This essay Notes on Nationalism written by George Orwell in May of 1945, explains the concept of nationalism and its effect on human beings. According to Orwell the concept of nationalism is “identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that if advancing its interests.” This is what nationalism is to Orwell, the dictionary definition “the policy or doctrine of asserting the interests of one’s own nation, viewed as speared form the interest of other nation or the common interest of all nations.” The explanation is the same but Orwell argues that nationalism is “the desire for power” and control than doing what’s best for your nation.
A theme that Orwell talks about is the effects of nationalism on human beings. This nationalistic idea causes people to act and think differently, Orwell argues that nationalism changes the way people think. The whole reason I think that Orwell is talking about this idea of Nationalism is to tell people that it changes you. It causes you to always take the side of your country. This idea causes people to be dishonest, it “, having picked his side,[causes him to] persuade himself that it is the strongest ”. This idea make people believe they are doing the right thing because its for their country.
Through the essay he characterizes people who follow this nationalistic idea as “obsessive”. He writes, “as neatly as possible, no nationalist ever thinks, talks or writes about anything except the superiority of his own unit.” This is because they are obsessed with their own country they can’t think about the bad and evil of their country only the good and just that it has. He say that “he will generally claim superiority form it not only in military power and political virtue, but art, literature, sport, structure of the language, the physical beauty of the inhabitants and perhaps the climate, scenery cooking.” This only proves Orwell’s point that people that have the idea of nationalism in their heads that they are obsessive. Another characterization Orwell explains is the “instability” of people with this idea of nationalism. The reason why these people are so unstable is because they are so fixed on to their countries well being/ benefits they will anything for it. These people have such a tight hold their country that nothing will make them change their mind. But the thing that causes them to do such things is the leader, because they are fix on the idea that their country is better that the leaders are considered “gods”. The last characterization that Orwell explains is “indifference to reality”, this mean people are so clouded by the belief that you nation come first that people don’t care what happens to others. The use of torture, bombs and guns seem irrelevant to people with this nationalistic idea, some are so clouded they try to defend the nation that they are loyal to.
The effects of nationalism on humans cause war, death and sorrow; George Orwell proves this in his essay. This false sense of helping you country clouds and changes the way you act and think. This causes many bad ideas in this world, George Orwell conveys this in his essay Notes On Nationalism.
The essay discusses an interesting theme of nationalism. Orwell argues several points about nationalism and human reaction/intuition. I agree with lots of what he argued, especially the idea that people tend to immediately associate with things that they know (like their country) rather than weigh all sides of the argument. Orwell makes lots of reference of Nazism which is a unique twist; the essay was obviously written just after WW2 so for sure Nazism was something on peoples minds and I think for that reason he would have been able to tug at an emotional nerve in people at the time. The essay was written differently than most formal essays because it was very personable. The essay is written in first person so we understand the Orwell is talking direct to us but he also employs a very colloquial tone which I really enjoyed because it felt like more of a conversation rather than an essay and therefore more approachable. While I thought the essay was on the long side I thought that it presented some interesting and thought provoking ideas in a very approachable way.
ReplyDeleteI think that Imran picked up on lots of the same things that I did. we both noticed this theme of people leaning towards their own nation in decisions and he took it one step further talking about how it changes people and even potentially leads to war, death and sorrow. while I feel that that might be a bit of a stretch it is a valid argument. Imran chose to focus a bit more on the plot and the philosophical ideas that Orwell was communicating rather than the writing style which was fine. Over all Imran and I share several of the same ideas and interpretations of the essay
During this long essay Orwell discuses nationalism, and the effect it has on some people. he also makes a distinction between nationalism and patriotism, in that nationalists have more of a tendency to desire to spread their way of thinking, whilst the patriotic more so want to protect their ideas. Orwell also notes that a nationalist does not have to particularly believe that one country is right, and may in fact have a nationalist attitude toward a religious group or ideology. For example, not all communists were Russian, and (though likely few in numbers at the time)not all Russians communists. The same could be said about the Germans and the Nazis, and therefore not all who have a nationalist attitude necessarily support their country. But that aside, in majority this essay focuses on human nature and how it can be overridden with radical beliefs. These people can be very unstable, as you pointed out, as did Orwell, and may induce war out of these beliefs, and as well as having an outstanding intolerance for others this clouded judgement could very well lead to large scale destruction. Those with a mind set such as this could almost be called sheep, devoted to their leader and willing to follow in their chosen obsession's footsteps. It was right of you to point out the happenings in the world at the time, and as such the Nazis and Communists are mentioned through out the essay. IT seems we had a similar interpretation of the text, in that Orwell was intent on conveying the message that these people are a bit off and should be dealt with appropriately before they cause any more harm to those few who have realized the truth.
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI thought this essay was primarily about how nationalism caused people to not pay attention to what they believed in. In other words, people did not follow their common sense. Orwell made the interesting distinction between patriotism and nationalism, which is something to note. He says that patriotism is basically standing up for your country, and nationalism is basically a struggle for power. An example of nationalism that he gives is that of Nazism, and how Hitler was able to not appeal to people to defend their country, but rather take over other countries. This was an interesting point that I found in this essay.
I thought that your commentary was well written. I especially liked how you were able to integrate your quotations in your sentences. It sounds so much nicer! You conclusion was short, but it summarized your commentary well. I liked the points you brought up, especially the point that people who followed the nationalistic point could be argued as being obsessive. You also talked about how the nationalistic point of view prevented people from seeing the damage that their country was doing, this was well done and it was a very good point to include.
The essay’s central idea seems to be that nationalism has a huge effect on people. The essay states there are two types of Nationalism negative and positive. Therefore, nationalism can have a positive or negative effect on the people following the type of movements people support. There were two parts that stuck out to me more odd reasons but they caught my attention. The first was when George Orwell states, “Countries which have won their independence or gone through a nationalist revolution usually change their names.” (Orwell 6) This stuck out to me because I thought it was an effect of having a new start by creating the new identity. Another part I found interesting was that commonly leaders or founders of nationalist movements are not from the country they have changed. The essay had many interesting facts however; it was long and at times difficult to read. Some literary features used were structure as the essay is well organized into subheadings and also characterization and a strong theme strongly support the central idea.
ReplyDeleteImran I think you did a great job on making the theme and the main ideas of the essay very clear and I agree with you on the central idea. You had a lot of supporting evidence as well which linked to the essay. I thought it was interesting how you talked a lot about the idea of leaders and people being obsessed with their countries because of nationalism because that definitely seems to be a major part of the essay and it’s focus. I think generally you covered all of the ideas but maybe could have focused on move movements more specifically to give an example of positive or negative nationalism. Otherwise, you did a good job on highlighting the key points.
Good morning Imran Hudani!
ReplyDeleteThe central idea this essay presents is that nationalism causes people to lose their common sense and become ignorant toward reality. Orwell demonstrates his concern toward the influences nationalism has on the people’s actions and thoughts. He says that it can make them dishonest and bias because they have chosen to believe only one side and they ignore the arguments against their argument because they believe that their argument is the strongest. Also in Orwell’s essay, he outlines the characteristics of a person who follows nationalism (which I thought was very interesting because what he has pointed out is very true; however, it wasn’t noticeable until it has been pointed out to me) obsession, instability, and having a lack of concern toward reality.
This is a well-constructed essay imran! Good job ☺ I agree with your ideas (clearly^) I think you did a good job summarizing the ideas which Orwell presented and you presented them in a straightforward way which created better understanding for me. Also I noticed a spelling mistake in your writing (it is near the end of your commentary) “This false sense of helping you country clouds and changes the way you act and think.” Did you mean ‘your’? ;)
So beautiful material
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