Since Orwell himself is considered "one of the foremost commentators on literature and politics in the twentieth century", [3]the present dissertation will be based on many of Orwell's political essays to do an interpretation of Nineteen Eighty-Four, so as to reveal the profound theme of the novel, namely, totalitarianism.
It will be the argument of the present thesis that: Orwell was an idealist, a realist, and a skeptic at the same time. He has sometimes been labeled as anti-communist.But actually he was somewhat paradoxical, for he was on one hand radical but-on the other hand reserved and skeptic of revolution. He sometimes thought revolutions and social reforms were futile since they did not bring equality closer in the society. Thus Orwell was not specifically an anti-communist; he simple was against all the regimes that suppress humanity. Being an idealist and skeptic at the same time, it was all too natural for him to act like that. He never accepted ideas and theories without questioning and scrutinizing. Communism definitely was once ideal if it had not turned out to be the tools of the ruling class in some countries in his time. He criticized many left-wing intelligentsias for he saw through that to carry out such a theory as Communism would mean much more encumbrances in reality than in published writings. A society under the administration of socialist or communist party till faces the old problem: there will always be ruling class and ruled class. The oligarchy of society is almost impossible to be wiped out, no matter who the ruler is.[4]
1. The Background of Totalitarianism
Orwell went through a radical leftist to a rather conservative and neutral humanist during his life time. The embodiment of totalitarianism is closely connected with the events he went though and the socity he grew up in. It will be necessary to study the writer’s life experience and the social condition of the first half of the twentieth century to better understand totalitarianism in the novel.
1.1 Orwell's Life Experience
The life of George Orwell is packed with a wide variety of activities and experiences, which are consciously reflected in Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell (1903一1950) was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair adopted with the publication of his first book Down and Out in Paris and London in 1933. Orwell was born on June 25"', 1903 at Motihari, Bengal, India, as the second child of Richard Walmesley Blair and Ida Mabel Limonzin. His father was a civil servant in the opium department and his mother was the daughter of a tea-merchant in Burma. In 1904 Orwell moved with his mother and sister to England, where he attended Eton. Orwell's first writings published in college periodicals. During these years Orwell developed his antipathy towards the English class systems. Also Orwell's years at St Cyprian's Preparatory School in Easbourne were not happy.
At the age of seventeen Orwell had his first experiences as an "amateur tramp" in Plymouth, where he was stranded accidentally without much money. Having failed to win a scholarship to university, in 1922 Orwell went to Burma to serve in the Indian Imperial Police (1922-27) as an assistant superintendent. Eventually Orwell's mounting dislike of imperial rule led to his resignation. In 1940 he wrote: "I gave it up partly because the climate had ruined my health, partly because I already had vague ideas of writing books, but mainly because I could not go on any longer serving an imperialism which had come to be regarded as a racket".[5]
In 1936, Orwell left London for Spain, to participate in the Spanish Civil War. He joined an independent, non-Stalinist, Marxist group. When Stalinists on their own side started to hunt down Anarchists, O
