. The living conditions for the outer party are very poor, most buildings are rundown, the food is almost artificial and rationed out. The disgruntled setting of the novel is predominantly influenced by Orwell’s sickness and the current state of global disarray. The characters of Nineteen Eighty-Four enable the reader to observe the harsh

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