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Symbolism in 1984

in Oceania. It is in Winstons apartment, on the streets, and even in the creases of Mrs. Parsons face. The dust, and the ruin it represents, symbolizes the level of the decay of the physical world prevalent in Oceania. It gives the impression that the quality of life in Oceania is constantly being made worse be the rules of the government. This reinforces the theme of the destruction of the human spirit. Orwell was trying to impose upon his readers just how dreary and hopeless Oceania really was. He wanted everyone to see how these people really were completely under the control of The Party, and how there really wasnt any hope for them left. The Party was using the decay of the physical to aid in the decay of the mental. They rightly assumed that it would be extremely difficult for anyone to maintain any sort of hope in such a dreary setting as Orwell paints in his novel, where a swirl of gritty dust (Orwell 1) and a woman with dust in the creases of her face (Orwell 22) are commonplace.Similarly, the symbol of the game of snakes and ladders could also be seen as a reinforcement of the destruction of the human spirit theme. The book describes Winston playing the game as follows: [He]....climbed hopefully up the ladders and then came slithering down the snakes again, almost back to the starting point (Orwell 309). The game symbolizes Winston himself, for it was just when he thought he had beaten the game (the Party), he landed on a snake and was sent crashing back to the beginning. It is a physical manifestation of the futility of disobeying or rebelling against the Party. However, not all Party demonstrations of power are negative. As an example of this we can look towards the songs they create especially for the proles, like this one: They sye that time eals all things,They sye you can always forget;But the smiles an the tears acrorss the yearsThey twist my eart-strings yet! [sic] (Orwell 148) These songs most often are love songs,...

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