Wednesday, July 14, 2010

What are some examples of juxtaposition in 1984?

Juxtaposition is
something that is used
extensively throughout this novel in order to highlight the difference

between the Party's version of events and their presentation of life and the reality
as
experienced by . This is often achieved through the naming of items. For
example, in Chapter 1,
Winstom Smith is shown to enter "Victory Mansions,"
although in reality this grand
name masks a building that smells of "boiled
cabbage and old rag mats." In the same
way, note how the experience of
swallowing some "VICTORY GIN" is described:



Instantly his face turned scarlet and the water ran out o fhis eyes.

The stuff was like nitric acid, and moreover, in swallowing it one had the sensation of
being
hit on the back of the head with a rubber club.


Again and
again in this novel, the way things
are named or how they initially appear is radically
different from how they
actually are. Just as the gin is named in a way that leads the reader to

suspect it will be much better than it is, so the naming of other places, like the
Ministry of
Love, for example, masks the true reality of what happens behind
its walls. Juxtaposition
therefore is used to identify the two very different
versions of reality: the Party's reality,
and the reality of Winston Smith.
It is the conflict between these two different versions of
reality that
occupies the entire novel.

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