Identity Of Winston Smith-an Interpretation Of Nineteen Eighty-Four From Post-Colonial Perspective

Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, journalist, essayist and he was an important criticism theorists and post-colonial critical theory representative of 20th century. During George Orwell's short life, his keen insight and sharp writing recorded his examination of that era, made many predictions ahead of its time. His work is marked by a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense, revolutionary opposition to totalitarianism, his passion for clarity in language and a belief in democratic socialism, known as the "solemn conscience of a generation."Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of George Orwell's masterpieces. Orwell depicts the imaginary power of the totalitarian society with a matter of feel suffocated and terror and chasing the authority as the ultimate goal, this society through the lives of ordinary people in a detailed characterization reveals any form of totalitarianism will lead to a tragedy of the people or even the whole country. Since its publication, it has attracted wide attention abroad because of its astonishing description of the future. Up to now, many critics have heatedly discussed it from the perspective of dystopian theme and analyzed it from the political dimension.The present thesis is a tentative attempt at a post-colonial study of Nineteen Eighty-Four with the focus on identity issue that few scholars have examined before. The dissertation gives the introduction of post-colonial and "Other" from Edward Said and "Third Space" of Homi Bhabha, and then sets up the theoretical framework in which some post-colonial notions will be adopted in the analysis of the novel-the identity of Winston Smith, meanwhile the writing purpose is pointed out. The notion of "Other" is applied in the analysis of the novel from the behavior, language and ideology perspectives. The character Winston Smith in the novel was marginized and regarded as "Other" leading to the issue of identity lost and addresses how the "Other" allies with each other to reconstruct the lost identity. The above analysis contributes to the conclusion of this study, through the reconstruction, the identity is found that it neither belongs to "the person of Oceania" nor "Free thinking", but "Third Space".The study of this issue may offer a new perspective to the study of Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell.