The Role of Knowledge in 1984 by George Orwell (Essay Sample)

In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the protagonist Winston Smith is living in a dystopian, totalitarian society. Winston is a member of the Party, who allegedly hates the Party and the government with his entire heart. He despises what they do, and wants to find a way to overthrow or rebel them. However, he meets a girl named Julia who he finds extremely intriguing. Not only because of her looks, but Julia is also rebellious against the controlling government. Both of them continue to go against the law and make love, while trying to avoid the government’s constant patrol with the telescreen. However, although Winston says he hates the society he lives in, he still obeys the government almost involuntarily. Therefore, Orwell reveals the idea that yellow symbolizes the unwanted knowledge by the government.

Orwell expresses the idea of the diary pages to house unwanted knowledge. In the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Winston and his living quarters. He lives in Victory Mansions, where it smelt of old rags and wet cabbage. It was very dingy and unsanitary, with huge telescreens implanted as a surveillance camera of the party. As Winston settles into his home, he begins to drink some Victory Gin and smoke Victory Cigarettes. After the effects of the gin sink in, including a burning sensation into a hallucinated trance, he pulls out a diary. Orwell unveils, “But [writing in the diary] had also been suggested by the book that he had just taken out of the drawer. It was a peculiarly beautiful book. Its smooth creamy paper, a little yellowed by age, was of a kind that had not been manufactured for at least forty years past” (6). Referring to the diary pages as “yellowed by age” shows that Orwell is emphasizing the color of the diary. We discover later on that Winston writes down his thoughts about the Party in this book, and that he must hide from the telescreen when doing this because it is a thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime is the crime of thinking of anything that goes against the Party’s morale. He is writing down his thoughts because he does not want them in his mind, which imposes the risk of being caught by the infamous Thought Police. By the Party installing fear within this dystopian society, they are able to ensure that they choose what knowledge is known by the people. Therefore, because Orwell is emphasizing the color of Winston’s diary of which he writes down his unwanted thoughts to be forgotten, the color yellow is indirectly correlated with unwanted knowledge. In addition, Winston bought this diary from a junk-shop, of which Party members are not allowed to actually buy at. The idea that the products in the store are also unwanted adds to the idea that the diary is a house of unwanted knowledge. In all, the diary symbolizes a place for the unwanted knowledge of Winston to go.

Additionally, the yellow sun rays throughout the story symbolize the blockage of unwanted knowledge. Winston and Julia travel to O'Brien’s mansion and they are alerted to a book that was written by Goldstein. This book isn’t given to Winston right away, instead there was a speech about the ongoing war. During the speech, the enemy was switched. During the chaos that ensued, the briefcase containing Goldsteins textbook was given to Winston. Winston initially did not read the book for many days, but gained the courage to read the book. While he reads the book, he complains tirelessly that he is reading information that he already knows. He reads about why continuous war is used to balance society, what crimestop was, etc.  However, when he gets to the part of new information of why the government is enforcing these rules, he puts down the book and falls asleep effortlessly next to Julia. Orwell reveals, “A yellow beam from the sinking sun slanted in through the window and fell across the pillow. He shut his eyes. The sun on his face and the girl’s smooth body touching his own gave him a strong, sleepy, confident feeling. He was safe, everything was all right” (217). The abrupt entrance of the “yellow beam from the sinking sun” signifies the Party’s control. Crimestop is the concept of which something inhibits yourself from committing a crime against the Party. Although Winston has already committed a crime by reading this book, he would commit more thoughtcrime by reading new information. However, when the sun beam shines on the pillow next to Julia, he puts down the book and falls asleep. This shows how the light resembles the concept of crimestop, because he stopped himself from committing another crime. Therefore, the yellow light is also correlated with the idea of unwanted knowledge. The Party does not want this confidential knowledge to be known by the public, so Orwell communicates this idea by implementing the yellow light for inhibition.  In retrospect, the sunlight symbolizes the idea of the Party not wanting knowledge in the population.

Furthermore, yellow notes are used as a comparison of unwanted and unknown knowledge. Winston is flipping through old children’s books that he got from Mrs. Parsons, which claims that the Party builds lavish and extremely well innovative cities. However, Winston's London is completely wrecked. The electricity and appliances were completely worn down, communities lived in poverty with rations of everyday items. Most of all, the citizens always live in fear. After documenting this in his yellow aged diary, he then goes on to think about a flashback. The flashback was of him in the Chestnut Tree Cafe, where he was sitting at a table with a chessboard in front of him. Winston is drinking gin that the waiter brings without asking, and listens to a tune that is quite unfamiliar to him. It was a woman's voice through the large telescreen in the cafe. Winston remembers, “It was a peculiar, cracked, braying, jeering note: in Winston called it a yellow note,” (77). The music is described as an unknown, mocking, and unsettling tune. Later in the text, the lyrics are then communicated. The lyrics were about the betrayal of someone, using the setting of a chestnut tree. As Winston was listening to this note, he immediately connected it to a yellow note. We can infer that the yellow note is like a post-it note. Many people use post-it notes to write information down fast, and use it to discard later. Winston immediately thought of that when thinking of the music, relating to the idea of the unknown and unwanted knowledge. In addition, another scenario where the yellow note is used is towards the end of the book. Winston has been released from the Ministry of Love after his torment in Room 101. He is now in the Chestnut Tree Cafe again, playing chess by himself, and drinking gin that is brought by the waiters unasked. However, when Winston hears the music again, he questions his reality. He believes that it was him hallucinating the memory of it, and that it was not actually happening. Winston believes, “Something changed in the music that trickled from the telescreen. A cracked and jeering note, a yellow note, came into it. And then—perhaps it was not happening, perhaps it was only a memory taking on the semblance of sound—a voice was singing:” (293). The yellow note is tied back to the first excerpt it was revealed in. As soon as he hears the music, he immediately associates it with the yellow note. Even though he believes it was a memory, he wants to forget it. He would later tear up and supposedly gets shot, but he ultimately submits to the Party and recognizes its complete dominance. This is because of Room 101, where he would be tortured with rats, his biggest fear, until he submitted his entire soul to the Party. Therefore, the yellow notes resemble the unwanted knowledge because of the fear factor implemented by the Party.

George Orwell communicates the concept that yellow represents unwanted knowledge by the government. In several instances, yellow has been subtly incorporated into ordinary scenes. However, the deeper meaning behind the color yellow is proven by the forms that it takes. Through Winston’s diary, the yellow sun rays and the yellow notes, have all countlessly shown the idea of unwanted knowledge by the government. With the government and the Party’s complete control of the people, the people are their puppets. Whatever the Party wants, they get, and they are not willing to stop until they get it.