A Contrastive Study on the Ideologies in Utopia and Nineteen Eighty-Four

A Contrastive Study on the Ideologies in Utopia and Nineteen Eighty-Four

By Shi Hehui

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B.A. degree

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May, 2016

Acknowledgements

The achievements of this paper end my four years of study as an undergraduate student in Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology. I have learned a lot during the experience of the four years. Hereby, I would like to appreciate all the people who have encouraged me.

First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Zhang Jun, my tutor, for the patient and meticulous instruction, and also to my teachers and professors at the Department of English for their serious and responsible teachings which inspires me to try my best in the past.

Secondly, I have eternal gratitude to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years, especially when I was in trouble before.

Last but not least, my thanks would go to my friends,especially to my roommates, for their kindness and encouragement. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my classmates, who always stand with me.

CONTENTS

Abstract  1

摘要 2

Chapter One. Introduction 3

1.1 About the Novel and the Author 3

1.2 About Ideology 4

Chapter Two. Ideologies in Utopia and Nineteen Eighty-Four 5

2.1 Social Life 5

2.1.1 Love and marriage 5

2.1.2 Entertainment 6

2.1.3 Health and Sanitation 7

2.2 Political system 8

2.3 Academic Research 9

Chapter Three. Enlightenment 11

Chapter Four. Conclusion 12

References 13

A Contrastive Study on the Ideologies inUtopia and Nineteen Eighty-Four

Shi Hehui

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology, Nanjing 210044

Abstract: Tomas More, the writer and politician during the European Renaissance, is considered as the founder of Utopia thoughts in modern Wester. Utopia, More’s great work, not only reveals profoundly the various contradictions of private ownership but also leads trend of thought of utopian socialism. And it is one of the most influential books in the western philosophical and literary. George Orwell, the great political prophet, is famous for Nineteen Eighty-Four. As one of the dystopian trilogies, it reveals the hypocrisy and repression under domination of totalitarianism by satirizing its governance and utopian world. General words like “ Orwellian” and “ Orwellism” derived from Orwell’s surname and from which we can see that he and his work has had a profound impact on the world. Thus, it is worthwhile to make a comparison between the two novels in terms of social life, legal thought, love and marriage and so on. This paper focuses on analysis of the ideologies in Utopia and Nineteen Eighty-Four to deeply apprehend the literary essence of the two works.

The paper is made up of four chapters: Chapter One is the introduction, which presents the background about the two books and their authors’ experiences and introduce ideology briefly. Chapter Two compares the ideologies between Utopia and Nineteen Eighty-Four from 4 aspects: social life, politics, war and academic research. Chapter Three is the enlightenment in comparative study. Chapter Four is a conclusion, in which a brief summary will be made.

Key Words: Utopia; Nineteen Eighty-Four; ideology; contrast

摘要:托马斯•莫尔是欧洲文艺复兴时期的文学家和政治家，西方近代乌托邦思想的奠基者。其代表作《乌托邦》深刻揭露了私有制的各种矛盾，引领了空想社会主义思潮,是西方哲学和文学界最有影响力的书籍之一。伟大的政治预言家乔治•奥威尔的传世之作《一九八四》作为“反乌托邦三部曲”之一，通过对极权统治、对乌托邦理想社会的讽刺，深刻刻画了极权主义社会下的虚伪与压抑。“奥威尔式”、“奥威尔主义”这样的通用词由其姓氏演变而成，由此可见，奥威尔及其作品在世界影响深远。这两本小说在社会生活、法律制度思想、婚姻爱情等方面的意识形态有很大的对比研究价值。本文将着重分析《乌托邦》与《一九八四》中的意识形态，以便挖掘其背后深刻的文学内涵。

本文由四个章节组成：第一章描述了两本小说的背景及其作者的经历，并简要介绍了意识形态的定义；第二章分别从社会生活、政治、战争和学术研究四个方面比较分析两部小说的意识形态；第三章则对在比较分析中得到启发进行概述；第四章为总结，对文章总体进行简要的概括。

关键词：《乌托邦》；《一九八四》；意识形态；对比

Chapter One. Introduction

1.1 About the Novel and the Author

Utopia was written in Latin in 1516, when England was controlled by the Tudors and people had a hard life under the exploitation by the governor, bureaucrats, great nobles and business executives. In that area, More was born in a less illustrious but fairly rich family, in which he was expected to master Latin and became a talent in upper classes of society. More lived up to his family’s expectation and at the same time associated with helpful friends, such as Cardinal Canterbury, Erasmus, Linacre and so on who were knowledgeable and had effect on him. More gradually became a firm humanist in the communication with these scholars. Meanwhile, The Republic by Plato was read and praised highly by More, which exercised influences on the creation of Utopia. The word “utopia” derived from two Greek roots, “ou” and “topos”. “The former means ‘none’; the latter signifies ‘place’. So the combination of them expresses nonexistent places, which is a newly discovered island somewhere in the New World according to his description in the book.”( More, 2007: 9) Since then, “ ‘Utopia’ has been used to express a perfect society.”(Tsivinsky, 2014: 59) The book is divided into two parts, the first part reveals the shortcomings of British society at that time; while the second part is about the graphic description of the new island which reflects More’s longing for the beautiful country system. His famous "sheep eat people" argument revealed the contradiction profoundly.

“Nineteen Eighty-Four is like a prediction of anti-totalitarian.”(You, 2015: 3) As a political prophet, George Orwell came from middle class and lived a poor life. Although he was admitted to the famous Eton College for the excellent grades, he felt apart from the life of noble family and was even discriminated by the principles. In his words, “I endured a meager life and feelings of failure, which filled him the more with the inherent hate towards authority.”(Orwell, 2003: 6)Class division was impassable and existed in everywhere in Britain at that time. Orwell detested this division and tried his best to approach and experience the life of lower layer. However, his accent formed in the education of middle class and the background, which was on the edge of middle class, blocked him. Therefore, he did not find the identity until the participation of Spanish civil war. This experience strengthened his conviction about socialism. Orwell realized that fascism was varietal socialism, rather than advanced capitalism, which promoted the appearance of the masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the book, Winston Smith’s work in “ the ministry of truth” reflected that totalitarian manufactured and rewrote history. As a political horror fiction, it was finished in1948 and was changed from forty-eight to eighty-four to stress that the terrifying scene is around the corner.

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