George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is a thought-provoking book, which raises complex issues like freedom of thought and the influence of language on the human mind. ... This essay will argue that smells used in the novel have three main functions: to create a general atmosphere of tension, to visualise the Party’s consistent presence and, above all, to describe and provoke a feeling of resistance and forbidden pleasure.
The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is soaked with unpleasant smells: a “sourish, composite smell of bad gin and bad coffee and metallic stew and dirty clothes” (62) lingers consistently in the air. ... The accessible alcoholic beverages seem abominable; their smells are awful, and so is life. People are used to these every-day smells and to their ordinary lives; they seem to have resigned for good and display no revolt whatsoever. For Smith these smells evoke an aversion against his ordinary and seemingly pointless existence and against humankind which puts up with it so unresistingly. ...
Despite the prevalence of negative, or at the very least, unpleasant smells in the novel, there can be found a number of smells connected to pleasure, desire and excitement. ... The suggested smells representing the forbidden do not only relate to sexuality but also to everyday items such as coffee and wine. ... In addition to being a form of passive protest or disobedience, smells can also evoke memories. ... It is through these memories that he can discover the Party’s lies, the truth can be found within himself with the help of the “powerful” smells.
To link to this page, copy the following code to your site:
All Papers Are For Research And Reference Purposes Only!
You may not turn these papers in as your own! You must cite our web site as your source!
