Originally Orwell titled the book The Last Man in Europe, but his publisher, Frederic Warburg, suggested a change to assist in the book's marketing. Orwell did not object to this suggestion. The reasons for selection of this particular year are not known. Orwell may have only switched the last two digits of the year in which he wrote the book - '1948' became the distant and yet not unimaginable '1984'. Alternatively, he may have been alluding to the centenary of the Fabian Society, a socialist organization founded in 1884. The allusion may have also been to Jack London's novel The Iron Heel (in which the power of a political movement reaches its height in 1984), to G. K. Chesterton's The Napoleon of Notting Hill (also set in that year), or to a poem by his wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, called "End of the Century, 1984". A final supposed explanation is that his original re-titling was to be 1980; however, with his illness the book was taking a long time to write, so he felt obliged to push the story further and further into the future.
Taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
The original title for George Orwell's 1984 is "The Last Man in Europe". With this thought in mind, why do you think Orwell would want to go with this title? Use examples from the novel with at least one example from each part.
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To call the title of this novel “The Last Man in Europe" instead of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” would be because the party is unable to concur Winston Smith and because they can’t then they are unable to concur Oceania. INGSOC is unable to get inside of Winston and strip him from his soul. Winston is what makes the parties fail and what makes them unable to claim the life of every individual. He’s the one man that they can’t break and if they can’t break him then the party is useless. The title “The Last Man in Europe” seems to be a metaphor for Winston being the one thing that stops INGSOC from taking over the life of each individual in Oceania. The concept of life and what it means to live can be taken out of the world but the humans inner-self cant. Winston Smith is one of the many who are able to unconsciously believe there is more to life than what is given, and because of this the party and what it stands for will always fall short. “If you can feel that staying humans worth while, even when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them.”(174). No matter how many times they re-program Winston he will never loose the sense of true humanity and the inner heart. The Party will never have the solution to getting rid of the one thing that makes everyone human, this is their flaw and it’s a flaw that can never be repaired; this makes the human life worth living. “They could alter your feelings: for that matter you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to. They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose working were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable.”(174). The spark is within each individual but how it is used makes the difference. Life will always have history, love, meaning and the human heart is what unconsciously grasps the meaning of how life should be. Winston Smith is the last man because he is the first, middle, and end. There is only one Winston’s just a mere representation of everyone.
It is a possibility that Orwell foresaw the future, and purposely named the novel, ‘The Last man in Europe’. Or, it was that he was educated enough to realize that our world is a repeating process of series of events. I found the title ironic, because in the beginning of the novel, the protagonist Winston Smith, seems to be the only being who has all these unimaginable thoughts within him. However, as the story goes on, the readers realize that it is not only Winston who thinks the way he thinks. Therefore, although he appears to be ‘the last man in Europe’, we realize that we all are the ‘last man in Europe’.
Human life is a continuing cycle. Nothings extraordinary will occur in a human cycle. The cycle may alter a little depending on the society they live in, but the basic form of a life is similar with any being. As Orwell quotes, “hatred is more exhausting then love” (281), which still implies in modern civilization. The readers notice that Orwell was being clever, when he was naming his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The readers at the time when it was published (1948), the readers would have assumed that the book sounds futuristic. As they read on, the more readers realize that it is clearly reflected upon their society. The fact that now in 2007, we still can see the resemblance in our society. We still do get sucked by the government without noticing, and do not realize how much we are being watched. Orwell says, “if they [government] can take my subconscious, they party wins” (172), which unfortunately is still happening with certain types of people. Therefore, with the comparison of society in 1984 vs. the current society proves that the human civilization has not been greatly altered, but only modified to fit into the current time period.
The title “The Last Man in Europe” is effective in portraying an aspect of the social status in 1984. The 1984 identified by Orwell is a time when every person can only rely on themselves, they are alone. This is a dominant aspect in the life of Winston Smith, the protagonist in Nineteen Eighty-Four. This is a good choice as a title because it reflects Winston's isolation and the social status of the world.
Winston is alone in his struggle against the Party. As a thought criminal, there is no one that Winston can trust. One of the mediums that Winston uses to express his thought is a diary. Writing in the diary, “if detected...was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death.” (8) This reflects the need for Winston to keep his thoughts to himself. If anyone from the Party discovers that he has been thinking, it is highly likely that he will be killed. Thus, in order for Winston to survive, he must keep his thoughts to himself. Winston cannot trust anyone with the content of his ideas. This makes Winston “The Last Man in Europe”. Winston's status as solely an individual, with no one remaining on his side, is evident in his “reprogramming” with O'Brien. O'Brien tells Winston that “Winston...[is] the last man...[he is] alone.” (282-3) This reflects the view that Winston is “the Last Man in Europe”. This refers to Winston's individuality in this methods of thought.
The social status of the world is also based upon isolation. One must exercise doublethink and crimestop effectively in order to spare their own lives. Each citizen in Oceania must accept whatever the Party tells them, even if it is something like “2 and 2 make 5”. Each individual must have one form of thought. If anyone dares wander beyond this thought, thus becoming a thought criminal, they must keep it to themselves or risk being killed. This isolation makes everyone “the Last Man in Europe”.
Winston's status as an individual and the social status in Oceania both reflect the possible title of “The Last Man in Europe”. Winston stands alone in his conquest against the Party, he has no allies to support him. Each citizen living in Oceania has a similar situation to Winston's. If they are a thought criminal, they are forced to live in isolation, making them “The Last Man in Europe”.
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