Issue 4. Thematic Observations of George Orwell's "1984"
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Citations are listed as numbers in braces, e.g. [1]
Footnotes are listed as numbers in brackets, e.g. ((1))
Both citations and footnotes will be at the end of the text
1. Introduction
Orwell’s work is infamous, exploring dystopian ideas and thoughts about rebellion and beyond through the eyes of the naïve Winston, and therefore needs little introduction. Namely, he explores a dystopia where the secret police force of The Party are in constant surveillance of every citizen of Oceania, silencing anyone who shows sign of independent thought: a natural threat to the deceitful ideals of Big Brother and Ingsoc.
The development of thought and thinking is so profound within the novel, and subsequently in popular media, that it will not feature here. In its place, notes of clarity.
Ingsoc stands for English Socialism in Newspeak, and is used to disguise the capitalist dictatorship of Oceania as Socialist. ((1))
Newspeak is the language in development by The Party. It aims to simplify the English lexicon into as few root words as possible, adjustable by a series of prefixes and suffixes, with specialist vocabulary reserved for those only who need it: such as labourers—though different kinds of labourer will have little understanding of others’ common terms. [3]
The Party develops Newspeak to prevent Thoughtcrime. This is by the reasoning that potential political dissidents cannot slander Ingsoc if they lack the words to articulate their thoughts. This only applies to Oceania, where Newspeak is being used and taught as much as possible, especially towards the child generations. [3]
Thoughtcrime, a Newspeak word, describes the act of feeling critical towards Ingsoc, The Party, and/or Big Brother, even if the criticism is not expressed verbally or physically. The installation of Telescreens watch and listen to the citizens to identify slight murmurings, looks of disinterest in Party-mandated activities, or even unconscious nervous reactions like the tapping of a foot: anything of individuality.
2. The theme of Song
2.1. under the spreading chestnut tree
There are multiple different songs that appear throughout the novel, and they each serve different functions.
The first I wish to highlight is the first song that occurs in the novella. The main character, Winston, remembers being in the Chestnut Tree Café and observing 3 “cured” enemies of the state: Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford. They sit unspeaking, being served seemingly limitless gin, unprompted. Suddenly a different broadcast comes to the Telescreen, a ‘yellow note’. Followed by a song:
Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me:
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree.
Then, on a second glance, one of the men–Winston notices–is crying. They are soon executed. Orwell makes direct reference to the ‘chestnut tree’ in semblance to the name of café, clearly inviting the audience to read into this verse. We can therefore assume that other lines are similarly metaphorical, especially when combined with this verse’s reappearance in Part III, after Winston has been himself treated in the Ministry of Love ((2)) by the Thought Police--like the men. The line, ‘I sold you and you sold me’ references how Winston and Julia are not only aware of the fact that they will incriminate each other after they are captured, but that it is inevitable. The creation of a disparity between the ‘they’ who lie in the calm, unaware, naïve sense, and the ‘we’ who lie in the vegetative post-treatment state: post-torture, could easily be Orwell’s realisation of his struggle in trying to convince those around him of the totalitarian nature of the USSR. As he himself said, the nature of his work was ‘directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism’ and despite the etymology of the antagonised values ((3)) of Ingsoc, ‘for democratic socialism’ as he saw it. [2]
That is to say, the meaning of the ‘chestnut tree’ verse exists as a device of foreshadowing for Winston’s capture and treatment, but also a contextual parallel for the English masses’ refusal to acknowledge the USSR as a totalitarian and crucially not-socialist, not-communist state; felt strongly by Orwell during his time in the Spanish war, when he realised that the Stalinist forces were more concerned with their ‘Trotskyist’ allies than fighting the enemy. [1]
2.2. oranges and lemons
The second song that appears in the novel is that of Mr Charrington and the antique shop in one of the areas of London heavily lived in by those below the Party, the Proles, named aptly after the Marxist idea of the Proletariat. [4] Initially, the nursery rhyme is introduced as a faint yet incomplete memory that totally engulfs Winston’s imagination, having him even feel sensory hallucinations of immersion. The introduction to the rhyme is given as
'"Oranges and lemons", say the bells of St Clement's,
'"You owe me three farthings", say the Bells of St Martin's -'
St Martin's Church, or (St Martin's-in-the-Fields), exists in the novel’s version of Trafalgar Square: Victory Square. ‘Oranges and lemons’ immediately captures the total intrigue of Winston, who is fascinated by its pre-Revolution memory and, though he remains in careful--even dorment--defiance of the Party, its direct counter to the state’s alteration of the past through the Ministry of Truth (Minitrue) by acting as an agency of continuity: Mr Charrington remembers and recalls the rhyme, remembering the past, and hence passes on the knowledge to Winston, a subtle sense of activism and even heroicism. This is supported by the rhyme’s original purpose as a mnemonic for the names of the churches of London, [6] the rhyme existed/exists as a direct means for the persistence and support of memory and, to a greater extent, the idea of memory—which, as we have seen, is suppressed by the Party. Therefore, this rhyme/song/mnemonic’s recitation is thoughtcrime.
Before its implement as thoughtcrime, it serves a deceptive purpose. That is, as a means of connection. Later in the novel, Winston meets Julia who, in Part II (even in the same Mr Charrington’s let-out room) reveals the next line of the mnemonic
'"When will you pay me?" say the Bells of Old Bailey -'
though she cannot remember any more. The fact that Julia knows more of the rhyme than Winston is reflective of her more outspoken, courageous attitude to dissent, where the greater dedication to knowing the rhyme--remembering the past--shows as her greater dedication to anti-Party forces. This moment of intimacy through mental mutuality develops the audience as receptive to the rhyme as a leitmotif of memory, anti-Ingsoc values, and by extension comfort; safety.
I would say that song as a means of connection is fully established at its relevant relevancy-pinnacle ((4)) when Winston and Julia meet with an Inner Party member, O’Brien, and he is able to fully complete the mnemonic ((5)).
'"When I grow rich", say the bells of Shoreditch.'
Yet again, the idea of O’Brien’s more complete knowledge and thereby dedication to a supposed ‘Brotherhood’ presents him as undeniably the most reliable, active, intelligent, anti-Party character. Immediately, a strong tenor between the reader and O’Brien is formed, enhanced by Winston’s previous musings and internalised adorations of him. However …
Any constructed understanding of the purpose, the meaning, of the song is made near-totally convoluted in Part III of the novel. Winston and Julia are taken to a comprehension that ‘[they] are the dead.’ after seeing the persistence of another song in popularity in the Proles, “‘Opeless fancy”, where the following reveal of a hidden telescreen and capture of the pair by the Thought Police rapidly destroy the prior-created, optimistic tone. Mr Charrington had been an agent of the Thought Police the entire time and, by testing Winston’s keenness to the past, identified him as a thoughtcriminal ((6)). The broken bond now seen between Winston and Julia, and Mr Charrington creates an impromptu stampede of internal questions and conflictions. Namely, the reliability of the song. Does the song reflect the past? Can the past ever be remembered in wholesome manner? Will the remembrance of the past only ever be used to silence and oppress the citizens of Oceania?
… after Winston’s capture, a new relevancy-pinnacle is found for the song’s worth as a means of deception and totalitarian authoritarianism. O’Brien makes appearance in the Ministry of Truth where Winston is being held, as he is the one who will be taking Winston through his process of being- “treated”. The severe pain that O’Brien brings to Winston in these treatments and curing processes entirely destroys any previous belief that ‘Oranges and lemons’ was ever a means of good. ‘Oranges and lemons’ from the beginning of its introduction to its end, acted purely as a cruel and horrific means of capture and torture for thoughtcriminals. This explains why, in Part II, O’Brien cannot help but finish the rhyme with a noticeable ‘grave courtesy’ as only he is aware, in that moment of hope and joy, of the future suffering that Winston and Julia are (as the Party would wish you believe) bringing upon themselves.
'Oranges and lemons' serves arguably 1, 2, or 3 purposes depending on personal inference, but undeniably it can always be simplified to 1 (slightly lengthy) purpose:
To serve as an agency of communication, hope and optimism; which is to be harshly contrasted and reveal a hidden purpose of deceit and rapture ((7)).
It is of my belief that of Orwell’s many motifs and patterns within this novel that, not only is music/rhyme/song/mnemonic overlooked, but serves as the largest symbol of warning to the exploitation of assumedly-safe vessels of hope. That is to say, if Winston was able to recognise that ‘[hope] lies in the proles’ then so were the Party, so we the readers should expect the Party to attempt to use songs relating to the Proles as a device in which to seek out and capture dissidents.
2.3. only an 'opeless fancy
Finally, the last song that appears in the novel is dubbed, “only an ‘opeless fancy” after its introductory line. Similar to the first song we explored, this music serves the purpose of foreshadowing by mirroring the world within the novel. The novel’s narrator describes how Winston glanced out onto the court below the church where he and Julia are residing, to see a ‘monstrous woman, solid as a Norman pillar’ working relentlessly to and fro pegging out children’s diapers onto a washing line. As she works, she sings.
'It was only an 'opeless fancy,
It passed like an Ipril dye,
But a look an' a word an' the dreams they stirred
They 'ave stolen my 'eart awye!'
Throughout just the few lines of this paragraph, Orwell does his best to ensure that the reader gathers Winston’s perception of the woman. For we receive a great long listing of incredibly powerful vocabulary in forms of simile, adjective, and manipulation of stereotype. For example, the woman is ‘solid’, ‘brawny’, ‘stumping’, with a ‘sacking apron strapped about her middle’—a brilliant display of her dedication to her work. In this moment we are presented full-on with Winston’s biases, communicated through the narrator. That is, his adoration of the proletariat of Oceania and their work ethic, their unawareness of the Party.
By this point in the novel, we have been introduced to the other songs so Orwell has undeniably set the expectation that these musical excerpts are metaphorical. Therefore, in analysis of the song, we see reference to the glances between Winston and Julia through ‘a look an’ a word’ which highlights the importance of communication and the means of communication within the novel [5]. The romantic nature of this passage is dampened, however, by the line ‘It passed like an Ipril dye [April day]’ which signifies their relationship as spontaneous, but also temporary and foreshadows an abrupt, and near, end to their togetherness. The previous mention of the communication through glances and words now makes sense in light of Winston’s misplaced trust in the Inner Party’s O’Brien after their similarly powerful and secretive interactions.
The song makes reappearance in Part II of the novel at the beginning of Chapter 10, when Winston wakes with Julia in the rented room above Mr Charrington’s shop. The prior verse is reintroduced, indicative of their end nearing; and also to be watchful for signs of such an end in the chapter. Julia finds the stove, of which she had filled with oil the night before, has gone out and is dry. Whilst it could be argued that they both simply slept longer than intended, I believe otherwise due to her remark, ’The funny thing is I made sure it was full.’ which I interpret to be the interference of the Thought Police. That being, an agent of the Thought Police, or multiple agents ((8)), had been through their room while they were sleeping and in their investigation for whatever reason, emptied the stove.
I don’t make this argument unjustified, though I can hardly claim to “know” Orwell, let alone what he intended with each line, despite his dedicated saying-so’s in his article Why I Write. We are promptly introduced to the second verse of the song, it runs,
'They sye that time 'eals all things,
They sye you can always forget;
But the smiles an' the tears acrorss the years
They twist my 'eart-strings yet!'
A verse that shifts the tone of the music to one of reminiscence and- memory. Heightened by the direct use of ‘forget’, this excerpt provides foreshadowing of Winston’s (and Julia’s) encountering of the Ministry of Truth where they will be made to forget ((9)), implying the nature of ‘They’ to be possibly the Party, Ingsoc, or even Big Brother himself.
To be frank, I stand by my original annotations next to these verses in my copy of the novel that read, ‘why has this reoccured? ((10)) … what is being foreshadowed?’, for though I have provided my most current inference of the text in this essay to the satisfaction of my own conscience, I simply do not know the nature of this song to the same level as my confidence in the other songs. Hence, this subsection’s more tentative approach to analysis, and lack of mention of Orwell’s intent—I simply do not know.
In Newspeak there is no word for 'Science'.
George Orwell
'Nineteen Eighty-Four'
3. The theme of Water
The theme of water is coming in a later issue!
4. Administrative addendum
This essay is licensed and published under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License. See permissions and restrictions at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
The typeset edition essay was made in Overleaf in the LaTeX language using a template supplied by Guillermo Jimenez under a CC BY 4.0 license. I extend my thanks to him for the creation of the template and releasing it for free. Changes were made to the template. The license deed can be found at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Below follows me trying to prove that my arguments in this issue are somewhat supported.
Citations
[1] G. Orwell "Spilling the Spanish Beans" New English Weekly 1937
[2] G. Orwell "Why I Write" Gangrel 1946
[3] G. Orwell "1984" in Wordsworth Editions Limited 2021 Appendix p. 237
[4] G. Orwell "1984" in Wordsworth Editions Limited 2021 Notes to Nineteen Eighty-Four p. 250 endnote. 8
[5] G. Orwell "1984" in Wordsworth Editions Limited 2021 Notes to Nineteen Eighty-Four p. 251 endnote. 25
[6] Wikipedia contributors "Oranges and lemons" Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia 2025 ⚠ Poor tertiary source with relevant detail not cited
Footnotes/Endnotes
((1)) Argument given that an acronym means people are more likely to use it without seeing its deeper meaning; realising the hypocrisy of calling Ingsoc socialist.
((2)) Similar to Ingsoc, the ministries have hypocritical names. The Ministry of Love (Miniluv) horrifically tortures dissidents and political nay-sayers.
((3)) Many people mistake 1984 as being anti-socialist due to Orwell's dissent of 'English Socialism' but it is important to recognise that English Socialism is not socialist, it is a definitively capitalist, totalitarian regime.
((4)) An obscenely verbose way of saying "when it's the most important".
((5)) Common recitations also contain verses on the bells of Stepney and the great bell at Bow, among other alternative editions.
((6)) One who commits thoughtcrime.
((7)) Rapture argument given that life post-treatment in the Ministry of Love is made out by the Party to be one of bliss and euphoric utopianism; 'capture' also works in its place.
((8)) Most likely explanation points to Mr Charrington, which could also lead to the idea of Orwell raising suspicion around Mr Charrington, however there is no confirmation of this.
((9)) … their anti-Party views and ideals.
((10)) One of those words I can just never get right. In the interest of truth it should be spelled 'reoccurred'.
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