I’m sharing a quote from the book 1984 by Gerorge Orwell. The first time I read it I must have been in my early teens. I have little memory of it perhaps because I would have had little or no understanding of it. Then I read it again some seven or eight years ago and was blown away. This is the third time I’m reading it and it strikes such chord.
The book talks of a dystopian society completely controlled by a central authority, that of Big Brother. People aren’t allowed to voice dissent. They’re not even allowed to think of dissent. If one does, it leads to ‘thoughtcrime’. A new language called Newspeak is created for the people. The dictionaries are constantly ‘upgraded’ to contain fewer and fewer words.
Here’s a quote from the book.
‘It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words…’
‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thoughts? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.’
1984, George Orwell
I’m not going to talk about the book in this post, but just about the quote that I picked, about the dangers of a shrinking vocabulary because No words = No thoughts.
When our children (or even we ourselves), use ‘awesome’ for everything they like, and ‘gross’ for everything they don’t, it is perhaps time to take note. Awesome might stand for anything from a intelligent satellite in space to a delicious bowl of pasta. How ridiculous is that!
We are turning into a generation that doesn’t think or feel as much, a mentally, emotionally impoverished generation. What’s worse is that we are doing it wilfully, voluntarily, lazily. We are rejecting the depth and richness of words and hence that of thoughts and feelings.
My takeaway from this particular passage is to explore and to use language in all its beauty and to help my children do the same.
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Beat About The Book 
I agree. Vocabulary is so limited now. There are so many beautiful words that are losing their meaning. My older son gifted it to me on my birthday a couple of years back and I only read a quarter of it. Have to get back to it soon. Animal Farm, another book by George Orwell is a favourite of mine.
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I hope you do read it Rachna, though it is hard to get through in parts. The philosophising gets a bit much. But even so it makes for a hard-hitting read.
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A shrinking vocabulary coupled with the use of emojis in communication( thru digital media) has indeed killed the beauty in communication. I havent read George Orwell( including Animal farm. Yes, kill me for this … But I sure need to.
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Animal farm is a good place to start – a simple easy read but amazing when placed in context.
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I love collecting quotes from the books I’m reading, I have a page on my blog dedicated just to that, and often when I go back and reread them, it’s as if encountering them for the first time because we see them in a different context, no longer within the framework of the book they came from, but in some other context, of life at the time we re-encounter it.
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That’s so true. Quotes can mean so much more when read as stand-alone pieces. That’s what I try to do here when I pick one for #BookBytes.
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Yup even I am guilty of using a few words for every emotion. This book was damn depressing for me. I think dystopian is just not a genre I am comfy with at all.
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We are all guilty of that and it is we who have transferred it to the next generation. It’s not just English either – I find I have a way richer Hindi vocabulary too.
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A good book. I read it when I was in my 20’s.
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That’s a good age for this book. It needs a certain amount of persistence and maturity to grasp its content.
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Definitely.
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I am the one who uses ‘awesome’ for most of the things. Yes, the usage of correct vocabulary and language is losing ground…
Have read Animal Farm, but not 1984 as yet. Will pick this ‘awesome’ book soon. 😛
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I do too Shilpa. When we think about it, it’s rather sad, isn’t it? Specially considering the fact that we’re readers and that we’re exposed to such a vast vocabulary.
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Firstly, wow. You read this book in your teens, and were able to get through it? That’s commendable. (I was veering towards awesome, but I resisted 😀 )
I remember picking this book up after a pregnancy triggered reading slump that lasted a few years, and put it away because I found it deeply disturbing. Maybe it wasn’t the best decision to pick this book as the first one after a slump of a few years, but either way I couldn’t get through it, and put it away for later. 5 years later, that later hasn’t yet come. But I really should be getting to it. Hopefully soon.
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Ha ha..Shantala – it wasn’t by choice. When we were young we didn’t have access to many books. Neither did we have anything at all to do during our unending summer vacations. So I picked up books lying around the house. And I read lots of them without understanding or appreciating them – Aldous Huxley, Pearl Buck, Hemingway and this one too. I’m not even sure it was good thing. Now that I go back to them I’m actually reading them properly.
Oh it’s definitely not a good one to start after a reading break. Even now I struggled through it in bits.
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I’ve read “1984” a few time. It’s not great fiction but it does convey a message about a world in which language is not loved, there is endless war, and people in charge tell nonstop lies. Um. Er. That is starting to sound less and less like fiction…
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Isn’t it? That’s what struck me – that someone could imagine a world that might become a reality some point in the future.
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I was about to say, “What an awesome thought!” Hahaha! That’s how ridiculously mechanical and repetitive we have become with our vocabulary. Thanks for bringing this to our notice through this post. This is definitely something that both adults and children should be conscious of in the days to come.
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It’s the same for all of us. Our reactions are so mechanical and we lazily reach out to the same words.
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I first read this book as a teen too. Then as a young mum in 1984 when things weren’t exactly as they were described in the book. It seems to be more relevant now and I should dig up my dad’s old copy from his book shelf. Thanks for the reminder of this classic which is scarily coming true with Big Brothers all over the world slowly waking up
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You must. Books like this one make better sense at an older age. As a teen I hardly grasped the complete implication of a state such as this one. Now we can see it happening in countries like North Korea and China and even around us to some extent. The book makes much more sense now.
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Isn’t it scary !
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Absolutely. It doesn’t seem to be pure fiction any longer.
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I am yet to read both books. This is the generation we are in already. When I talk with my little one, I feel I am limited for words. I re-use some and she gets confused. That’s when I understood I am at a loss for words even when there is so much more.
When there is no communication, we appreciate communication, does this give a liberal feeling? I can be without talking for a while, however my mind would have had 100 conversations by then, but to be deprived of thoughts feels terrible. I think I will take this book later. Good post Tulika.
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Thanks Jayanthi. Do make time to read it.
Writing is a great way to improve your vocabulary because you give it some thought.
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Totally agree. Our vocabulary is indeed shrinking. Not that mine has ever been that impressive! But it’s getting worse for the younger generation. Like you said, not enough reading happening!
Btw, I would love to participate in BookBytes. Would you be kind enough to tag me in your FB post for it? 😛 Please, please, please! 😀
Oh and check out my T post @ 10 Interesting Truths About Bloggers… I think you’ll enjoy it!
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Hey Chicky, glad to have you over. Shall Definitely tag you. The next one comes up this Tuesday. Dropping by your blog now. I love your pieces.
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If anything I can say about the quote and your thoughts in the post is ‘thought-provoking.’ Shrinking vocabulary is a reality. Words like beautiful, awesome and gross are thrown around casually for the respective things they represent. Reading more and more should be the answer to this, isn’t it?
I missed out on joining last time, hence I wrote my Book Bytes post yesterday and linked to yours. https://thebespectacledmother.com/2019/04/30/a-dream-vs-a-quest-quotes-bookbytes-3/
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Yes, reading is indeed a solution. And also encouraging children to use more words. Sometimes we’re just too lazy to think of the appropriate word.
I’m glad you did link up.
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I strongly agree with your takeaway.
But I still do not agree with the author {keeping the story aside, as I haven’t read it}. It’s a totally hypothetical situation. Suppose, if dictionaries shrink/cease to exist, can it stop us from thinking? Can it stop our next generation from being curious? Can it stop us from passing our knowledge/words to them? And people who are illiterate or not very good with words don’t ‘think’?
Don’t know, it seems confusing….Or maybe I am not able to understand what he actually means when he says ‘thoughts’. I’ll think about it. 🙂
And wow, you read this book thrice!
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