A Study On Nineteen Eighty-Four In Light Of The Theory Of Alienation Of Affection

With pungent satire and profound thought, George Orwell has developed his politicalallegory novels with a unique style. In view of his great contributions to literature and politics,he is known as “the cold conscience of a generation”. Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the mostoutstanding works. Once published in1950, it became the focus of a heated discussion amongall the sectors of society. Together with Brave New World (1932) by British writer Huxley andWe by Russian writer Zamyatin (1920), they are known as “Trilogy of Anti-utopian”. NineteenEighty-Four is at the peak of Orwell’s career and makes him world-renowned.Being a masterpiece of political fiction literature, Nineteen Eighty-Four has been studiedby many scholars as well as literary critics at home and abroad from different perspectives,such as political science, linguistics, existentialism, feminism, and so on. In this politicalallegory, the author consciously displays a vivid future totalitarian world. It is undoubtedlythat in the environment, lacking both humanity and freedom, any attempts to resist or pursuehumanity is doomed to fail. However, the previous studies only describe the various abnormalbehavior of the people in the totalitarian environment without sorting out these abnormalstates, underlying the causes of these anomalies, nor applying any possibility or way ofhumans’ self-salvation. As the most important theorist of “New Freudianism” of the school ofpsychoanalytic psychology and an important member of the Frankfurt School, Germanpsychiatrist Erich Fromm precisely provides a theoretical support for the unachieved studywith the theory of “alienation of affection” of humanistic psychoanalysis.This paper tries to study the alienation of humanity in Nineteen Eighty-Four with thetheory of alienation of affection. By probing the reasons of alienation of affection, the thesisalso tries to find a possible and proper way out for the alienation of affection. The article consists of five parts, Introduction, three main body chapters, and Conclusion.Introduction mainly introduces Orwell’s literary achievements and Nineteen Eighty-Fouras well as the studies and comments at home and abroad concerned, and then points out: thesignificance of the paper is to analyze various morbid behavior displayed by the members inthe authoritarian society of Oceania, reveal the root causes of the alienated phenomenon, andfocus on exploring ways to escape from such a tragedy from the perspective of the theory ofalienation of affection.Chapter One is the theoretical basis, in which a detailed elaboration of Fromm’s theory ofalienation of affection is presented. Fromm devotes his whole life to the combination ofMarxist social analysis and Freudian psychological analysis, and creates his own theory of“Humanistic Psychoanalysis”. It is on this foundation that his theory of alienation of affectionis developed. This theory indicates that humanity is inseparable from the state of society. Anunhealthy society causes people to be incapable of carrying out “love and creative work”,losing the ability to establish a positive contact with the world, resulting in a personalpsychological mechanism of “escaping from freedom”, and in the end, giving rise to thealienation of affection. Alienation of affection is also the source of every kind of evil, such asviolence and war.Chapter Two analyzes the embodiment of alienation of affection in Nineteen Eighty-Four.Fromm argues that alienation of affection takes on three forms.“Love of Death” is an emotionfor death and destruction,“Malignant Narcissism” means an excessive self-enhancement ofignoring the objective, while “Incestuous Symbiosis” represents an extreme form of OedipusComplex with a desire for losing self completely. Section One enumerates on how the “Loveof Death” is displayed in the actions of the members of every stratum of the society; SectionTwo portrays the frantic state of “Malignant Narcissism” of the Party in Oceania; SectionThree reveals a relationship of “Incestuous Symbiosis” existing between the Party and the rebels. The combination of the three will produce “Syndrome of Decay”, which is the root ofall the evils in OceaniaChapter Three investigates the causes of alienation of affection in Nineteen Eighty-Four.Fromm believes that if emotion lies in the extrusion of “Dichotomy of Survival” on one hand,and limited by “social filter” on the other hand, man can hardly become his own, andalienation is the inevitable outcome. In Oceania, with an extreme repression, the Party usesthree means of filtering,“Newspeak”,“Doublethink”, and “Thoughtcrime”, according to theirtotalitarian will. These act as a social filter to restrict the social consciousness. Therefore,people are not able to possess a normal sense and will surely lose the capacity of escapingfrom alienation of affection.Based on the above analysis and discussion, the thesis draws a conclusion. Human’ssurvival and development are not isolated, but rather closely related to their socialenvironment. The cultural, economic, political and other developments of the whole societyhave a decisive impact on shaping individuals’ affection. A healthy society can provide aprerequisite for people to pursue “love and creative work”, creating possibilities forindividuals to escape from loneliness and alienation of affection; this is the crucial factor ininhibiting the criminal activities in reality and avoiding the tragedy of humanity. Last but notthe least, in fact, the analysis of the people’s behavior and mental state in a morbid society ofNineteen Eighty-Four and the exploration of its inherent development and pursuit also havesome practical significance to the present society.