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1984
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Below is one of our free research papers on 1984. If the term paper below is not exactly what you're looking for, you can search our essay database for other topics.
Literary Ramblings: A Handmaid’s Tale; The Feminist 1984?
Literary Ramblings: A Handmaid’s Tale; The Feminist 1984? Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale has oft been referred to a feminist incarnation of George Orwell’s 1984, and the comparison’s are understandable in that the novel’s jacket touts the work as an “Orwellian” vision and is even structured like 1984 in that the narrative within is accompanied by some fictional “historical notes”, much as Orwell’s novel had an appendix which some have argued is part of the narrative which implies that fictional academics from the future are contextualizing the novel for students who exist in the in the post-Oceanic world. Though Atwood’s work deals with many of the same issues, such as censorship, and the power of the perpetual panopticon, and though the novel sold well and received many accolades, Atwood’s work ultimately remains a cheap imitation of a masterpiece that narrows the scope of the original work and fails to expand upon, improve, or add to the Orwellian tradition. The impact of 1984 cannot be overstated and as evidence one need only look to how the novel, which speaks potently to the power of language, has helped to expand the English language and has contributed to contemporary diction. It is hard to go a day without coming across some sort of Orwellian vocabulary. Terms like “groupthink” that have become prominent in the business world, “doublethink” which speaks to humanity’s ability to compartmentalize, “...
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