The Intellectuals of 1984 - James Nam

James Nam

Masters Literature Lv.2

Im John

The Intellectuals of 1984

Since humanity has bonded into families and towns and countries, changes have

always been made. Those changes, the revolutions, like the farming revolution or the industrial revolution, change humanity in big ways. Some revolutions were made on the systems or the ideologies of the country. By these revolutions, countries gain ideologies like democracy and communism. In the book 1984, George Orwell strongly opposes totalitarian governments and shows how totalitarian governments monopolize power in the country. Apart from the warning that George Orwell throws to the crowd, he gives a warning to the intellectuals of a country through Syme and Ampleforth. Syme and Ampleforth represent the intellectuals of a totalitarian or a communist government, and they die after being used in a government program, which means that George Orwell is trying to say to the intellectuals and the citizens not to be a threat to the government, because of their intelligence.

George Orwell shows how Syme thinks about “Newspeak” the new language being used in replace of the old language. In the book, Syme is shown to the readers when he meets Winston Smith, the protagonist, at the restaurant. He sits with Winston and talks about Newspeak. He says to Winston:

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  ‘good’ for instance. … 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?(Orwell, 51).  

Syme participates in the creation of Newspeak. The government, or Big Brother,

tries to use Newspeak in order to limit the range of usable words. Syme strongly agrees with the policies of the Government. Ironically, the government does not welcome him because of his knowledge. This makes him look like the intellectuals who had been under, or had agreed to communist governments which were seen by the government as a threat. They were sent to camps that was for ‘re-education’. In these camps, they were forced to labor or confess crimes that they had not committed and most of the victims were killed. At China, during the cultural revolution, communist intellectuals were sent to a labor camp or were killed and universities and high schools were closed down because they were seen as a threat to the government. The Wikipedia states:

In the violent struggles that ensued across the country, millions of people were persecuted and suffered a wide range of abuses including public humiliation,  arbitrary imprisonment, torture, hard labor, sustained harassment, seizure of property and sometimes execution (“Cultural Revolution”, Wikipedia).

Syme especially is similar to the Chinese writer Lao She. Lao She wrote stories and encouraged fellow writers to write patriotic literature that agreed to the government and opposed to Japan. However, he was killed during the cultural revolution by the red guards after being noticed as an enemy, an intellectual. 

George Orwell introduces a different intellectual character, slightly similar but different to Syme. Ampleforth is a poet who replaces old poetries with new ones under the need of the party. Different from Syme, he opposes the government and praises literature. He meets with Winston in prison and says, “I have been able to recall one instance-a possible instance. It was an indiscretion, undoubtedly. We were producing a definitive edition of the poems of Kipling. I allowed the word ‘God’ to remain at the end of a line. I could not help it!”(Orwell, 230,231). As seen in the text, even though Ampleforth works for Big Brother and the party, he believes that poetry, literature is more important than the policies that the Big Brother decided. The job and the words show that he is an intellectual, but different from Syme. He opposes the policies and in the end, he is captured by the thought police, ending up in room 101.

After being seen as a danger for some time, Big Brother decides to kill Syme and Ampleforth. It is stated in the book, “Syme had vanished. A morning came, and he was missing from work; a few thoughtless people commented on his absence. On the next day nobody mentioned him. On the third day Winston went into the vestibule of the Records Department to look at the notice board. One of the notices carried a printed list of the members of the chess committee of whom Syme had been one. It looked almost exactly as it had looked before-nothing had been crossed out-but it was one name shorter. It was enough. Syme had ceased to exist; he had never existed” (Orwell, 147). Ampleforth talks to Winston when he becomes a prisoner. When rewriting a poem, he uses words that oppose the policies that the government forces. The two characters are both dead.  Syme is killed because he is too smart, he knows the intentions of Newspeak, he has been putting together the language. He is someone who can remember the past and complain to the crowd, to the country about the actions the government takes. Seeing these aspects of Syme, the government, even though he does not oppose the government decides to kill him. Ampleforth is a poet who is able to use words as he wishes to. He also is opposing to the policies the government practices protecting linguistics and the culture. As writings can be used to talk to the public, he and his work is seen as a danger, as a threat to the government. Series of events like this has happened throughout the history when the government tries to take more power for themselves. In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge made a massive genocide called the killing fields. During this time, people who agreed to the past government were killed and anyone who was able to resemble the past were taken away to camps. Anyone who received more than a high school level of education and their families were killed. This is alike the world of 1984 which the intellectuals are sent to prisons. The life of the intellectuals were always perilous. 

George Orwell gives a message to the intellectuals of a society to not be a threat to the government but to keep their knowledge. The message is given by the two characters, Syme and Ampleforth who represents an intellectual with opposing manners to the policies who ended up dying. 1984, as an whole gives out a strong argue with the totalitarian governments but also contains messages which he sends to the readers that one has to catch during the book in order to make the society a better place. 

Works Cited

• Orwell, George. 1984 Signet Classics, 1949.
• “Cultural Revolution.” Wikipedia. last modified Oct 30, 2018, accessed Nov 3, 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution.

• “Lao She.” Wikipedia. last modified Oct 31, 2018, accessed Nov 3, 2018,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_She.
• “Khmer Rouge Killing Fields.” Wikipedia. last modified Oct 25, 2018, accessed Nov 3, 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_Killing_Fields.
• “Cambodian Genocide.” Wikipedia. last modified Oct 26, 2018, accessed Nov 3, 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide.