George Orwell’s 1984: An Exploration into the Roles of Agency and Sensor

Abstract

This research work explores into the complex relationships among the participants of the political system, and explicates the simultaneous existence of hope in the seemingly dystopian fictional world crafted in George Orwell’s 1984. The narrative parallelly renders the pessimism and optimism, one explicitly whereas the next implicitly. The gloomy picture of totalitarian regime is directly painted as the misuse of technological advancement and state institutions become escalating. Using the modern inventions and technologies, rulers monitor the mobile movements of the people, heavily discouraging them to breach the scheduled daily rituals. The looming and pervasive modern panopticon limits the performative power of people. As a result, the opportunity of exercising their potential decisive power shrinks. Therefore, they have to adhere to the normativity set by the political rulers, shutting down the degrees of hope. Yet, the people still hold the individual power to go against the regime with resistance and, for that, the narrative rewards with the voice of ruled ones, a profound source of hope. To penetrate into such a parallel functioning of hope, the agency and sensor of the characters are taken into account. The research blends political theories, having insights from Critical Discourse Analysis in general and Paul Simpson’s idea in particular. This research, therefore, examines the role of sensor and agency played by participants, and comes to a conclusion that narrative rewards the both roles on the ruler and the ruled ones. Hence it concludes that even in totalitarian regime, there remains a sense of hope even amidst looming hopelessness.