Title: The Defense of Culture in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four

Abstract: George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four represents a current type of attitude: a “myth” of the defense of culture，related primarily to contemporary society. The cultural defense myth in Nineteen Eighty-Four contains two layers of meaning. First, the novel uncovers the nature of Totalitarian culture in Oceania: the Oceanian government destroys Oldspeak and manufactures Newspeak to control the growth of language and culture. It destroys traditional culture and rewrites history wantonly to break its cultural traditions, and limits the contents and media of cultural communication to suppress Oceanians’ thought. Second, the novel illustrates the hidden possibilities of cultural growth, communication, and development which could forcefully fight against Totalitarian control in Oceania and serve as effective ways to defend culture.

Keywords: George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, culture

Author: Zhaoqian Li, Associate Professor, Foreign Studies College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China.