Food for thought

1. Divide the text into parts, speak on the subject matter of each and its idea.

2. Speak on the importance of Dr Magiot’s setting, various allusions to literature used in the text. What are the implications?

3. What is the stylistic function of Marx’ Capital mentioned in the passage? What does it reveal about Dr Magiot?

4. Why does the narrator call the telephone “incosiderable for the profession”?

5. What features of Dr Magiot’s appearance are given emphasis in the passage? Why?

6. Comment on the paradox stated by Dr Magiot.

Topics for discussion

1. Give Dr Magiot’s portrayal.

2. Why was Brown so sure of his hotel’s future?

3. Reveal the omniscient position of the narrator. Speak on the role of the flashback in the passage.

GEORGE ORWELL (1903 – 1950)

The British author George Orwell, pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, b. Motihari, India, June 25, 1903, d. London, Jan. 21, 1950, achieved prominence in the late 1940s as the author of two brilliant satires attacking totalitarianism. Familiarity with the novels, documentaries, essays, and criticism he wrote during the 1930s and later has since established him as one of the most important and influential voices of the century.

Orwell's parents were members of the Indian Civil Service, and, after an education at Eton College in England, Orwell joined (1922) the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. Orwell's two best-known books reflect his lifelong distrust of autocratic government, whether of the left or right: Animal Farm (1945), a modern beast-fable attacking Stalinism, and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a dystopian novel setting forth his fears of an intrusively bureaucratized state of the future. For a significant portion of his life, he served as a British policeman of sorts (like his father and grandfather) with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. After 6 years, however, he became discouraged and decided to return to England and take up writing for a living. Having spent a significant portion of his life watching and even participating in the oppressive influence of the declining British Empire, he began to develop a unique world-view which would later serve him well as a writer and political essayist and critic. Here he criticized virtually all forms of government.

NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR.

Part I

Chapter V.

‘We’re destroying words-scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We're cutting the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won't contain a single word that will become obsolete before the year 2050.'

He bit hungrily into his bread and swallowed a couple of mouthfuls, then continued speaking, with a sort of pedant's passion. His thin dark face had become animated, his eyes had lost their mocking expression and grown almost dreamy.

'It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well. It isn't only the synonyms; there are also the antonyms. After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take "good", for instance. If you have a word like "good”, what need is there for a word like “bad”? “Ungood” will do just as well — better, because it's an exact opposite, which the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of “good”, what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like “excellent” and “splendid” and all the rest of them? “Plusgood” covers the meaning; or “doubleplusgood” if you want something stronger still. Of course we use those forms already, but in the final version of Newspeak there'll be nothing else. In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words-in reality, only one word. Don't you see the beauty of that, Winston? It was B.B.'s idea originally, of course,” he added as an afterthought.

A sort of vapid eagerness flitted across Winston's face at the mention of Big Brother. Nevertheless Syme immediately detected a certain lack of enthusiasm.

“You haven't a real appreciation of Newspeak, Winston,' he said almost sadly. 'Even when you write it you're still thinking in Oldspeak. I've read some of those pieces that you write in the Times occasionally. They're good enough, but they're translations, in your heart you'd prefer to stick to Oldspeak, with all its vagueness and its useless shades of meaning. You don't grasp the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?”

Winston did know that, of course. He smiled, sympathetically he hoped, not trusting himself to speak. Syme bit off another fragment of the dark-coloured bread, chewed it briefly, and went on:

“Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we're not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there's no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime. It's merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there won't be any need even for that. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak,” he added with a sort of mystical satisfaction. “Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?”

“Except———“ began Winston doubtfully, and then stopped.

It had been on the tip of his tongue to say “Except the proles,” but he checked himself, not feeling fully certain that this remark was not in some way unorthodox. Syme, however, had divined what he was about to say.

'The proles are not human beings,' he said carelessly. 'By 2050 - earlier, probably - all real knowledge of Old-speak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron - they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually changed into something contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like "freedom is slavery" when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.'

One of these days, thought Winston with sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vaporized. He is too intelligent. He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly. The Party does not like such people. One day he will disappear. It is written in his face.

Food for thought

1. Comment on the strong positions of the text.

2. Dvide the text into parts, sum up the subject matter and the idea of which.

3. Comment on the usage of occasionalisms (author’s neologisms) and their function. Make afull list of such words used in the pasage.

4. Speak on the new meanings acquired by regular English words in the context of the novel. What is the stylistic function of this method?

5. Define the role of literary allusions in the text.

6. Speak on the linguistic processes described in the passage.

7. The role of Big Brother in the pasage.

8. Comment on the author’s individual style and philosophy as seen in the passage under study.

Topics for discussion

1. The changes in the Newspeak and their influence upon mental climate of the nation. Recall linguistic theories that support this idea. What are the relations between the language and the nation’s picture of the world?

2. The combination of reality and fantasy in the novel.

3. Totalitarian regime described in the novel.

JOHN RONALD REUEL TOLKIEN (1892 – 1973)

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work of imaginative fiction, The Lord of the Rings. By turns comic, homely, epic, monstrous and diabolic, the narrative moves through countless changes of scenes and character in an imaginary world which is totally convincing in its detail. Tolkien created in The Lord of the Rings a new mythology in an invented world which has proved timeless in its appeal.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING.

Chapter 3.

Three is a Company.

“You do not ask me or tell me much that concerns yourself, Frodo,” said Gildor. “But I already know a little, and I can read more in your face and in the thought behind your questions. You are leaving the Shire, and yet you doubt that you will find what you seek, or accomplish what you intend, or that you will ever return. Is not that so?”

“It is,” said Frodo: “but I thought my going was a secret known only to Gandalf and my faithful Sam.”

He looked down at Sam, who was snoring gently.

“The secret will not reach the Enemy from us.” said Gildor.

“The Enemy?” said Frodo. “Then you know why I am leaving the Shire?”

“I do not know for what reason the Enemy is pursuing you,” answered Gildor: “but I perceive that he is — strange indeed though that seems to me. And I warn you that peril is now both before you and behind you, and upon either side.”

“You mean the Riders. I feared that they were servants of the Enemy. What are the Black Riders?”

“Has Gandalf told you nothing?”

“Nothing about such creatures.”

“Then I think it is not for me to say more — lest terror should keep you from your journey. For it seems to me that you have set out only just in time. if indeed you are in time. You must now make haste, and neither stay nor turn back; for the Shire is no longer any protection to you.”

“I cannot imagine what information could he more terrifying than your hints and warnings,' exclaimed Frodo. “I knew that danger lay ahead, of course: but I did not expect to meet it in our own Shire. Can't a hobbit walk from the Water to the River in peace?”

But it is not your own Shire,' said Gildor. “Others dwelt here before hobbits were: and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in. but you cannot for ever fence it out.”

“I know — and yet it has always seemed so safe and familiar. What can I do now? My plan was to leave the Shire secretly, and make my way to Rivendell: but now my footsteps are dogged, before ever I get to Buckland.”

“I think you should still follow that plan,” said Gildor. “I do not think the Road will prove too hard for your courage. But if you desire clearer counsel, you should ask Gandalf. I do not know the reason for your flight, and therefore I do not know by what means your pursuers will assail you. These things Gandalf must know. I suppose that you will see him before you leave die Shire?”

“I hope so. But that is another tiling that makes me anxious. I have been expecting Gandalf formally days. He was to have come to Hobbiton at the latest two nights ago: but he has never appeared. Now I am wondering what can have happened. Should — I wait for him?”

Gildor was silent for a moment. “I do not like this news,” he said at last. “That Gandalf should be late does not bode well. But it is said: Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. The choice is yours: to go or wait.”

“And it is also said.” answered Frodo: “Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.”

“Is it indeed?” laughed Gildor. “Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill. But what would you? You have not told me all concerning yourself: and how then shall 1 choose better than you'? But if you demand advice, I will for friendship's sake give it. I think you should now go at once, without delay; and if Gandalf does not come before you set out, then I also advise this: do not go alone. Take such friends as are trusty and willing. Now you should be grateful, for I do not give this counsel gladly. The Elves have their own labours and their own sorrows, and they are little concerned with the ways of hobbits, or any other creatures upon earth.”

Notes

Gildor is the leader of an elf group met by Frodo and his company after thier first encounter with the Black Riders.

Food for thought

1. Speak on the subject matter of the text. Is it revealed in the narration, the dialogue?

2. Define the elements of imagined world in the passage. Are they used abundantly or sparsely? Why?

3. What elements of the text contribute to the verisimilitude of the text?

4. Comment on the proverbs quoted in the passage.

5. Analyse the elf’s speech. What general conclusions about elves as a nation can the reader make from this passage? Compare Frodo’s speech to that of Gildor.

6. Account for direct speech tags. How is the emotional tension revealed in the text?

Topics for discussion

1. The image of Middlearth in the text.

2. The portrayal of different races inhabiting the Middlearth.

3. The combination of imagery and reality in the novel.

4. The reasons of Tolkien’s popularity.