A Study Of The Themes Of George Orwell's Works

As a classic writer and legendary figure of the 20th century's British literature, George Orwell along with his works, 50 years after his death, has been widely read and studied. It is partly due to the unique and legendary life experiences of the writer, which constantly give the readers and researchers pleasant surprises, and partly due to the themes which have far-reaching contemporary social significance. In general, a main line runs through Orwell's literary works, that is, the humanitarian thinking, whose important carrier is the emotions and feelings of the public intellectuals. Driven by the public, critical nature and social responsibility of the public intellectuals, Orwell, in the form of literature, embodies his humanitarian thinking by the following themes: poverty, colonial discourse, totalitarianism, dictatorship of public opinion, and ecological awareness.Poverty, which has been one of the greatest concerns throughout his entire literary career, forms an important literary theme. From a logical perspective, Orwell's concern for the poor generally has experienced the following processes: first-hand experience of living in poverty, the great concern about the hardships and sufferings of people at the bottom of the society, attention and understanding of working class life, criticism of the hypocrisy of bourgeois propaganda, then the concern about the theory of socialism ,and finally, the fight for the totalitarianism and fascism with the weapon of his own interpretation of socialism. From the writer's perspective, Orwell, driven by the strong conscience and responsibility of the public intellectuals, reveals a large number of poverty-stricken areas in the developed capitalist countries in order to draw attention to the problem of poverty. From the thinker's perspective, Orwell's concern for the problem of poverty originates from his search for a road to the achievement of equality, and the ideal road to equality is the democratic socialism. Therefore, in different works, Orwell shows different degrees of concerns for the problem of poverty, and emphasizes the importance of equality on this basis. From Orwell's works, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion that his own interpretation of poverty includes material poverty as well as spiritual poverty. Material poverty mainly refers to the lack of materials which are essential to maintain lives, while spiritual poverty mainly refers to the lack of dignity, psychological frustration, anxiety of life, the dislocation of cultural identity, etc. The equality, in Orwell's viewpoint, first should be the equality of property, and then should be transferred from the economic equality to the political and social equality, which indicates that everyone enjoys the right to political participation and mutual respect. In short, the problem of poverty, whether it is material or spiritual, arises from poverty on the basis of the inequality, or from the inequality produced as a result of poverty. Solutions to the problem should not remain merely at the level of moral teachings, but to expose and criticize the uneven distribution of wealth and the impact on the existence of people brought by the modernization of industry.Colonial discourse is an important theme in Orwell's early works. Logically speaking, the theme witnesses two stages broadly: first, the transfer from the acceptance of the colonial discourse to the suspicion of it; secondly, the transfer from the suspicion to the criticism. The important dividing line of the two stages is his life experience as an Imperial police in Burma and knowledge at Marrakesh. In dealing with the issue of colonization, Orwell is in a dilemma. As a member of public intellectuals, he first questions the colonial discourse, and then fights against the colonial rule; As a citizen strongly influenced by the traditional culture of Britain, he can not completely break with the colonial rule. He, in his inner world, still maintains a deep affection for the colonial rule, especially the central social status of the white. The dilemma can be found in his love and hate of the colonial governance as well. On the one hand, influenced by the colonial ideas, he firmly believes that there is a great significance for the "white burden" to save the backward colonies. On the other, he detests the crimes committed by the colonists, and feels guilty for being a member of them. The psychological dilemma leads to his turn from the acceptance to the suspicion, and finally the blame of the colonial discourse. When Orwell walks out difficultly from his cultural background and examines the colonial governance from the perspective of the whole human being, he completes the process from the suspicion to the criticism of the colonial discourse. In his series of works, Orwell concentrates his criticism of the colonial discourse from the following aspects. First, the economical aggression and plunder of the colonies results in its poverty and backwardness. Second, the colonial rule causes the loss of dignity and the resistant spirit of the colonized people to suppression. Third, colonialism brings about a greater disaster and destruction to the native cultures along with the so-called civilization. Fourth, he feels painful about the survival status of the colonized people. Orwell calls for attention to the colonized people's right to exist. He argues that they should enjoy the right of the dignity; those in power should be responsible for the protection of their dignity.Totalitarianism, another theme of Orwell's works, is one of the major reasons that his late literary creation causes a sensation. Orwell maintains his ideals of the democratic socialism, holds high the banner of anti-totalitarianism, and criticizes any systems which are against social justice and political democracy. In Orwell's vision, the most important characteristics of democratic socialism are social justice and political democracy. In accordance with this standard, any political system which lacks social justice and political democracy becomes his target of criticism. Totalitarianism would be inevitably the first to be the focus of his criticism. In his eyes, totalitarianism is not only the system of the former Soviet Union during Stalin's administration, but the system of Hitler's fascist dictatorship. During the Cold War, most western researchers label Orwell "anti-communist"; it is, as a matter of fact, a misinterpretation. Orwell's anti-totalitarianism originates from his cultural background. The impact of aristocratic cultural traditions emphasizes his sense of social responsibility and pursuit of spiritual independence; The impact of cultural traditions of liberalism leads to his pursuit of equality, personal freedom and respect for human value and dignity; The tradition of political parties taking turns in power has a great influence on Orwell , or becomes an object of reference in his literary creation as well; And finally, his rich resources of socialist thoughts provide a possibility for his ideal democratic socialism.The exposure and criticism on dictatorship of the mass media and cover-up of the truth is as well a theme on which Orwell works hard. One of the most important aims of Orwell's literary works is to tell people the truth. He insists on using his literary works as a weapon to break the "one society, one voice" media dictatorship. The exposure and criticism of the mass media is not only against the former Soviet Union during Stalin's totalitarianism, but against the hypocrisy of bourgeois news media represented by the United Kingdom. He examines all the mass media objectively and impartially with the standard of "freedom and equality", and regards the pursuit of democracy and freedom as his ultimate goal of the anti-dictatorship of mass media.Another theme which can not be ignored is the seeds of ecological awareness and the pursuit of spiritual home. The seeds of ecological awareness and the pursuit of spiritual home are the two faces of the same coin. People's eco-awareness is formed in the reality world, especially in the industrialized society. Its main trend of thinking is intended to emphasize the harmony between man and nature, the harmony between man and the environment. The pursuit of spiritual home is to get rid of the material world in order to seek the meaning of human existence, as well as the enrichment of the humanistic spirit. The theme reflects Orwell's deep concerns for modern civilization and traditional culture. Orwell is opposed to the extrusion of people's spiritual world by the modern civilization and industrialization, the erosion of human spirit by the technical rationality, as well as the loss of the value and dignity of human beings.In general, Orwell's literary works goes beyond the scope of pure literature and has a wide range of social meaning and humanistic values. As a thinker and writer, Orwell regards the political writing as a form of art, which conveys the sharp insights of the times and political appeals by distinct themes and unique artistic characteristics. As a humanitarian, Orwell embodies the "freedom, equality, fraternity" of the humanitarian spirits throughout his life. Humanitarianism, serving as a main thread of Orwell's works, links various creative themes closely together, and displays the typical features of their integrity and independence.The theme of humanism presented in Orwell's works still enlightens people to reflect upopn the verious crisis of the present society in fields such as politics and ecology. Poverty, colonial discourse, totalitarianism, dictatorship of public media and ecological crisis continues to be obvious social phenomena. Therefore, it tests the thoughts , morality and courage of present people as to how to uphold humanism and how to deal with the probleme and crisis we are facing today. As a public intellectual George Orwell firmly adehered himself to humanism and forght all his life for justice and democracy , and thus, he set a realistic example for the present people to follow.