Language

• Writing style: For the most part, Orwell uses sober adjectives in 1984, some with negative connotations, which paint a grey and bleak picture of the narrative. While the author's writing style is primarily unemotional and his choice of words more pragmatic than ornate, Orwell's façade of monotonous writing also crumbles in places. The writing style in which Orwell writes Winston Smith's diary, stand out from the otherwise rather cold and dispassionate language style. In contrast, the protagonist describes his inner turmoil very vividly and unmistakably, for instance, by expressing his disgust with the regime and "Big Brother" (p. 3, l. 22)
• Language of the protagonists: Based on the use of language, it is possible to infer the respective state of mind of the corresponding character. Winston, for example, uses very economic, terse and plain language, especially at the beginning of the plot, which does not reveal too much about his character. The reason for this reduced language is that the male protagonist is constantly on guard, feels observed and persecuted, and is not at all comfortable in his own body. However, when Winston begins the affair with Julia the length of his sentences grows simultaneously and he begins to express himself more selectively. That suggests that he feels more secure in Julia's presence and is, therefore, willing to open up more. Julia, in turn, uses vulgar words that Winston would not dare to say. She is not afraid to talk openly about her sexuality, and how much she desires Winston and how much she hates the "Ingsoc" (p. 4, l. 25 f.) Party
• The purpose behind "Newspeak" (p. 51, l. 16): In 1984, "Newspeak" (p. 51, l. 16) represents the language that is supposed to have prevailed over the existing "Oldspeak" (p. 317, l. 10) in the year 2050. The purpose of "Newspeak" (p. 51, l. 16) is to eliminate emotional and free-spirited words from the language's tone. In this way, the "Ingsoc" (p. 4, l. 25 f.) party achieves a subtle manipulation of the thought of its citizens. The latter manipulation works in favour of the totalitarian regime in shaping political opinion. According to the motto: What cannot be said cannot be thought

Setting

• Narrative perspective: As readers, the plot in 1984 is told to us from the point of view of a subjective or personal narrator. This narrator is closely coupled to the perspective of Winston Smith. As a result, we are hardly able to escape this narrative perspective. Inevitably, we experience the entire narrative from Winston's perspective and are subject to both his evaluations of the individual characters and his assessments of any situations. The fact that we are so ineffably connected to Winston's states of mind has the psychological consequence that we suffer alongside the protagonist throughout the narrative, sympathise with him, rejoice for him and experience everything with him. Through direct identification with the protagonist, we as readers are encouraged to feel empathy and compassion
• Storytelling: In the course of the analysis of the narrative style in the present novel, we will deal in particular with the experienced speech, the inner monologue and the stream of consciousness. While the majority of the narrative is written in experienced speech, the author only partially incorporates inner monologues into the text. The syntactic structure of an experienced speech often consists of main clauses strung together, giving the text a paratactic structure. The simple form of main clauses makes what is written much more comprehensible. It is not uncommon for the reader to get the impression of gaining an insight into the inner life of the person speaking. Orwell can build up tension in the text with rhetorical devices such as parallelisms and anaphors. A reinforcing effect also occurs with anaphors, for example, as the same sentence beginnings emphasise what is being said through repetition: "I shall save you, I shall make you perfect!" (p. 260, l. 30 f.). The experienced speech suggests that the protagonist's utterances are rendered from his perspective. The inner monologue, on the other hand, is a form of narration that reflects the immediate state of consciousness of a person. This narrative technique aims to reproduce the speaker's state of mind exactly. The stream of consciousness, however, is indicated as a kind of extension of the inner monologue. In the process, the narrative time often becomes longer than the narrated time.