During War
This category focuses mostly on literature that was written during wartime, from autobiographies to fiction that give insight on the opinion of war by the author. These give an idea of what war is really like on all fronts and helps understand why certain books were written.
Diary of a Young Girl
![Picture](/uploads/2/7/2/4/27244003/8441536.jpg?250)
Anne Frank's story is now widely known throughout the world as a young Dutch girl who was forced into hiding in World War 2 Europe during her adolescence. Her diary is a window into life in hiding from the most powerful country in Europe, and a tragic story of the innocents that were made victim in the cruelty of Nazi Germany.
Anne was thirteen when she received her diary, and it was also at that age when her sister, Margot, received an official summons to a Nazi work camp and her parents decided to go into hiding. For two years, Anne wrote in her diary. She wrote of the hard times brought on by the war, but she also wrote with innocence in matters such as her relationship with Peter van Pels, who was in hiding with her. She was undramatic and real, one of the benefits of being a diarist, and that helped her diary win critical acclaim.
When she was betrayed at fifteen, she was taken to a concentration camp at Auschwitz, and died later of typhus along with almost every other member of the Secret Annex. Otto Frank, her father, was the sole survivor.
Anne's autobiography has touched people all over the world and in many places, her diary represents the destruction of youth in the Second World War, as well as any other war. She gave a face and a voice to all of those who suffered and died in the war, and she is the world's anchor to understanding the violence that occurred there. Unintentionally, her individual story came to represent the story of the thousands who were victims in the Holocaust, and helps us understand the immensity of the loss that it brought.
Anne was thirteen when she received her diary, and it was also at that age when her sister, Margot, received an official summons to a Nazi work camp and her parents decided to go into hiding. For two years, Anne wrote in her diary. She wrote of the hard times brought on by the war, but she also wrote with innocence in matters such as her relationship with Peter van Pels, who was in hiding with her. She was undramatic and real, one of the benefits of being a diarist, and that helped her diary win critical acclaim.
When she was betrayed at fifteen, she was taken to a concentration camp at Auschwitz, and died later of typhus along with almost every other member of the Secret Annex. Otto Frank, her father, was the sole survivor.
Anne's autobiography has touched people all over the world and in many places, her diary represents the destruction of youth in the Second World War, as well as any other war. She gave a face and a voice to all of those who suffered and died in the war, and she is the world's anchor to understanding the violence that occurred there. Unintentionally, her individual story came to represent the story of the thousands who were victims in the Holocaust, and helps us understand the immensity of the loss that it brought.
George Orwell
At around the same time period as Anne Frank, George Orwell began writing his novels, which are viewed as classics today. After fighting in the Spanish Civil War, he developed strong feelings against totalitarianism and tyranny, which carry into his extreme dislike and distrust for the USSR. He was an English journalist and author of Animal Farm and 1984, which, although they are fiction, portray his political thoughts on war and, in particular, the British alliance with the Soviet Union.
Animal Farm
Animal Farm is known primarily today as an allegorical commentary against communism. It was written in the early 1940s, during World War II, but due to the high regard for Stalin at the time, it was not published until 1945, when the Cold War began.
In the book, Orwell portrays the animals on the farm as representing Russia, starting with the Russian Revolution of 1917, where the animals revolt against their farmer and take over. The pigs, and a pig named Napoleon in particular, start a reign of terror that parallels with the reign of Stalin. He wrote, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," which demonstrates the tyranny and totalitarianism of Napoleon's rule, similar to Stalin's. The rest of the book is basically a repeat of Soviet history until the Teheran Conference of 1943 which Orwell viewed as doomed to fail in the end.
In the book, Orwell portrays the animals on the farm as representing Russia, starting with the Russian Revolution of 1917, where the animals revolt against their farmer and take over. The pigs, and a pig named Napoleon in particular, start a reign of terror that parallels with the reign of Stalin. He wrote, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," which demonstrates the tyranny and totalitarianism of Napoleon's rule, similar to Stalin's. The rest of the book is basically a repeat of Soviet history until the Teheran Conference of 1943 which Orwell viewed as doomed to fail in the end.
1984
Note how similar Big Brother looks to Adolf Hitler, the face of communism and evil in Orwell's time.
George Orwell's other novel, 1984, was published in 1949 and takes place in dystopian Great Britain, which is under the rule of the totalitarian and mysterious Big Brother. Big Brother fights individualism and persecutes independent thinking, called "thoughtcrimes." The country of Oceania, which is the new name for the Empire, has a telescreen that monitors the lives of the citizens, and they are warned by the ominous posters around the country, that say, "Big Brother is watching you." The regime in this country has a Ministry of Truth, which main character Winston Smith works for, whose purpose is to revise history. One party slogan used is "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." The government uses the revised history to favor them and uses it as propaganda to assure the people that they are good. There is also an embedded caste system in Airstrip One, which consists of the Inner Party, the most powerful, the Outer Party, who oversee the regulation Ministries and who Winston works for, and the Proles, the plebeians of the country and who make up the majority of the population.
Oceania is caught in a perpetual war with the other sections of the world left over from World War II, but the public are brainwashed into thinking that the war is going well. They are kept uneducated and poor so that they won't find out the truth and won't rebel against their leaders.
1984 imagines a world post WWII that has been taken over by the USSR, whom Orwell distrusted and wanted nothing to do with. He attempted to alert the public of the dangers facing their country and the possible consequences of allowing it to happen, including violation of personal privacy and other liberties.
It's interesting to note that although the Cold War has passed, Orwell's novel still is referenced in current issues. In a 2012 Supreme Court case United States v. Jones, the problem in question was whether or not GPS tracking of individuals should be allowed without a warrant. Supreme Court Justice Breyer warned that if warrantless tracking of individuals were to continue, there would be no stopping a complete violation of rights, resulting in something similar to Orwellian worlds such as in 1984.
Also, after the 2013 leak that the NSA has been conducting mass surveillance storage and violating privacy, the sales of 1984 increased drastically as a result of the outrage of the population.
Pat Tillman's story can also be cited here. Does the military cover-up about Tillman's death mean that the United States is becoming closer and closer to the fictional dystopia that Orwell created in the name of the Soviet Union? Is America in fact becoming the very thing that it has fought over the centuries?
Oceania is caught in a perpetual war with the other sections of the world left over from World War II, but the public are brainwashed into thinking that the war is going well. They are kept uneducated and poor so that they won't find out the truth and won't rebel against their leaders.
1984 imagines a world post WWII that has been taken over by the USSR, whom Orwell distrusted and wanted nothing to do with. He attempted to alert the public of the dangers facing their country and the possible consequences of allowing it to happen, including violation of personal privacy and other liberties.
It's interesting to note that although the Cold War has passed, Orwell's novel still is referenced in current issues. In a 2012 Supreme Court case United States v. Jones, the problem in question was whether or not GPS tracking of individuals should be allowed without a warrant. Supreme Court Justice Breyer warned that if warrantless tracking of individuals were to continue, there would be no stopping a complete violation of rights, resulting in something similar to Orwellian worlds such as in 1984.
Also, after the 2013 leak that the NSA has been conducting mass surveillance storage and violating privacy, the sales of 1984 increased drastically as a result of the outrage of the population.
Pat Tillman's story can also be cited here. Does the military cover-up about Tillman's death mean that the United States is becoming closer and closer to the fictional dystopia that Orwell created in the name of the Soviet Union? Is America in fact becoming the very thing that it has fought over the centuries?
The band Muse (they're awesome) based parts of their album "The Resistance" on themes from 1984. One of the songs on the album is called "The United States of Eurasia." This is a direct reference to the novel, as Eurasia is one of the allies and later enemies of Oceania. Listen to the song and read the lyrics below.
What insight does Orwell give on war?
1984 and Animal Farm both highlight Orwell's fears for a future with communism and totalitarianism, although both were not originally seen as valid. Animal Farm and 1984 both were in fact challenged and in some cases banned in many countries, including the United States.
The two books basically shed light on the fear that many people had during the Cold War and World War II that life would become like this: controlled, tyrannical, covered-up, and everything that they were fighting to keep at bay.
1984 and Animal Farm both highlight Orwell's fears for a future with communism and totalitarianism, although both were not originally seen as valid. Animal Farm and 1984 both were in fact challenged and in some cases banned in many countries, including the United States.
The two books basically shed light on the fear that many people had during the Cold War and World War II that life would become like this: controlled, tyrannical, covered-up, and everything that they were fighting to keep at bay.