1984: Colonialism and dystopia

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the dystopian narrative of George Orwell’s novel 1984 as a symbolic source for understanding colonial violence. The author was born in a British colony, served as an enforcer for the British Empire in a colony, and witnessed the mechanisms of such repression. One of the practices is the control of self-perception through mass media action. bell hooks (2019) argues that media contributes to alienation through violence and perpetuates the deeply rooted distorted notion that common sense holds on black communities. Colonialism distorted the perception of the “other” to dominate and keep them subjugated, a practice so forceful that it ruins the ability to think and articulate feelings. Through the Newspeak mechanism, we observe an analogy to colonial oppression, where concepts, familial memories, and forms of communication were lost. Thus, the qualitative methodology allowed us to combine the fictional notion of dystopia with decolonial studies and their socio-political and historical intricacies inscribed in the text nuances. The result of applying this method allowed us to develop an interpretation that encompasses the experiences of the book’s characters with the events affecting the indigenous peoples of the Americas, enslaved African populations, or the contemporary occupation of Palestine.