1

PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OFALGERIA

MINISTRYOF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

AMAR TELIDJI UNIVERSITY- LAGHOUAT

FACULTY of LAW and SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT of ENGLISH

The impact of space on the psyche

of the protagonist in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Civilization, Literature and Language Teaching

Candidate Supervisor Ibtissam Touhami Professor. F. Berrahal

2014/2015

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

General introduction .......................................................................................................03

I. Chapter one: Space and Place in Literature, Philosophy, Urbanism and

Psychology

I.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................16

I.2 Yi Fu Tuan: The Distinction between Place and Space ..................................17

I.3 Bertrand Westphal: The Geo-critical Approach to Literature ..........................20

I.4 Michel Foucault : ‘Panopticon’ and Heterotopia ............................................22

I.5 Henry Lefebvre: The Conscious Production of Space .....................................27

I.6 Environnemental Psychology ..........................................................................29

I.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................31

II. Chapter Two: The architecture of Panopticism in Nineteen Eighty four

II.1 Introduction to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four .............................................34

II.2 The theme of Power and Control in the novel ................................................36

II.3 Architecture in Nineteen Eighty Four as a Device of Power and Control .....38

II.4 The Concious Production of Space ................................................................41

II.5 The Foucauldian Panopticon ..........................................................................44

II.6 Panopticism Juxtaposed on Ninteen Eighty Four ...........................................45

II.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 48

III. Chapter Three The Heretopic Place in Ninteen Eighty four

III.1 The Heretopic Place in contrast with the Panopticon Space.........................52

3

III.2 The Heretopic place in Ninteen Eighty four .................................................... 55

III.3 The features of the Heretopic place ................................................................... 56

III.4 The impact of the Heretopic place on the protagonist .................................... 58

III.5 The Return towards the Panopticon Space ....................................................60

III.6 The Impact of the Panoticon Space and the Heretopic Place on the psychee of

the paratogonist .....................................................................................................63

III.7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................65

General Conclusion .........................................................................................................66

Appendices ........................................................................................................................00

Appendix 1: Nineteen Eighty Four: Synopsis (Plot and Characters) ....................79

Appendix 2: Short Biography: George Orwell .....................................................82

Appendix 3: Short Biography: Michel Foucault ...................................................83

Appendix 4: Short Biography: Henry Lefebvre ....................................................84

Appendix 5: Short Biography: Yi Fu Tuan ...........................................................85

Appendix 6: Short Biography: Bertrand Westphal ...............................................86

Appendix 7: Figure: Panopticon ...........................................................................87

Bibliography ....................................................................................................................88

Webography ....................................................................................................................89

4

General introduction

In recent years space and spatiality has come to the forefront and it has gained more

importance within the disciplines of social science. It is becoming one of the key elements

in critical theories especially as far the Postcolonial theory and Psychological theories are

concerned. The term "Space" holds numerous and various definitions; for example The

Oxford English Dictionary defines space as ‘the dimension of height, width and depth

within which all things exist’. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary Space is

defined as “a boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur”. That

is to say that each space has three dimensions. The first one is the cultural dimension; in

which space serves as a powerful organizer for both the individual and the collective

memory. The second one is the social dimension which dictate the way people are

interacting with each other and the third one is a psychological dimension, which includes

the subjective perception and emotional interaction with space.

Various scholars and geographers focused their interest on the substances within

the space. The central idea of their study became spatiality; a concept which relates to the

distribution of objects and bodies in space and their relationships towards each other.

Michel Foucault for instance; argued in his lecture Of Other Spaces(1967); that space

outpaced time and has advanced to the forefront in the contemporary era, and he called for

the study of the interrelation between sites and the distribution of bodies in space.

According to Henry Lefebvre the production of space is related to the Marxist theory, as it

is a conscious process which reflects the social strata. Ti Fu Tuan also emphasized the idea

of conscious production of space and he argued that ‘Man’ divides and arranges space

consciously to suite his ‘body’, which includes a particular attention to the social hierarchy

of space which reminds man of where he stands in society. Thus from these definitions of

5

space it appears that space is a multidimensional entity, and each dimension has its own

structure, rules and norms which dictate the relationship between the bodies and objects

spread into that specific space. In other word the broad term of ‘Space’ englobes the urban

spaces which are the outcomes of human architectural designs, it also englobes the social

space in which we live and interact with each other as well as the personal space of an

individual.

In literature the concept of space is regarded as the physical element of the events

occurring in the novel or a story, that is to say that any artistic creation is accompanied by

its own space being real or fictional, which serves as a container for the plot and the events

of any narrative. In his essay; Geocriticism; Real and Fictional Spaces(2007) Bertrand

Westphal, supported a geo-centered approach to literature .He suggested a ‘Metalangue’

or a code allowing transmission from spatial sciences such as geography, architecture and

urban studies to literature and vice versa. As such the literary texts become an infinite

source of new spaces, since it does not just reproduce reality it, it also creates fictional

places, sometimes we delve into mythical and imaginary space, in other texts we enter

utopian societies and sometimes we discover apocalyptic and nightmarish sceneries such

as in the Orwellian London of Nineteen Eighty Four .

In George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four the protagonist Winston is in his

own quest for meaning. A search during which he undergoes a stream of thoughts and

enquiries concerning life style in London under Big brother's watch. The space which

contains the narrative in the novel, is crucial to render fully the experience of the

protagonist. The living spaces in the novel; such as his apartment, the hallways, his work

6

space, the canteen, all have been designed by the government of INGSOC to maintain a

solid grip and a firm control over the individuals, this control begins with the first

dimension of space which is the concrete physical spaces, and ultimately spread to the third

dimension which is the psychological space. In the Orwellian London the social and the

cultural dimensions of space have been carefully designed and uniformly conceived,

leaving no room for individuality, or any other form of freedom. The living spaces have

been homogenously manipulated to enable a total hegemony; which ultimately facilitate

the manipulation of the third dimension of space which is the psychological one.

The quest for meaning of the protagonist in the novel ; culminates in one space in

particular a counter-site in contrast with the dystopian society conceived by the government

and it is the room above the antique shop. This new space which contrasted with the other

spaces in the novel and which supposedly dodged Big Brother’s watch, becomes his space

of crisis, where his knowable and unimaginable are merged. In this new space he

experienced the feeling of privacy, individuality and knowledge. Towards the end of the

novel he lands in the ministry of love, more precisely in room 101 another type of spaces

used by the government of INGSOC to erase the effect that this counter site had on him

and to take away the knowledge discovered and imposed a logic violation. In this vein, the

main problematic would be as follows: How does the physical space impact on the

psychological space in Orwell’s novel 1984?, which raises the question of how the living

7

space is conceived by the government of INGSOC and what sort of impact it has on the

protagonist?. It also raises the questions concerning the new place that the protagonist has

created for himself as well as the effects it has on the psyche of the protagonist?

What can be hypothesized at this level is that the space and place in the Orwellian

London of Nineteen Eighty Four; is conceived and designed to maintain control over the

individual. The external surroundings of the protagonist such as the architecture, the

buildings and living environment are all carefully designed to indoctrinate the individual's

thoughts, and affect him from the outside towards the inside. The main hypothesis is that

the city is architecturally conceived as a ‘Panopticon’ .The concept of the Panopticon

design is to permit to a single guard to observe several residents of an institution constantly

without them being able to know whether they are watched or not, and this lack of

knowledge will impact their psyche; thus they will be conditioned to live in fear which will

ultimately result in a tangible change of their behavior. In this gigantic Panopticon that

George Orwell has created in Nineteen Eighty Four, there still remain on space supposedly

uncontrolled by the government of INGSOC, the room above the antique shop; where the

Protagonist is presumably able to evade Big brother’s watch, thus this counter-site becomes

his heretopic place in the homogenous space. And this Heretopic place has a different effect

from the Panopticon space on the psyche of the protagonist. The Heretopic place which;

8

were his conceived and perceived are merged to form a new space of consciousness where

his living acquires a meaning.

The objective of this dissertation is to illustrate the influence of the physical space

on the psychological Space of the protagonist in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty

Four. This dissertation is an attempt to differentiate between the ‘Panopticon Space’ and

the ‘Heretopic Place’ in the novel. This dissertation is also an attempt to illustrate how the

conception and the perception of a space and a place can influence the psyche of the

protagonist. In George Orwell’s novel the room above the antique shop stood out as a

special place that contrasted the other spaces in the novel and it had a noticeable impact on

Winston. From his experience with the room it became evident that a change in the physical

environment could bring about radical changes in one’s physical as well as mental health.

Which opens the door to a query, since a space could have a positive impact on an

individual physically and mentally; then would it be possible to intentionally reverse the

effect?. In other words would it be possible to immerse and individual in a physical setting

that would negatively affect his physical and mental health. And could these surrounding

be manipulated and controlled to achieve the desired change in one’s behavior?.

9

Throughout the narrative in Ninteen Eighty Four; the settings surrounding the

protagonist changed from one section to the other. In the first section we were introduced

to his building and his apartment in Victory Mansions , the description the author provided

of this place contributed in setting the tone of despair, fear, and ill-adjustment of Winston

in Oceania. Even in his apartment when he decided to commit the ultimate act of rebellion

to start a diary he had to sit in an alcove within his apartment, as if he was trying to find a

hiding place to commit his act of defiance. The minute description of the built environment

continues further, and towards the end of the first section and almost all throughout the

second section we are introduced to the room above the antique shop. The physical and

psychological transformation that Winston experienced in this room are also minutely

described. Early in the novel, he was described as dead-living or a zombie with a

meaningless life, and caught up in a routine imposed by the government of INGSCO.

However in the room above the antique shop, he regained human appearance, the room

was meant to be lived in, and in deed he came back to life. He interacted with this room

with all his senses and experienced, privacy, love and hope, which was a clear contrast to

his previous state of mind in the other spaces and places in the novel.

Through a Geocritical approach and with a descriptive and an analytical method,

this dissertation will attempt to distinguish between space and place and illustrate them in

the novel. A Geocritical approach would permit to use one ‘Place’ or ‘Space’ as focal point

10

for the research, it would also permit an interdisciplinary approach since we would have to

refer to theories of geographers and urban planner to support the hypothesis. This

dissertation is also an attempt to distinguish between the Macroscopic Space and the

Microscopic Place and illustrate the impact of both on the psychological space of the

protagonist. I will attempt to illustrate how the Macroscopic Space has been conceived by

the government as a ‘Panopticon’ aimed to keep a firm control over the psychological

space. While the microscopic place which appears to be a ‘counter-site’ or a Heretic place,

became the protagonist ‘Lived space’.

The first part of the dissertation introduces the theoretical background escorting this

dissertation. The theoretical background includes Bertand Westphal’s approach of

‘Geocritisicm’. The theoretical part also includes the distinction between ‘Space’ and

‘Place’ which is crucial in order to distinguish the different settings presented by George

Orwell in Nineteen Eighty Four. It also introduces the Foucauldian concepts of

‘Panoticism’ and ‘Heterotopia’ which will be both linked to specific places and spaces in

the novel; as well as the Lefevreian Trialectic of space which will permit to distinguish

between the conception, perception and the actual experience of one place, also included

in the theoretical background a small introduction to the discipline of environmental

psychology which studies the impact of the physical space on the mental space. I will be

referring to the discipline of environmental psychology in relation to two concepts in

particular; the first concept is ‘behavioral setting’ which illustrate how behavioral changes

11

are associated with architecture and the second concept is the ‘defensible space’ also

known as ‘Personal space’.

The second chapter introduces a synopsis of Nineteen Eighty Four including the

plot and the major characters, with a focus on the designed environment and the

architecture accompanying the plot. In the novel Orwell suggests that the production and

manipulation of knowledge are critical to the usurpation of power, and this dissertation is

an attempt to demonstrate that the conscious production and manipulation of space was

also a crucial tool in this process. The second chapter will focus on connecting the theories

of space, and control to the novel in order to illustrate how the Orwellian London has been

consciously and meticulously conceived based on the architecture of Panopticism. , this

hypothesis will be supported by with the Lefevrian theory of the production of space and

the Foucauldian concept of the Panotpticon

The final chapter will attempt to illustrate how the protagonist created a counter-

site for himself in the state of surveillance that the government of Ingsoc has designed

form him . The protagonist commits what Westphal has termed as ‘Transsgressivity’,

which resulted in a new microscopic place that differed form the macroscopic space. The

third chapter will refer to the insight of Yi Fu Tuan in order to extract the place from the

space. It will be also referred to the Foucauldian concept of Heretopia and the Lefebvreian

tiralectic of space in order to highlight the particularity of that place and more precisely the

psychological change in the protagonist in the Heretopic place in contrast with the

Panopticon space.

12

Theoretical debate

Geocriticism

In his essay Geocriticism; Real and Fictional Spaces, Bertrand Westphal, presents

an approach to engage with fictional spaces. He advocated a geo-centered approach to

literature and cultural studies, which would permit a particular place to serve as a focal

point for analysis and criticism. He raised the question of a ‘Metalangue’ to allow an

interdisciplinary transmission from spatial sciences such as geography, architecture and

urban studies to literature and vice versa. In Geocriticism, Westphal argued that a particular

space in literature could be subjected to symbolic readings and interpretation, rather than

immediate observation, thus one concrete space may have several subjective interpretation,

in this sense literature becomes the experimental field of alternative realities as well as an

infinite source of new spaces, since it does not just reproduce reality, it also creates fictional

places, which sometimes reveal concealed truths. In his work Westphal also dealt with the

‘Spatiotemporal Analysis’ of fictional Characters, which consist of the study of the

interaction between bodies based on their location in social space. He also proposed a

distinction between ‘Homogenous’ spaces and ‘Heterogeneous’ spaces and the theme of

‘Transgressivity’. According to Westphal the transgression on a space would result in the

creation of a new space away from the homogenous space, and this space of transgression

would result in the creation of an intimate zone.

13

Panopticon

In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of Prison (1975) Michel Foucault offers a

description of the space of surveillance which he termed Panopticism with reference to the

architectural design introduced by the social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th

century. The name Panopticon is also a reference to Panoptes from Greek mythology; who

was a giant with a hundred eyes and thus was known to be a very effective watchman. The

Panopticon architecture is designed in such a manner to create a space of surveillance

where individuals are constantly scrutinized. It consist of a tower with large windows

surrounded by an annular building which is divided into cells .This architecture exposes

the annular building totally to be constantly watched and observed and it permits the central

tower to sees everything without being exposed. This particular use of space and the carful

distribution of bodies into specific places results in a powerful space of surveillance and

control.

The Foucauldian Heretopia

Foucault’s first reference to the concept of heterotopia appeared in 1966 within his

preface to ‘Les Mots et les choses’. According to Foucault the macroscopic space is

governed by a set of laws and common agreements dictated by societal rules and human

conventions. However certain microscopic sites somehow contradict the homogenous

macroscopic space .He referred to these counter-site as Heterotopic sites. Michel Foucault

14

suggested that Heterotopia; is another name for the sphere of intimacy that resist the

prevalent codification in the macroscopic space. In Other Spaces Foucault, described the

Heterotopia spaces. As shelters for the individuals in time of crisis he referred to these sites

as ‘the crisis heterotopia’. He also attributed to the heretopic sites the function to create a

space of illusion or compensation.

The ‘Lived space’

Henry Lefebvre introduced in The Production of Space. The ‘Trialectic of space’

in which space is viewed in three ways, as ‘perceived, conceived and lived’: ‘I'espace

percu, concu, vecu’. He argued that space needs to be understood not in two ways - as a

conceived, abstract thought of space, or perceived, concrete reality of space - but in three

ways, with the additional ‘lived space’, which result from the previous two spaces.

According to Lefebvre the first and the second space would not be sufficient to transmit

fully and individual’s experience of space .Henceforth the idea of the third space ‘The

Lived’; encompasses both the real/perceived and imagined/conceived spaces and captures

real-life experiences.

Environmental Psychology

The discipline of environmental psychology studies the relationship between

environment and psychology. Researches within this discipline; have addressed the extent

to which physical and social spaces impact upon the spaces of mental life and subjectivity.

The observations of scholars within this discipline has revealed that a person unconsciously

manifest different behaviors purely based on the change of setting which he related to

15

architecture such as the austere architecture were sufficient to create a feeling of reverence

and stillness. The environmental psychology also promoted the importance of the ‘Personal

space’ and how it impacts on the individual. The theories of environmental psychology on

how environment impacts us can be critical when designing a city. If such designs are

mishandled, it could lead to feelings of stress and animosity.

16

I. Chapter one

Theories of Space and Place in Literature,

Philosophy, Urbanism and Psychology

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................16

I.2 Yi Fu Tuan: The Distinction between Place and Space ..............................................14

I.3 Bertrand Westphal: The Geo-critical approach to literature ........................................20

I.4 Michel Foucault : ‘Panopticon’ and Heterotopia ........................................................22

I.5 Henry Lefebvre: The Conscious Production of Space .................................................27

I.6 Environmental Psychology ..........................................................................................29

I.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................31

17

I.1 Introduction

The 19th century orbited around the subject of time development especially with the

modernist experiment that enriched the temporal linearity. In recent years especially

following the Second World War, when the world moved into both the Cold War and the

‘Space Race’1. Consequently Space and Spatiality2 came to the fore front, and began to

reassert itself in critical theory and began rivaling with time. Literary criticism has long

privileged the questions of time to the detriment of an enquiry into space. In the1960

situation began to change, (p 23) this spatial turn is supported by the new esthetic sensibility

introduced by the postmodern thoughts, and became a key term for literary, cultural and

psychological studies as well as strong theoretical critique provided by structuralism and

their intertextual connections. Furthermore the transformational effect of post-colonialism

and globalization also contributed into blurring and remodeling traditional geographic

limit, which all ultimately all contributed to bring space to the foreground. Michel Foucault

reflected on this shift of focus from time to space in his lecture ‘Of Other spaces’. He

noticed that, if the 19th century was dominated by a grand obsession with history, the

contemporary epoch of late twentieth century is an era of spatiality:

The great obsession of the nineteenth century was , as we know, history:

with its themes of development and of suspension , of crisis , and cycle,

1 Space race: The competition between nations regarding achievements in the field of space exploration. 2Spatiality: the distribution of bodies in space and their relation to each other according to this spatial distribution it(http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/)2 Spatiality:

18

themes of the ever-accumulating past ….The present epoch will perhaps be

above all the epoch of space (qtd in Westphal,24).

I.2 Yi Fu Tuan and the distinction between SPACE and PLACE

The concept of space encompasses the universe or the outer space. The space

became a prolific source for science fiction, time wrap, black holes, worm holes3 became

familiar concepts, which permitted the idea that time can be curved and inspired themes

such as time travel and the movement between several virtual realities and different space-

time dimensions. However the focus of this research paper is not on the outer space, it is

more related to the visible space, and more precisely to certain places in our space of living.

Both concepts; ‘Space’ and ‘Place’ are dealt with in this dissertation and in order

to distinguish between these closely related notions, several references are made to the to

the work of Yi-Fu Tuan who is famous for his definitions of space and place. Place is

defined as a particular part of space that can be occupied, unoccupied, real, or perceived.

Space is defined as that which is occupied by an object's volume. In his 1977 article, "Space

and Place: The Perspective of Experience" Tuan argued that to define space, one must be

able to move from one place to another, but in order for a place to exist, it needs a space.

Thus, he concluded that these two ideas are dependent upon one another. He further

emphasized that a space turns into a place when it gains demarcation through acquiring its

3 For further explanation refer to Stephen Hawkings Lectures : http://www.hawking.org.uk/lectures.html

19

own specific characteristics, and as it is impossible to render the experience of space

without refereeing to the objects and places within that space. Tuan also argued that ‘Space’

in the broad sense becomes a ‘Place’ as it acquires definition and meaning and starts having

it own aura. Tuan also argued that ‘Space’ and ‘Place’ can be defined by their relation to

each other since the two notions are mutually co-dependent, space serves as a container

that englobes various ‘Places’, and a place could only exist within a particular ‘Space’.

In experience, the meaning of space often merges with that of place. "Space"

is more abstract than "place." What begins as undifferentiated space

becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value. [...].The

ideas "space" and "place" require each other for definition. From the

security and stability of place we are aware of the openness, freedom, and

threat of space, and vice versa .(Tuan,6)

Tuan further argued that our knowledge of ‘Space’ and ‘Place’ is induced and

directed by all our senses which he termed ‘The Experiential perspective of space’. He

described the experiential perspective; as the individual’s ability to know and construct

reality through various modes. He also divided the modes into direct and indirect. ‘Direct

modes’ of perceptions; such as the passive senses of smell and taste or the active sense of

vision; and the ‘Indirect modes’ of symbolization. According to Tuan construction of

reality through different modes of experience will lead to diverse, complex and ambivalent

interpretations of space and place. Henceforth, one place will have multiple interpretations,

based on the multiplicity of perceptions.

In the eight chapter entitled Architecture Space and Awareness, Tuan argues that,

the rearrangement of space is done by the human being. Any act of building calls for a

20

conscious organization, thus the planning is a necessity to any architecture. Once achieved

the architectural edifice will form an environment for man. That is to say that ‘Man’ shapes

his environment to suite his ‘body’. The designed environment may also serve as an

educational purpose, as an architectural space may reveal and instruct, and some

architectures may be instrumental in handing down traditions, communicating rituals, or

for presenting a view of reality and the social norms. Tuan emphasizes that ‘Man’ divides

and arranges space consciously, and that the final result of this architectural awareness will

engender an architectural compound ; which will ultimately have an immense impact not

only on the individual’s perceptions and feelings towards their own living space, but on

the social interactions as well. He further explained that this conscious arrangement of

space will draw one’s attention to the social hierarchy of space constantly reminding man

of where he stands in society.

Completed the building or architectural complex now stands as an

environment capable of affecting the people who live in it .Man made space

can refine human feeling and perception (…) Another influence is this: the

built environment clarifies social roles and relations. People know better

who they are and how they ought to behave when the arena is humanly

designed rather than nature’s raw stage. (Tuan,10).

In spite of the relatedness and the codependence of the two concepts of ‘Space’ and

‘Place’, the work of Yi Fu Tuan in Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, has

contributed into making a clear distinction between the two terms. According to Tuan’s

theory, a space turns into a place when it gains an aura or an atmosphere of its own, and

this process of bestowing an atmosphere on a place is interlinked with the human senses

and modes of perception, thus place can only be defined through the interaction that occurs

via the direct and indirect modes of perception. Form Tuan’s theory one may conclude that

21

as entities we exist in space; but we; as complex human beings truly live in a place which

we construct through our personal modes of perception.

I.3 A Geo-Critic approach to literature

In his essay Geocriticism; Real and Fictional Spaces Bertrand Westphal, presents

an approach to engage with fictional spaces. He advocated a geo-centered approach to

literature and cultural studies, which would permit a particular place to serve as a focal

point for analysis and criticism. He argued that the understanding of a specific place is a

subjective matter which will differ from one person to another based on the experience or

interaction involved, because the perception of a space and the actual conception of the

space are different. The Einsteinian revolution4 made everything relative, even the absolute

and the concrete:

Our Understanding of a particular place is determined by our personal

experience with it, but also by our reading about others experiences, by our

point of view, including our biases and our wishful thinking. (Westphal,

Translator Preface x).

In this light we may understand that a particular space may have been subject to

symbolic readings and interpretation, rather than immediate observation, thus one concrete

space may have several subjective interpretation, for instance if we take the city of London

4 For further explanation of The Theory of relativity: http://www.space.com/28738-einstein-theory-of-relativity-explained-infgraphic.html

22

a concrete place, yet presented differently in the pastoral novel of Jane Austen, which

contrast with the foggy and rainy Dickensian London. And both are in contrast with the

Dystopian Orwellian London of 1984. ‘Literature becomes in this context the experimental

field of alternative realities, (Westphal,59)

Westphal suggest that the experience of place can be translated through literature

via modes of perception, it also present a critique of reality or of a dominant ideology. He

raised the question of a ‘Metalangue’ or a code allowing transmission from spatial sciences

such as geography, architecture and urban studies to literature and vice versa. Thus a

literary text becomes a source of new spaces, since it does not just reproduce reality it, it

also creates fictional places, which sometimes reveal the gist of concealed truths:

The literary text therefore becomes a generator…this characteristic reveals

the fictional logos reveals the meaning of hidden realities, exploring the

folds of reality, and may thus be worthy of attention from geographers as it

is from literary critics.(westphal,32).

In Geocriticsm, Wesphal also dealt with the Spatiotemporal Analysis of fictional

Characters. He made reference to the work of Michel Foucault, who associate the location

of bodies within a social space regulated by an authority , Foucault incorporates the effect

of the individual’s attitude in dealing with space –time and how interpersonal relationship

may be dictated in an entourage , and how an authority can determine or prohibit access .

Adapted to literature his theory would permit a Spacio-temporal5 analysis of a fictional

5 Spacio-Temporal: relating to, or existing in both space and time.( http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/)

23

character. Which could be explained as the analysis of the interactional of the fictional

character with the fictional space provided in a novel or a narrative.

The second chapter of Geocriticism; entitled ‘Transgressivity’ , Westpahal explains

that space is both ‘Homogenous’ and ‘Heterogeneous’ ,The first would exclude the

particularity of minority perception and the latter is presented as the outcome of the

transgression on homogenous space. Thus according to Westphal transgression relates to

the crossing of boundaries outside which exists ‘a marginal space of freedom’ ( Westphal

47) and when this transgression becomes a customary habit it turns into what Westphal

termed as ‘Trangressivity’ . Westphal further explains that this transgressivity would result

in the creation of a new space far from being homogenous, an intimate space outside of the

boundaries of the enclosure. It creates for the individual a zone of intimacy, guarded against

external intrusions and allows the synthesis of all differences.

This is a secret space, of hyperbaton one where the individual deploys a

supplemental personal truth, protected from the eyes of the world and from

the prescriptions of the code. This tension between a normatively

sanctioned unity and the need for freedom emerging at the margins of the

law (Westphal,44)

I.4 Michel Foucault: Panopticism and Heterotopia

Foucault’s concern with space was centralized on the relations among sites, the

intersection between the macroscopic space and the individual space. In ‘Discipline and

Punish’ Michel Foucault offers a description of the space of surveillance ‘the Utopia of a

24

perfectly governed city’ (Discipline and Punish 196), which he termed ‘Panopticism’ with

reference to the architectural design of Jeremy Bentham. The Panopticon architecture is

designed in a manner to create space of surveillance where individuals are constantly

scrutinized. And designed to prevent any form of deviance or transgression to the rules and

norms imposed in a given society, and this was achieved by means of a meticulous

arrangement of the space which is meant to be controlled:

at the periphery an annular building ; at the center a tower; this tower is

pierced with wide windows that open onto the inner side of the ring, the

periphery building is divided into cells, (…) al that is needed, then is to

place a supervisor in a central tower and to shut up in each shut up in each

cell a madman , a patient , a condemned man, a worker or a schoolboy(…)

they are like so many cages , so many small theaters, which each actor is

alone, perfectly individualized and constantly visible ( Foucault,197)

The Panopticon architecture exposes the periphery building totally to be constantly

watched and observed without being able to see in return, while the central tower sees

everything without being exposed. This particular use of space and the carful distribution

of bodies into specific places results in a powerful space of surveillance and control.

Foucault described it as a ‘cruel, ingenious cage’ (Foucault 199), which could have

multiple functions , as it could serve to reform prisoners, to confine the insane ; treat

patients, to supervise workers and even to instruct school children. Foucault argued that

this type of architecture would be ideal as it is as a sort of distribution of bodies in space in

25

relation to one another, which could be distributed based on a hierarchical relation ;or when

dealing with several individual who must be controlled

Foucault also notes that that ‘the Panopticon schema makes any apparatus of power

more intense’ (Foucault 200),because power exercise its strength without directly

intervening, and without any physical instrument other than architecture and geography.

The arrangement of space in a Panopticon mechanism or architecture would act directly on

individuals and ‘give power of mind over mind’(Foucault 200). He also argued that the

increase of power created by a Panopticon architecture may degenerate into tyranny, and

that the integration of a Panopticon architecture within the political apparatus, will result

in the subordination of bodies, through a relation of surveillance and discipline which will

ultimately produce a reformed society; were no discipline would be required since the

constant surveillance would be sufficient to shape the human behavior towards the desired

conduct. The residents of the Panopticon will ultimately be conditioned to the fact that they

are constantly scrutinized, so even when no surveillance occurs they would still behave as

if it did.

The second Foucauldian concept in relation with space is Heretopia, and it also

focused on, the crossing between the macroscopic space and the individual space. However

unlike the Panopticon space of surveillance, the Heretopic spaces are described as counter-

sites. According to Foucault each space is governed by a set of laws and agreements

26

dictated by societal rules and human conventions and no practices will dare to break down

the sacredness of these sanctuary like sites .For example public space , social space and

professional space all has a certain number of guidelines and practices which are commonly

and popularly agreed upon , thus it consciously or subconsciously maintain the notion of

the sacred , thus it is impossible to achieve what Foucault termed a ‘practical

disanctification of space’. However among all these site he focused his interest on certain

sites that have the curious property of being in relation with all the other sites yet somehow

contradict them he referred to these counter site as Heterotopic sites which he also

described as ‘a place outside of all places and time outside of all times’. Heterotopia

according to Michel Foucault ; is another name for the sphere of intimacy that resist the

pervasive codification in the macroscopic space attributed to the state apparatus.

Foucault’s first reference to the concept of heterotopia appeared in 1966 within his

preface to Les Mots et les choses, later translated into English as The Order of Things

(1970). With this concept he introduced a contradictory ‘unthinkable space’. With

reference to utopia a good place; ‘heterotopia’, refers to a different or another place

(heteros). According to Foucault’s utopias, however fantastic, present an ordered, coherent

whole, whereas heterotopia it raises questions about the establishment of order in our

culture, or those basic codes that govern perceptions, language and practice. Foucault

outlines a number of these ‘counter-spaces’ that are in different ways outside the ordinary,

27

including cemeteries, prisons, asylums. He suggests that modern Heterotopian sites relate

more to enclosing some form of deviation.

In Other Spaces Foucault, has attributed six principles to describe and distinguish

the Heterotopia spaces. The first principle is that every single culture in the world has its

own heterotopias , which takes varied forms in time and cultures, thus there is no universal

form yet it could be classified into two main categories , the first being ‘the crisis

heterotopia’ which are privileged sacred or forbidden places reserved for the individual in

time of crisis. Foucault further explained that these ‘crisis heterotopia’ are disappearing

and being replaced by ‘heterotopias of deviation’ which are reserved for individuals with

deviants behaviors by the norms and practices of a given the society, which he exemplified

by prisons and psychiatric hospitals and even nursing homes.

The second principle for describing Heterotopic spaces is that the function of

heterotopic space may change with time. The third principle is that heterotopia is able to

juxtapose in a single real place several spaces that are themselves incompatible. The fourth

principle are linked to slices of time, such as immobile places with the ideas of

accumulating time, such as libraries and museum. The fifth principle hold that heterotopias

always presuppose a system of opening and closing which makes them both impenetrable

and accessible at the same time, this type of heterotopia could be illustrated in a motel

28

room, which is protected, and hidden, , yet accessible. The sixth principle lies within the

function of the heterotopic spaces either to create a space of illusion or compensation:

Either their role to create a space of illusion that exposes every real space

, all the sites inside which human life is partitioned…..Or else, on the

contrary, their role is to create space that is other, another real space as

perfect , as meticulous , as well arranged as ours is messy , ill constructed

and jumbled’(Foucault).

I.5 Henri Lefebvre: The Conscious Production of Space

The Major contribution of Henry Lefebvre to the studies on space and spatiality is

embodied in his ‘Trialectic of Space’, which he introduced in The Production of Space. In

the Lefebvrian schema Space is viewed in three ways, as perceived, conceived and lived:

‘I'espace percu, concu, vecu’. He argued that space needs to be understood not in two ways

- as a conceived, abstract thought of space, or perceived, concrete reality of space - but in

three ways, with the additional lived space, which result from the previous two spaces.

Henri Lefebvre, who was also known as a neo-Marxist and existentialist philosopher,

mentioned that the process of the production of space has explicit political aspects ‘there

is a politics of space because space is political'.(Kipfer125). He also argued that the space

of town planners which are understood as a scientific object, and apolitical, have been in

fact shaped and molded through a political process.(Kipfer126). There is therefore work to

be done on an understanding of space and how it is politically and socially constructed and

ultimately individually used, which is illustrated by Stefan Kipfer article entitled ‘How

Lefebvre Urbanized Gramsci’:

29

From Lefebvre, we can gather a new, urbanized understanding of

hegemony. While Gramsci saw hegemonic 6projects implicitly [...] Lefebvre

invites us to make an explicit link between hegemony and the production of

space. [...] Processes of producing space (shaped by urban specialists) are

potentially hegemonic insofar as they integrate the affective-symbolic sides

of everyday life (lived space) into the practical material (perceived) and

institutional-ideological (conceived) dimensions of abstract space. This

process of producing and incorporating lived space into abstract space can

be hegemonic by homogenizing diversity or denying difference (Keifer,205).

The Lefevrian Schema of ‘Trialectic of Space’ accentuated the three dimensional

characteristic of space. The concept of ‘The Lived Space’ is presented as a distinct mode

of critical spatial awareness. This Lived space is the outcome of the fusion of the two

opposite poles of the abstract and concrete space, it is a space that results from the merger

of the objectivity of the real and the subjectivity of the imagined. It is the encounter

between mind and body, consciousness and the unconscious. The first space which is the

perceived represents the visible material space that can be measured and described, with

its natural markers as well as those recognizable man-made landmarks that were placed

there by those in control, it also takes into consideration the configuration of the building,

the campus, the town. The Second space’ may be understood as the interpretations or

ideologies concerning ‘First space’ it is one’s conceived space, it is the space of the

architects designers and artist, geographers and mappers who construct a representation of

6 Cultural Hegemony: is a term developed by Antonio Gramsci, activist, theorist, and founder of the Italian Communist party "The Gramscian concept of hegemony is mostly used to indicate the cultural leadership of the dominant classes in the production of generalized meanings in society. (https://faculty.washington.edu/mlg/courses/definitions/hegemony.html)

30

the first space. Thus the first and the second space will permit the understanding of the

ideology and politics behind the conception and the perception of a particular space.

However, according to Lefebvre the first and the second space would not be sufficient to

understand fully the space ,as none of the previous concepts account for the individual

experience and the individual’s contact with that space, especially if we take into

consideration that each and every one would probably have a different representation based

on their interactions and experiences of a space or a place in particular. Henceforth

Lefebvre advanced the idea of ‘The lived space’. This third space which results from the

fusion of the first and the second space would account for the individual’s living experience

in a space. The term the ‘Lived Space’ encompasses both the real/perceived and

imagined/conceived spaces and captures real-life experiences.

I.6 Environmental Psychology

Lefebvreian theory had a major contributed in what is called the spatiality through

introducing the ‘lived space’ mental space which is the baby born of the concrete space,

the abstract space and the individual’s interaction with both. His ‘Trialectic of Space’ has

made an account of the interaction between the physical and the mental to render truthfully

the living experience of a single body within a specific space. His work paved the way to

the discipline of environmental psychology which attempts to study the relationship

between environment and psychology researches within this discipline; have addressed the

31

extent to which physical and social spaces impact upon the spaces of mental life and

subjectivity.

The term "environment" englobes a range of topics, such as how family life or

neighborhood and culture affects behavior, but it also holds the sense of how architecture

affects behavior, and how the city planning on the macro scale can affect behavior. In the

broad sense it is about how we interact with the world in which we live, and how those

interactions shape our psychology. The observations revealed that we unconsciously

manifest different behaviors purely based on the change of setting related to architecture;

such as the austere architecture of school and church were sufficient to establish a feeling

of respect and quietude. Within the same stream the research in environmental psychology

advocated the importance of the ‘Personal space’. According to environmental psychology

observations of this discipline revealed the importance of the personal space since it offers

a sense of security, comfort and privacy. The theories of environmental psychology on how

environment impacts on the individual’s emotions and behavior can be critical when

designing a city. If such designs are mishandled, it could lead to feelings of stress and

animosity.

32

I.7 Conclusion

The theoretical background introduced in this chapter , illustrates the therories of

space form the perspectives of literature, which is illustrated by Bertrand Westphal’s

insights in Geocriticism, space and place are also dealt with from the perspective of

geographers , and urban planners which is illustrated by the work of Yi Fu Tuan and ,

Henry Lefebvre. From the philosophical point of view. It has been refered to the

Foucauldian perspective concerning space and spatiality, and finally space is also viewed

form the perspective of the enviorenmental psychology which coined the built environment

with the individual’s psyche. The theoretical background introduced in this chapter will

escort this dissertation in order to attempt to support the hypothesis The insight of Yi Fu

Tuan will permit to distinguish between the space and the place in the protagonist’s

surrounding. . In the second chapter the Theories of Tuan and Lefebvre will contributes

into illustrating how space is consciously produced and meticulously designed , as for the

and the Foucauldian concept of Panopticism , it will be juxtaposed with the architecture

in Nineteen Eighty Four to illustrate how The Orwellian London is designed as a

Panopticon. The third chapter is supported by Tuan’s theory in order to extract place from

space it is also evolving around the concept of ‘Transsgressivity’ introduced by Bertand

Westphal. This distinction between space and place and the transsgressivity on the

homogenous space will result in a new place which Michel Foucault has referred to as the

33

Heretopic place .The Foucauldian concepts of ‘Panoticism’ and ‘Heterotopia’ are both

linked to specific places and spaces in the novel, and from the protagonist interaction with

both the Panopticon space and the Heretopic place ; this dissertation will attempt to

illustrate the influence of each space and place on the protagonist’s psyche.

34

II. Chapter Two

The architecture of Panopticism

in Nineteen Eighty four

TABLE OF CONTENTS II.1 Introduction to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four .........................................................34

II.2 The theme of Power and Control in the novel ............................................................36

II.3 Architecture in Nineteen Eighty Four as a Device of Power and Control .................38

II.4 The Concious Production of Space ............................................................................41

II.5 The Foucauldian Panopticon ......................................................................................44

II.6 Panopticism Juxtaposed on Ninteen Eighty Four .......................................................45

II.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................48

35

II.1 Introduction to Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’

George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four; with its nightmarish fictional prophecies

is both a political novel and a dystopia, and it is usually placed within anti-fascist literature

produced in the thirties and forties. Although written over a half-century ago, Nineteen

Eighty-Four remains a significant novel, the title itself has become a political archetype,

and has engendered numerous catching phrases that became familiar expressions of the

oppression and tyranny of totalitarian regimes; such as ‘thought police’, ‘doublethink’

‘newspeak’ and ‘thought crime’. Accordingly, a substantial body of literature surrounds

both the novel and its author .There are several researchers, philosophers and critics who

tackled this novel in relation to various themes such as how fiction offers an understanding

of social and political events, the tyranny of technology, the effects of torture on thought,

sexual revolt to express political rebellion, as well as the limitation of the linguistic space

with the purpose to control the thoughts.

Nevertheless the most predominant theme enveloping the novel remains the theme of

power and control. The totalitarian government of Oceania ensures to maintain control and

power over all aspects of life. The citizen’s existence was organized, regulated and

scheduled, in such a manner so that no room for individuality or independent thinking was

left. And any form of uniqueness was regarded as a deviance and considered to be a crime

referred to as ‘OWN LIFE’ by the government of INGSOC. Another form of the power and

control imposed by the government of Oceania over its citizens could be explored from the

angle of space and spatiality. From perspective of space and spatiality, it is possible to

illustrate how the built environment and the architectural planning in Oceania have been

carefully designed to ensure the usurpation of one’s ‘personal space’ , and how this

36

architecture of domination also turned out to be a valuable tool to impose power and

maintain control.

The narrative is set in 1984 in a futuristic and dystopian London and its capital

Oceania, where the state is the ultimate source of power, and all forms of individuality and

personality have become criminalized. Citizens live in an atmosphere of suspicion and

extreme surveillance imposed by ‘Big Brother’ and ‘the telescreen’. The novel focuses on

the life of Winston Smith, the main protagonist, who lives in London, the chief city of

Airstrip One (formerly England), which is one of the many provinces of Oceania. Winston

who is a member of the outer party; is employed in the Records Department of the Ministry

of Truth and his job is to rewrite history .The novel begins, a bleak day in April, when

Winston ‘commits his tiny, brave act of defiance and, starts to keep a diary, even though

he knows that the punishment for doing so is death’. He is even obsessed, with

unanswerable questions, and particularly the question of ‘Why?’. Apart from Winston, the

novel revolves around Julia and O’Brien. . Julia, like Winston, is employed in the Fiction

Department in the Ministry of Truth. At first, Winston, believes Julia to be either an agent

of the Thought Police or an amateur spy, however, she secretively passes a note to Winston

that says ‘I love you’. following which they begin a secret love affair. The character of

O’Brien, is presented as a mysterious and fascinating figure to Winston, who is a member

of the Inner Party. Winston believes mistakenly that he is a member of a secret

revolutionary group known as the Brotherhood; a supposedly underground organization

aiming to overthrow the Party. However, towards the end of the novel it is O’Brien who

personally oversees the torture and confession of Winston.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is divided into three large sections with an additional short

appendix discussing Newspeak, a new linguistic space which imposes a more concise and

37

accurate language for Oceania. In section one, Winston Smith, describes the material

conditions of his life which include his daily rituals, the censorship he is subjected to, his

feelings towards his colleagues, work, women food, history, reality, truth and especially

the regime's ideology and its leader, Big Brother. He also gives minute description of his

living place and working place. The second section introduces an element of hope as

Winston and Julia experience the temporary feeling of privacy in the room above the

antique shop. By the end of this section they are captured by Oceania's secret services. The

third section is even uglier than the first, and exposes the extent of the brutality of Oceania's

regime, in this section the protagonist is caught and tortured at the Ministry of Love by

O'Brien's. Once Winston is estimated to be totally re-educated; he is set free and given a

less responsible job at the Ministry of Truth. It is on the last page of this section that

Winston expects to die, having first met Julia, who is also psychologically broken. Finally,

in the appendix, Newspeak is described as if written at a time far beyond the world of

Nineteen Eighty-Four. It includes a detailed descriptions of how the vocabulary of the new

language will be greatly reduced. Newspeak was one of the forms of device that the

government of INGSOC used, and it aimed with it to eventually be able to control the

citizen’s thoughts through limiting their linguistic space.

II.2 The theme of power and control in the novel

The obsessive preoccupation with limiting the linguistic space in order to control

the thoughts, runs in parallel to the lack of freedom in every other aspect of life in the

society of Oceania. In the imaginary world of ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, Orwell expressed

the thought control with his inventions of ‘Thought Police’, ‘Newspeak and doublethink’,

which all contributed to the production, falsification and manipulation of knowledge, thus

enabling the INGSOC government to erase any remains or fragments of the ancestral

38

memory including history and language. Even their inner thoughts were scrutinized as

Winston described in the novel; it was even dangerous for people to allow themselves to

think when they were in public, considering that their facial expression may betray them

and they would have committed a ‘face crime’. As a result the members of the party were

not only wearing the same uniforms, but a similar facial expressions as well, and it was all

out of fear to be ‘Vaporized’. Because if any free thought were considered as a deviance

and a crime, and if such deviance is detected the deviant individual would have to cease to

exit. Individuals would simply dissolve form space, names will be erased and any records

of their existence will be altered. Thus the vaporized or annihilated individual is erased

from both space and memory.

It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any

public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give

you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of

muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of

abnormality, of having to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression

on your face … was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for

it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called. (Orwell,55).

In the dystopian society of Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell described the

abuses of power which resulted in the loss of humanity and individuality. In Oceania he

imagined a totalitarian state overly disciplined both spatially and temporally; as every

single aspect of life was regimented by the government. Therefore all landmarks of

humanity and individuality were incorporated under the control of the state. Orwell

suggests in his nightmarish prophecy, that the production and manipulation of knowledge

were critical to the usurpation of power. And if we tackle the ideology of power from the

perspective of space and spatiality, it becomes evident in the novel that the production and

manipulation of space was also instrumental in maintaining surveillance, usurping power

39

and maintaining control. In Oceania all the landmark buildings were attributed to the

government of INGSCO and all history was in Orwell’s words: a palimpsest, scraped clean

and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary (Orwell 51).Churches were transformed

to war museum for propaganda, or left as ruins with no possibility of knowing their history,

since the government altered any thing that might throw light on the past including

architecture, so that no one could learn history from architecture any more than one could

learn it from books, thus clearly the ruler of Ninteen Eighty Four was fully aware of the

power of architecture in teaching, thus ; just as language; it was considered as a powerfull

device of power , and it had to be controlled inorder to be used as a tool of opression and

to quote Tuan:

‘Architecture teaches. A planned city, a monument, or even a simple

dwelling can be a symbol of the cosmos .In the absence of books and formal

instruction. Architecture is a key to comprehending reality’ (Tuan Pg 102)

II.3 Architecture as a device of power and control

The ideology of power and control of followed by the government of INGSOC is

omnipresent in the living space of the protagonist. The minute description of his built

environment, and its architecture transmit a sense of despair and discomfort. The physical

surroundings of the narrative changes from one section to another to escort the narrative

and illustrate the individual’s interaction with space and demonstrate how space and place

have been designed in Oceania to keep a firm control its inhabitants. Within Nineteen

Eighty four, it becomes clear that all aspects of life are regimented in Winston’s world. The

spatial and temporal elements of discipline, for example, are clearly illustrated in the

everyday lives of party members:

In principle a Party member had no spare time, and was never alone except

in bed. It was assumed that when he was not working, eating, or sleeping

he would be taking part in some kind of communal recreations; to do

40

anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by

yourself, was always slightly dangerous. There was a word for it in

Newspeak: OWNLIFE, it was called, meaning individualism and

eccentricity. (Orwell pg 104)

As such, even walking home via an alternative route was considered as a deviation

from the structured space and was enough to arouse suspicion (Orwell 106). The spatial

separation was also designed with respect to social relations. The architecture was used to

indicate the social strata and it also contributed to the isolation of its inhabitants; by

assigning each individual to a particular place, for example, party members are both

socially and spatially separated from the state and society; they were unaware of others’

activities. They remained partitioned, each sequestered into their own enclosed spaces; and

each is performing a specific function, and no member was able to see the totality of the

system. Thus, all facets of humanity are monitored and disciplined and this control of

society and space is performed hierarchically.

In the Orwellian london it is abvious that the the physical environment also

contributed to opress the indiviual, he presented a specific description of the architectue

and the built environement through which his characters passages. He introduced land mark

building, such as the Ministry of Truth and the Ministry of Love and minute description

of living places such as the victory manssions and working places which all reflects a

society controlled by its architecture, in his article The architecture of opression Dr.Gerald

Bernstein mentioned that:

‘The negative Utopia described in 1984 is one of the repression supported

by a complex technology in the service of the state. But in Orwell’s

dehumanized world it is not only the psychic environment that opresses the

individual but the physical environment as well. For the architecture of

Orwell’s ‘future’ as a metaphor of a totalitarian repression’.(Bernstein)

41

Form the very first chapter we are introduced to the physical surroundings of the

protagonit which sets the tone of the novel , in Orwell’s description of Winston’s return to

his appartment we are presented with the architecture of the Victory Mansions which are

described as old flats falling into pieces . The depressing atmosphere is transmitted ,

through his description of the the ill-functioning and delapitated structure. With dust every

were , and the smell of boiled cabbage filling the atmosphere in his appartmen. I his

appartement winston was aware of the telescreen scrutinizing evry sound and move he

would produce, yet decided to commit his act of devance of starting a diary , in the novel

gerorge orwell suggest winston’s bold deceision to do so was encouraged beacause he

managed to find a small corner in his apartemnt which was hidden from the telescreen.

Thus it felt safe for Winston to express his thoughts on paper, Orwell states clearly that it

was the unusual physical setting , which created a small place of privacy , that dodged the

constant surveillance in his living space and partly encouraged winston to have a small

taste of free expression:

‘For some reason the telescreen in the living-room was inan usual position.

Instead of being of being placed, as was normal, in the end wall, where it

could command the whole room ...it was oppisitthe window. To one side of

it was a shallow alcove in which winston was now sitting (…). By sitting in

the alcove and keepin well back , Winston was able to remain outside the

range of the telescreen(…) It was partly the unusual geography of the room

that had suggested to him the thing he was about to do’. (Orwell,8)

Late in the novel winston visits Obrien’s place which demonstrate a vibrant contrast

with the appaling living conditions in Victory Mansions. The elite of the party lived in

huge blocks of spacious flats , softly carpeted passageways with their cream papered walls

and white wainscoating were exquisitly clean. In Obrien’s office it was was not needed to

42

find a hiding alcove from the telescreen , as he simply turned it off one of the numerous

previledges enjoyed by of the Inner party members.The symbolic contrast between the

architecture and the settings of Victory Mansions and Obrien’s place also served to

transmitts the different positions in the hierarchical society.

II.4 The Conscious Production of Space

Accordingly it is possible to deduce that all facets of humanity are monitored and

disciplined in Winston’s world. As it has been previously illustrated , within Nineteen

Eighty four; the spatial and temporal elements of life were closely monitored and

meticulously timed ;in order to control every aspect in the lives of Oceania’s citizens ;and

allow no deviance form the scheduled life and structured space. It has been also mentioned

that the physical environment in the Orwellian london have also contributed to opress the

indiviual. Therefore the ideology of power and control followed by the government is

omnipresent in the living space of the protagonist as well. The detailed description of his

built environment, and its architecture also served as an indicator of the social strata

especially in the description of the living environment of the Proles and the living

conditions of the Outer Party agents that clearly contrasted with the style of living of the

Elite of the Inner Party. Which indicates that the control of society and space is performed

hierarchically. Thus it is possible to assume that the space of the protagonist within

Nineteen Eighty Four has been consciously and judiciously designed to maintain a firm

43

control over the individual. And this idea of a conscious and meticulous creation of a living

space is reinforced by both Yi Fu Tuan as well as the Lefebvreian Trialectic of space.

Yi Fu Tuan argued in the eighth chapter of ‘Space and Place: The Perspective of

experience’ ,which is entitled ‘Architecture Space and Awareness’; that any act of building

calls for a conscious organization, thus the planning is a necessity to any architecture. Once

achieved the architectural edifice will form an environment for man. That is to say that

‘Man’ shapes his environment to suite his ‘body’. He also emphasized that the final result

of this architectural awareness will ultimately have an immense impact not only on the

individual’s perceptions and feelings towards their own living space, but on the social

interactions as well. Because this this conscious arrangement of space will draw one’s

attention to the social hierarchy of space constantly reminding man of where he stands in

society. Within the same stream of thoughts the schema of the Trialectic of space

introduced by Henry Lefebvre in ‘The Production of Space’, also emphasized the conscious

production of space.

Henry Lefebvre explained that the creation of a space is a conscious process that

goes through two different phases the ‘Perceived’ and the ‘Conceived’ while the third

phase which is the ‘Lived’ serves as a report of the experience of the individual with the

space which have been perceived and then conceived. Henri Lefebvre explained that the

process of the production of space has explicit political aspects ‘there is a politics of space

because space is political'. (qtd in Alden125). He also argued that the space is shaped and

molded through a political process. Therefore the understanding of a Space includes an

understanding of its political and social construction as well as the individual’s dealings

with the space produced.

44

The idea of the conscious production of space and the politic of space is also well

illustrated by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. He began

his chapter on Discipline with the measures adopted in the seventeenth century when the

plague appeared in town. Those measures involved a strict spatial partition and the division

of the town into distinct quarters, and each placed under a strict surveillance, in order to

prevent the plague from spreading. Foucault mentioned that inspection functions

continuously, considering that the gaze is wide wide-awake all over the place. The

individuals are confined in specific places, where the role of each individual is clearly

specified .which leaves no room form movements, or interaction, thus nor risks of

contagion or rebellion. The space is strictly designed to be stable, standardized and

immovable in order to facilitate the monitoring of the inhabitants, in Foucault’s terms:

‘It is a segmented, immobile, frozen space. Each individual is fixed in his place.

And if he moves, he does so at the risk of his life, contagion or punishment[…]This

enclosed segmented space , observed at every point, in which all individuals are

inserted in a fixed place, in which the slightest movement are supervised , in which

all events are recorded …all this constitute a compact model of disciplinary

mechanism’ (Foucault 195-196 ).

Accordingly if we refer to Tuan’s conscious arrangement of space, and to the

Lefebvreian theory concerning the political production of space, as well as the Foucauldian

measures of discipline and the cautious design of the space of surveillance, we may deduce

that the space of the protagonist in Nineteen Eighty Four was not a mere coincidence, but

instead it has been perceived first and then conceived by the government of INGSOC. In

the light of the above mentioned theories we can also understand ‘The Why’ behind the

conscious and meticulous production of space which is clearly to keep the citizens under

the government close watch. As for ‘The How’ concerning the space arrangement for a

perfect surveillance, it is illustrated by Foucault’s Panopticism, which he described as an

45

effective mechanism of power without any physical instrument other than architecture and

most importantly it acts directly on the individual as it gives ‘power of mind over

mind’(Foucault 200).

II.5 The Foucauldian Panopticon.

Michel Foucault argued that the Panopticon epitomized the perfect architectural

representation of the mechanism of surveillance. This architecture pivoted around two

central concepts, which are partitioning and scrutinizing. He further explained, that this

solid model of disciplinary mechanism; demonstrated the way of exercising power over

men, by scrutinizing them, controlling their relations and separating them to avoid any

threatening combinations. And this disciplinary partition, was further applied in the

nineteenth century to ‘the space of exclusion’ such as psychiatric asylum or penitentiaries

which served as space to contain the individuals who were considered to be abnormal or

deviant by the society’s norms. He also explained that these ‘spaces of exclusion’, dispose

of techniques and mechanisms that serves to supervise and correct, or alter ‘the abnormal’

throughts.

Michel Foucault termed this mechanism of surveillance ‘Panopticism’, with

reference to the architectural design introduced by Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th

century. The Panopticon architecture is designed to create a space of surveillance where

individuals are constantly scrutinized. This particular use of space and the carful

distribution of bodies into specific places results in a powerful space of surveillance and

control. This architecture consist of an annular building at the periphery and a tower at the

center. The annular building is divided into cells, with two windows one on the inside

which exposes the cell to the tower in the center and one from the outside which allows the

light to cross the cell from one end to the other. Subsequently the full lighting and the

46

position of the supervisor in the tower would permit to capture every single movement of

the inmates. Each individual is confined in his cell, and the side walls prevent any contact

with his neighbors. Each individual is seen by the supervisor in the tower, without being

able to see in return, as Foucault mentioned:

‘He is seen, but he does not see; he is the object of information, never a

subject in communication. The arrangement of his room, opposite the

central tower, imposes on him an axial visibility…and visibility is a

guarantee of order.’(Foucault 197)

Foucault further indicated that this architecture would maintain the perfect order be

it in a prison, an asylum, at work or even school, as any form of collectivity is abolished

replaced by the partition of the individuals and the distribution of bodies in space. He also

explained that the major effect of the Panopticon; is that it induces the idea that you are

being constantly scrutinized even if you are not, thus this architectural apparatus will

sustain the power relation, as the inmate will never be able to tell whether he is being

watched or not. Consequently the inmate will constantly live in the fear of being watched

and thus will maintain the discipline imposed on him. This from of architecture, could be

illustrated in the novel with Orwell’s description of the architectural design of the

macroscopic space of the protagonist, with Big Brother’s Poster symbolically serving as a

supervising tower to be seen from each and every angle. And the constant scrutiny of the

‘Telescreen’.

II.6 Panopticism Juxtaposed with the Orwellian London

Similarly to The Foucauldian Panopticon, it appears that the architecture in the

Orwellian London has been designed to provide a powerful model of ‘disciplinary

mechanism’. Through a clear distribution of the bodies, the citizens were partitioned and

47

separated in order to enable a constant surveillance of their actions and thoughts, also to

prevent any form of deviance that might cause a rebellion. This architecture of surveillance

that Foucault termed as ‘The utopia of the perfectly governed city’ (Foucault 196); holds a

resonance of a gigantic prison. Early in the novel we are introduced with this atmosphere

of surveillance and scrutiny at the Victory Mansions. As Winston climbs the floors, he

describes the gigantic poster watching him from every angle, as a constant reminder that

you were under constant observation:

‘…at one end of it a colored poster, too large for indoor display, had been

tacked to the wall. It depicted simply and enormous face, more than a meter

wide: the face of a man …Winston made for the stairs …, went slowly,

resting several times on the way. On each landing…the poster with the

enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are

contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS

WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran’ (Orwell p3)

The Atmosphere of surveillance is omnipresent in all the different spaces of the

protagonist within Oceania. As he enters his flat, Orwell again depicts the atmosphere of

scrutiny by introducing the ‘Telescreen’, a rectangular metal plaque which covered part of

the surface of the wall, an instrument which served as a continuous tool of surveillance.

Outside in the street the police patrol snooped into people’s windows leaving them no

privacy. In the fourth chapter we are introduced to his work place. A hall with fifty workers,

and each was confined in a small cubicle where everything was within arm’s reach

including the ‘Telescreen’. Each worker was involved in a task of his own, with no

communication between them so none of them could know what the other was working on,

thus, none was able to understand the bigger picture. And that hall of fifty workers formed

just a single cell of the Department of Records, which was itself a single branch of the

Ministry of Truth.

48

The carful separation and partition as well as the careful positioning of bodies

within the macroscopic space of the protagonist of Nineteen Eighty Four are all indicators

of the conscious and the political production of space with the clear goal to maintain control

and power over the individual’s actions and thoughts. In the following description given

by Winston in his apartment and ‘The Telescreen’ one may distinguish some similarities

of the Foucauldian description of the Panopticon architecture:

‘So long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque

commanded, he could be see as well as heard. There was of course no way

of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How

often, or on what system, The Though Police plugged in on any individual

wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody

all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they

wanted to. You had to live- did live, from habit that became instinct- in the

assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and except in

darkness, every movement scrutinized. Winston Kept his back turned to the

telescreen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even back can be

revealing.(Orwell p5).

Orwell goes even further and explains that even when Winston had his back turned

to the ‘Telescreen’ he had to be careful because ‘even a back can be revealing’(Orwell 5),

which emphasizes the idea that every single little movement was monitored , and the

citizens were expected to behave and conduct themselves according to the norms set by

the government of INGSOC, and heretic thought or movement was deemed to be a form

of deviance and punishable by annihilation or ‘VAPORIZED’ (Orwell 24) was the exact

term used by Orwell. Even the punishment of the individual’s deviance was related to space

, the citizens suspected of ‘THOUGHTCRIME’ or ‘OWNLIFE’ were considered as

heresies and had to evaporate that is to say that they were erased from the space which has

been conceived homogenously by the government., their names were removed from the

registers and any records of their previous existence were wiped out.

49

II.7 Conclusion

Thus in the light of the Foucauldian description of Panopticism, and in addition to

the description of the macroscopic space of Winston , which includes Victory Mansion and

the his cubicle in the Ministry of Truth we may confirm the hypothesis that the, space of

the Orwellian London has been consciously conceived as a Panopticon .The architectural

design of Panopticism, focusses on the carful distribution of the bodies and the constant

scrutiny which escorts perfectly the mechanism of surveillance. In Nineteen Eighty Four

the government of INGSOC maintained a solid grip over its citizens both physically and

psychologically. The citizens were perfectly governed through the control of the spatial

and temporal element of their lives which left no rooms for deviance, consequently it seems

obvious that the design of the macroscopic space in the Orwellian London of Nineteen

Eighty Four was inspired by the Panopticon architecture, which facilitate control of its

citizens by means of the constant and continuous surveillance. As a result of this

Panopticon design Winston was fully aware of being constantly scrutinized and this

awareness of being continuously gazed at, resulted in a conditioned behavior which was in

itself, the ultimate goal of the state of surveillance. The constant scrutiny of the individuals

in space aimed at the control of the inner thoughts of its citizens, and ultimately the

suppression of any deviant thoughts and eventually rebellious behavior , the following

quote form the novel illustrate the importance of controlling the individual’s state of mind

in the Panopticon of Oceania:

‘He knew it was useless, whether he wrote down with big brother or whether

he refrained from writing it, it made no difference…The Thought police

would get him just the same, He had committed, even if had never set a pen

to paper- the essential crime that contained all others in itself.

Thoughtcrime, they called it, Thoughtcrime was not thing that could be

concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years,

but sooner or later they were bound to get you’(Orwell pg24)

50

Accordingly, we may also conclude that the control of the space of the protagonist

in Nineteen Eighty Four, was also a valuable tool in the apparatus of the government.

Considering that the space which was meticulously designed by the government in order

to maintain a constant scrutiny over its inhabitant, also contributed in altering the inner

thoughts of the individuals, out of fear of committing the biggest crime of all which was

the ‘THOUGHCRIME’. The citizens of Oceania were fully aware of being constantly

watched, which resulted. Thus we may deduce that the space designed in Oceania had a

direct impact on the protagonist psyche, as it resulted in a conditioned response and a new

behavior shaping. The protagonist abide by the government rules, because he knew that he

was under constant scrutiny. However in this macroscopic space designed as a Panopticon

the protagonist, transgressed on the fixed boundaries fixed by big brother , which resulted

in a Hertopic place.

51

III. Chapter Three

The Heretopic Place

in Nineteen Eighty four

TABLE OF CONTENTS

III.1 The Heretopic Place in contrast with the Panopticon Space.....................................52

III.2 The Heretopic place in Ninteen Eighty four .................................................................. 55

III.3 The features of the Heretopic place ................................................................................ 56

III.4 The impact of the Heretopic place on the protagonist ................................................. 58

III.5 The Return towards the Panopticon Space ................................................................60

III.6 The Impact of the Panoticon Space and the Heretopic Place on the psychee of the

paratogonist .......................................................................................................................63

III.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................65

52

The second part Nineteen Eighty Four differs markedly from the first as it

introduced of an element of hope. In this section the protagonist commits a transgression

on the macroscopic space designed as a Panopticon by INGSOC , and by doing so , he

created a new place whish stood as a counter-site in comparison to the Panopticon space.

This new counter-site that resulted from the ‘Transsgressivity’ on space created what Tuan

described as a ‘Place’ which had a different effect on the protagonist both physically and

psychologically, it introduced a feeling of privacy, quietude and serenity which were all

absent from the Panopticon space in Oceania. This new place was the room above the

antique shop which Winston decided to rent in order to have a place of rendez-vous for his

love affair with Julia , and in order to experience their own private 'utopia' away from the

surveillance and the scrutiny of Panopticon space of Oceania.

In Ninteen Eighty Four Winston’s desire to escape the spying eyes and Big brother’s

surveillance lead him to a different space in London’s district inhabited by the proles ; a

different space with a different built environment, Orwell’s description of this devastated

space with its patched streets of little two story houses was just as depressing as Victory

Mansions,and here gain Orwell has used an architectural setting of filthy conditions to

distinguish between the different social strata, since the proles were considered by the

government of INGSOC to be outcasts , who must be kept in their ignorance. However it

is in this place that the protagonist finds some releif form the constant surveillance of big

Brother and the ‘Though Police’. In a small rented room above the antique shop. This

counter-site in the Orwellian London becomes his refuge form the Party , and his love nest

with Julia. The expereince of this place awakened in Winston some sort of an ancestral

memory .

53

III.1 The ‘Heretopic Place’ in contrast with the ‘Panopticon Space’

In the chapter dedicated to the theoretical background, it has been referred to the

insights of Yi Fu Tuan concerning Space and Place and the distinction between these

closely related notions. In spite of the connection and the codependence of the two concepts

of Space and Place, the work of Yi Fu Tuan in has contributed into making a clear

distinction between these two concepts. According to Tuan’s theory; ‘Space’ in the broad

sense becomes a Place as it acquires definition and meaning and starts having its own

specific characteristics and an aura of its own, and this process that marks the shift from

Space to Place; through conferring an atmosphere on a place is interlinked with the human

senses and modes of perception, thus a place can only be defined through the interaction

that occurs via the direct and indirect modes of perception

‘It is impossible to discuss experiential space without introducing the object

and places that define space (…).Space is transformed into place as it

acquires definition and meaning.(Tuan 136)

From Tuan’s theory we may conclude that the human being as an entity exist in

space; but as a complex individual; man truly live in a place which he constructs through

his personal modes of perception. In Geocriticism, Westpahal also tackled the distinction

between space and place from a different perspective. He referred to two different sorts of

spaces, ‘The Homogeneous Space’ which excludes the particularity of minority perception

and ‘The Heterogeneous Space’, which is presented as the outcome of the transgression on

the homogenous space. According to Westphal transgression relates to the crossing of

boundaries outside which exists ‘a marginal space of freedom’ (Westphal), and when this

transgression occurs repeatedly it becomes a customary habit it turns into what Westphal

termed as ‘Trangressivity’. Westphal further clarifies that this repeated transgression

54

would result in the creation of a new space far from being homogenous, an intimate space

outside of the boundaries of the enclosure. It creates for the individual a zone of intimacy,

guarded against external intrusions and allows the synthesis of all differences:

‘This is a secret space, space of hyperbaton one where the individual deploys

a supplemental personal truth, protected from the eyes of the world and from

the prescriptions of the code. This tension between a normatively sanctioned

unity and the need for freedom emerging at the margins of the law.’

(Westphal,44).

Within the same theme of the intersection between the homogenous space and the

heterogeneous space, and the distinction between space and place, we may refer to Michel

Foucault who also focused on, the crossing between the macroscopic space and the

individual space, through his introduction of ‘Heretopia’. Unlike the Panopticon space of

surveillance, this space is described as a counter-site, which have the property to contradict

the homogenous spaces. He referred to these counter site as a Heterotopic site which he

also described as ‘a place outside of all places’. According to Michel Foucault; Heterotopia

is another name for the sphere of intimacy that resist the pervasive codification in the

macroscopic space attributed to the state apparatus. Foucault further argued that the

Heterotopia spaces, could be also termed as ‘the crisis heterotopia’ which are sacred or

forbidden places reserved for the individual in time of crisis. Foucault also mentioned that

‘crisis heterotopia’ are being replaced by ‘heterotopias of deviation’ which are reserved for

individuals with deviants behaviors by the norms and practices of a given the society. He

55

finally attributed to these counter sites the function to create a space of illusion or

compensation:

‘Either their role to create a space of illusion that exposes every real space

, all the sites inside which human life is partitioned…..Or else, on the

contrary, their role is to create space that is other, another real space as

perfect , as meticulous , as well arranged as ours is messy , ill constructed

and jumbled’(Foucault,8).

This new secret place which Tuan , described as the outcome of the individual’s

perception and interaction with space ; and which is also the result of what Westphal

described as a transgression on the macroscopic space , and which Foucault described as a

Heretopic place of intimacy that resist the prevalent classification in the Macroscopic

Space. Was also advanced in the Lefebvreian Schema of ‘Trialectic of Space’ as being the

‘Lived Space’, which accounts for the living experience of the individual. . According to

Lefebvre the first and the second space will permit the understanding of the ideology and

politics behind the conception and the perception of a particular space. However, none

would account for the individual’s contact with that space, especially if we take into

consideration, what Tuan refers to as ‘The Experiential perspective of space’, That is to

say that each and every one would probably have a different representation based on their

interactions and experiences of a space or a place in particular.

56

III.2 The Heretopic Place in Nineteen Eighty Four

As previously suggested the space in Nineteen Eighty Four has been designed as

some sort of a Panopticon, and within the narrative we can witness how the protagonist is

affected by the macroscopic space that has been designed homogenously allowing no

individuality. However, in the second section of the novel the protagonist Winston commits

what Bertrand Westphal referred to as an act of a recurrent transgression on the

homogenous macroscopic space. Westphal argued that the act of ‘Transgressivity’ creates

for the individual a zone of intimacy, guarded against external intrusions:

‘This is a secret space, space of hyperbaton one where the individual

deploys a supplemental personal truth, protected from the eyes of the world

and from the prescriptions of the code. This tension between a normatively

sanctioned unity and the need for freedom emerging at the margins of the

law.’ (Westphal,44)

Accordingly by committing this transgression on the homogenous space which is

designed as a Panopticon Winston found an intimate place which procured a marginal

space of freedom. Thus through this act of repeated transgression he created a counter-site

that contrasted with the Panopticon architecture imposed by the Government of INGSOC.

In the novel this new place of freedom was the room he rented above the antique shop,

which became the protagonist’s zone of intimacy, and which from the protagonist

perspective; clearly contrasted with scrutiny prevailing in Oceania. In the light of Tuan’s

distinction between space and place, we may conclude that this new microscopic space that

resulted from the Protagonist transgression on the Panopticon space engendered what Tuan

referred to as a ‘Place’, because this new counter-site had a distinct atmosphere and an aura

that opposed the other spaces in the novel which is further illustrated by Winston’s

interaction and perception of the room. In this room the protagonist started having what

Tuan referred to as ‘The Experiential perspective of space’, which involves the interaction

57

with a space with all our modes of perceptions. And the minute description of the warmth

and friendly atmosphere is what turned the room above the antique shop form a space to a

place with an aura of its own.

III.3 The Features of the Heretopic Place in the novel

The ‘Place’ that resulted from the protagonist transgression on the Panopticon space

and which emerged as a counter- site that contrasted the other spaces in the Orwellian

London , is introduced towards the end of the first section . However it was not until the

second section of the novel that the protagonist made the move to rent the room and it was

encouraged by his love affair with Julia and their need for a private and a safe place as

mentioned in the novel (Orwell 172). Winston was aware that by renting this room , he was

committing a transgression on the homogenous space as he described his act of renting the

room as being madness , ‘conscious gratuitous suicidal folly’(Orwell173), but the desire

for privacy and the temptation of having a hiding place was stronger than the fear of being

caught. Thus we may say that by committing what Westphal termed as ‘Transgressivity’

on the homogenous space that has been designed as a Panopticon, Winston opened the door

to a new a place which stood as a counter site in the Orwellian London and in the

Foucauldian term the room above Mr Charrington’s shop has become his Heretopic place.

In the eighth chapter of the second section of the novel we follow the protagonist

as his thoughts were wandering while his feet brought him subconsciously to the Prole’s

area and more precisely outside the junk- shop where he had bought his diary. The author

explains that Winston was drawn to this place in spite of the danger of being seen or caught

by the police in these quarters. As the protagonist enters the shop, Orwell describes the

unclean but friendly smell of the shop, he also describes the dusty frames on the walls and

58

the unfamiliar and beautiful objects which seemed to belong to a different age from the

present one (Orwell 121). After his interaction with Mr. Charrington ; the owner of the

Junk-shop ;Winston is invited to see the room upstairs. The author begins by providing a

description of the geographic placement of the room which faced a yard instead of the main

street, which appears to contrast the geographic position and the Panopticon architecture

of his flat of in Victory Mansion. The author also gave a minute description of the room

with its Victorian furniture, which also contrasted with the austerity described in his flat or

his cubicle:

The room did not give on the street, but looked out on a cobbled yard and

a forest of chimney-pots. Winston noticed that the furniture was still

arranged as though the room were meant to be lived in. There was a strip

of carpet in the floor, a picture or two on the wall, and a deep slatternly

arm-chair drawn up to the fir place (Orwell 121).

The Description of the room above the antique shop came as a clear contrast to the

cold and grimy space of the protagonist under INGSOC governance. The room was

described as being designed to be lived in, it was inviting and seemed to be an answer to

Winston’s questions about the past as it triggered his nostalgia and awakened his ancestral

memory. And perhaps the most distinguishable feature of this room is the feeling of

privacy and intimacy which was induced by the absence of the gazing and spying of the

‘Telescreens’ ,which was also a manifest contrast with the Panopticon space of

surveillance.

In the warm dim light the place looked curiously inviting…the room had

awakened in him a sort of nostalgia, a sort of ancestral memory. It seemed

to him that he knew exactly what it felt like to sit in a room like this…utterly

alone, utterly secure, with no body watching you , no voice pursuing you

(Orwell, 122)

59

Accordingly if we refer to Michel Foucault’s description of Heretopia, we may

deduce that this new Place that resulted from the protagonist transgression on the

homogenous space in Oceania; holds the features that Foucault attributed to the Hereotopic

space. Considering that the room stands as a counter site which had the property to

contradict the Panopticism created in the Orwellian London. In addition to the most

significant feature of the room is that it had no apparatus of surveillance, and this

particularity provided what Foucault termed as a sphere of intimacy that contrasted with

the rule and regulations imposed by the government. The room above the junk-shop could

be also viewed as a shelter in which the protagonist managed to hide thus it constituted

what Foucault termed as a ‘Crisis Heretopia’ which are places reserved for the individual

in time of crisis or which are reserved for individuals with deviants behaviors by the norms

and practices of a given the society. Likewise in Nineteen Eighty Four Winston was fully

aware of the folly that he was committing when he decided to rent this place, in order to

nurture his love affair with Julia and he was also aware of his deviance from the rules

imposed. Thus we may concluded that the room above the Junk shop is the Heretopic place

in the novel as it is presented as a counter site to the Panopticon architecture in the

Orwellian London, and it has also welcomed the Protagonist in time of crisis, and served

as a shelter to cover up his deviance, and most importantly it created a space of illusion or

compensation a characteristic that Michel Foucault had also attributed to these counter

sites.

III.4 The Impact of the Heretopic place on the Protagonist

The Heretopic place in the novel had a noticeable impact on the protagonist both

physically and psychologically. The physical impact of the Heretopic place on the

60

protagonist is made apparent in Orwell’s first portrayal of the protagonist in the opening

pages of the novel which contrasted with his physical portrayal of the protagonist in the

heretic place. Early in the novel Winston is described to be ill and weak his meagerness is

emphasized by his uniform and he was described as a ‘smallish frail figure’(Orwell 4),

more over the additional detail of the varicose ulcer above his right ankle, made the

character appear aged and ill. In contrast there were clear physical changes that occurred

in Winston’s portrayal in his Heretopic place.

Winston had dropped his habit of drinking gin at all hours. He seemed to

have lost the need for it .He had grown fatter, his varicose ulcer had

subsided…his fits of coughing early in the early morning had stopped . The

process of life has ceased to be intolerable …now that hey had a secure

hiding-place, almost a home, it did not even seem a hardship that they could

only meet infrequently , what mattered was that the room over the junk shop

should exist’ (Orwell 189).

The above passage form the text illustrate not only the physical changes, but the

psychological changes as well , through depicting the change in the protagonist attitude,

towards life as the process of living did not appear to be so insupportable anymore . In this

heretopic place, the protagonist feels it to be safe and secure to live. The room symbolized

a space of freedom, a safe zone, and it created for Winston and Julia a space of illusion,

which procured a sense of optimism and hope as clearly stated in the following quote

‘There were also times when they had the illusion not only of safety, but of

permanence. So long as they were actually in this room, they both felt, no

harm could come to them …the room itself was a sanctuary’ (Orwell 191).

This Heretopic place in the novel embodied the personal space that was missing in

the Panopticon space . The feeling of protection, and welfare that the protagonist

experienced in this Heretopic place contributed to nurture his hopes and dreams. However

both Winston and Julia were fully aware that the counter-site that they have created will

61

not be able to resist for long Big Brother’s watch , as they both knew that they created an

illusion and it was only a mater of time before they were discovered:

Both of them knew- in a way, it was never out of their minds that what was

now happening could not last long. There were times when the fact of

impending death seemed as palpable as the bed they lay on…In reality there

was no escape (Orwell 190)

III. 5 The Return towards the Panopticon Space

And indeed towards the end of the novel both Winston and Julia are arrested in

their secret place by the Though Police who have been scrutinizing them from a hidden

telescreen placed behind the pictures above the fire place. They both land in another space

Ironically called the Ministry of Love ‘The place where there is no darkness’ (Orwell

130)The final destination of Winston’s journey brings him back to the Panopticon Space

of the Ministry of love, which served as a ‘laboratory of power’ used to alter and reform

the deviant behavior. The third section is even uglier than the first, and exposes the extent

of the brutality of Oceania's regime. By the end of the novel the protagonist is fully and

completely psychologically broken and by the norm of the government of INGSOC he was

considered to be rehabilitated.

Foucault has further argued that the Panopticon was some sort of a laboratory of

power; which could be used to train or correct individuals or even to conduct experiments

and monitor how the individual’s behaviors could be reformed. With its mechanism of

observation Panopticism has the ability to penetrate into men’s behavior as well as into his

mind as Foucault puts it:

Panopticon was also a laboratory; it could be used as a machine to carry

out experiment, to alter behavior, to train individuals. To experiment with

medicines and monitor their effects. To try out different punishments on

62

prisoners, according to their crimes and character and to seek the most

effective ones (Foucault 199.

This feature of the Panopticon is illustrated in the Panopticon space of The Ministry

of Love presented towards the end of the novel .The Ministry of Love is used by the

government of INGSOC as laboratory of power which served to alter the deviant the

deviant behavior. The rehabilitation process was divided into three phases. In the initial

phase the prisoners are interrogated, tortured until they gradually worn down and starts

weeping with penitence, in the second phase pain was less frequent and it focused mainly

on humiliation, and the destruction of his power of reasoning and the third phase occurred

in room 101.O’Brien explains to Winston that no individual brought to The Ministry of

Love could resist the government of INGSOC: ‘No one whom we bring to this place ever

stands out against us. Everyone is washed clean (Orwell 322)

In the Ministry of Love Winston lands in a small cell with four tele screens, one

on each wall, which he referred to as ‘the place with no darkness’ (Orwell p290) , because

the lights were constantly on to enable the constant surveillance of the prisoner. Winston

is described sitting still on a narrow bench with his hands crossed on his knees, and

avoiding any unexpected movement out of fear to be yelled from the telescreens. In the

second cell Winston was lying on what seemed to be a camp bed except that it was higher

off the ground, under dazzling lights, and he was fixed down to the bed so that he could

not move. O’Brien was standing on his side and on the other side stood a man in a white

coat with a syringe, the room was also filled with a heavy piece of apparatus. The

description of the room make it appear like a mad scientist’s laboratory, or it appears to be

what Foucault termed the laboratory of power .O’Brien explains to Winston that he will

never escape from the Party, and that he will never be again capable of ordinary, human

63

feelings, as everything will be dead inside him, he will not be capable of love , friendship

, laughter, curiosity or courage , and that he will be squeezed empty and then he will be

filled again by the Government of INGSCO. He also explained that anyone who is brought

to this place will be washed clean and will never be able to stand against the party.

The final stage of Winston’s rehabilitation process occurred in room 101, and the

biggest fear of the prisoners was to be taken to room 101, Orwell describes the reaction of

one of the prisoners as he heard the officer mention room 101 while pointing at him, in

order to illustrate that the simple fact of mentioning ‘room 101’ was sufficient to trigger

frantic and hysterical reactions

Comrade! Officer! He cried. You don’t have to take me to that place!

Haven’t I told you everything already? What else is it you want to know?

There’s nothing to confess, nothing! Just tell me what it is and I‘ll confess

straight off. Write it down and I’ll sign it- anything! Not room 101!

(Orwell298)

In this final phase each and every individual was confronted with his biggest fear

O’Brien explained that the worst thing is in room 101 and the worst thing is a subjective

matter that would vary from one individual to another, for some people the worst thing

would be to be buried alive, for others it would be death by fire or by drowning and in

Winston’s case it was the fear of rats. Thus it would be possible to deduce that Panopticism

with its mechanism of constant scrutiny and observation would enable the government to

construct a detailed record with the fear of each individual and to use it in due course. In

Winston’s case it was the phobia of rats which was referred to in the second section of the

novel. And indeed in room 101 he was confronted with this fear which killed his last act

of resistance which was his love for Julia as he ended by asking his torturer to do it to her

and not him: ‘Do it to Julia !, Do it to Julia ! Not to me ! Julia!, I don’t care what you do

64

to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me ! Julia not me’(Orwell 362). Being

confronted with his biggest fear took away the final remains of power of arguing and

reasoning and finally led Winston to abdicate to the Government of INGSOC and accept

that ‘two plus two equals five’ (Orwell 367). Thus it appears clearly the ministry of love,

was also designed as a Panopticon or a laboratory of power, which served to rehabilitate

the protagonist. And the final destination of the Protagonist was in the Room 101 were all

the knowledge gathered by the Panopticon through observation was used against the

observed subjects to destroy them psychologically.

III. 6 The Impact of the Panoptic Space and The Heretopic place on the psyche of the

protagonist in Nineteen Eighty four

The discipline of Environmental Psychology which attempts to study the

relationship between environment and psychology researches within this discipline; have

addressed the extent to which physical and social spaces impact upon the spaces of mental

life and subjectivity. The term "environment" englobes a range of topics, such as how

family life or neighborhood and culture affects behavior, but it also holds the sense of how

architecture affects behavior, and how the city planning on the macro scale can affect

behavior. In the broad sense it is about how we interact with the world in which we live,

and how those interactions shape our psychology. Some observations within this discipline

revealed that we unconsciously manifest different behaviors purely based on the change of

setting related to architecture; such as the austere architecture of school and church were

sufficient to establish a feeling of respect and quietude.

The built environment provides the setting and backdrop by which we live

our lives, and impacts on our senses, our emotions, participation in physical

activity and community life, our sense of community, and general wellbeing.

Meanings are generated by buildings and spaces, which we ‘read’ as we

65

pass through them. Places are created and shaped by those in control of

resources and with certain interests, which affects our degree of access to,

and the way we use, those spaces. (Butterworth, 2)

One of the important issues in environmental psychology is the understanding of

the psychological and behavioral concepts and transferring these understanding into the

real physical world by architects, planners and urban designers. It also advocated the

importance of the ‘Personal space’. Since it offers a sense of security, comfort and privacy,

It also emphasized that if privacy and the meaning of the personal space are ignored in the

design, then people will struggle against their built environment and to quote George

Orwell:

Privacy he said, was a very valuable thing. Everyone wanted a place where

they could be alone occasionally.’ (Orwell 173).

The Panopticon space in Nineteen Eighty Four, was meticulously designed by the

government in order to maintain a constant scrutiny over its inhabitant which ultimately

contributed in altering the inner thoughts of the individuals, out of fear of committing the

biggest crime of all which was the THOUGHCRIME. The citizens of Oceania were fully

aware of being constantly watched, which resulted in a disciplined behavior. The

protagonist abide by the government rules, because he knew that he was under constant

scrutiny. Thus we may deduce that the space designed in Oceania had a direct impact on

the protagonist psyche, as it resulted in a conditioned response and a new behavior shaping.

However in his need of privacy, the protagonist created a new place to satisfy his need

which resulted in a Heretopic place. The Heretopic place in the novel had a noticeable

impact on the protagonist both physically and psychologically which is made apparent

through Orwell’s description of the protagonist. He also depicts the change in the

protagonist attitude, towards life. The Heretopic place in the novel represents the personal

66

space that was missing in the Panopticon space. The feeling of protection, and welfare that

the protagonist experienced in this Heretopic place contributed to nurture his hopes and

dreams.

III.7 Conclusion

By referring to the theory of the environmental psychology, and from the

illustration of the interaction of the protagonist with the Panopticon space, which contrasted

visibly with his interaction with the Heretopic Place, we may deduce that the changes in

the protagonist psyche were associated with the change of space. In the panoptic space the

protagonist is almost just a shadow of himself he is a simple body placed within the

hegemony imposed by Big brother’s regime, however in the Heretopic place the

protagonist regained human features and has begun to acquire a life of his own. In this vein

it may be possible to confirm that the space in the Orwellian London has been consciously

and meticulously designed to keep a firm control over the psychological space of the

individual. The Panoptic space had a clear impact on the psyche on the observed subject,

considering that the simple fact of the constant scrutiny was sufficient in coercing the

individual to behave in the desired manner, and in contrast the absence of surveillance, and

the feeling of privacy will nurture another form of behavior. Thus it would be possible to

confirm that Space has a clear impact on the psyche of the protagonist in George Orwell’s

novel.

67

General Conclusion

The central idea of the study of Space and Spatiality; is the distribution of objects

and bodies in space and their relationships towards each other. Michel Foucault advanced

the idea of the study of the interrelation between sites and the distribution of bodies in

space. In literature the concept of space is regarded as the physical element of the events

occurring in the novel or a story, that is to say that any artistic creation is accompanied by

its own space being real or fictional, which serves as a container for the plot and the events

of any narrative. As such the literary texts becomes an infinite source of new spaces, since

it does not just reproduce reality , it also creates fictional places, sometimes we delve into

mythical and imaginary space, in other texts we enter utopian societies and sometimes we

discover apocalyptic and nightmarish sceneries such as in the Orwellian London.

In Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell has shaped the space of the narrative to

render fully the experience of the protagonist in Oceania under Big Brother’s watch. In the

Orwellian London all the spaces have been carefully designed and uniformly conceived,

leaving no room for individuality, or any other form of freedom. Throughout the narrative

in Nineteen Eighty Four; the settings surrounding the protagonist changed from one section

to the other. In the first section we were introduced to his building and his apartment in

Victory Mansions, the description the author provided of this place contributed in setting

the tone of despair, fear, and ill-adjustment of Winston in Oceania.The living spaces have

68

been homogenously manipulated to enable a total hegemony; which ultimately facilitate

the manipulation of the third dimension of space which is the psychological one. The

minute description of the built environment continues to escort the narrative, and towards

the end of the first section and almost all throughout the second section we are introduced

to the room above the antique shop. The physical and psychological transformation that

Winston experienced in this room are also minutely described and contrasted clearly with

the description provided in the opening pages of the novel. Accordingly we may conclude

that the space in Nineteen Eighty Four has also a clear contribution to the plot and a visible

impact on the psyche of the protagonist

In the dystopian society of Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell imagined a

totalitarian state overly disciplined both spatially and temporally; as every single aspect of

life was regimented by the government. Orwell suggests in his nightmarish prophecy, that

the production and manipulation of knowledge were critical to the usurpation of power.

And if we tackle the ideology of power from the perspective of Space and Spatiality, it

becomes evident in the novel that the production and manipulation of space was also

instrumental in maintaining surveillance, usurping power and maintaining control.

This dissertation is aimed to illustrate the influence of the physical space on the

psychological Space of the protagonist in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four. .

And through a Geocritical approach and with a descriptive and an analytical method, this

69

dissertation has attempted to differentiate between the ‘Panopticon Space’ and the

‘Heretopic Place’ in the novel. As well as the impact of both on the psyche of the

protagonist.

It has been hypothesized in this dissertation that the space in the Orwellian London

has been consciously designed by the government of INGSOC as a Panopticon. This

hypothesis is supported by the insights of Henry Lefebvre and Yi Fu Tuan as well as The

Foucauldian concept of ‘Panoticism’. The motives behind the conscious production of

space are reinforced by both Yi Fu Tuan as well as the Lefebvreian Trialectic of space. As

for the design to be followed in this production it is supported by the Foucauldian

Panopticism. Yi Fu Tuan argued that any act of building calls for a conscious organization.

He also emphasized that the final result of this architectural awareness will ultimately have

an immense impact not only on the individual’s perceptions and feelings towards their own

living space. Within the same stream of thoughts the schema of the ‘Trialectic of Space’

introduced by Henry Lefebvre in The Production of Space, also emphasized the conscious

production of space. He argued that the creation of a space is a conscious which holds

explicit political aspects because every space is shaped and molded through a political

process. Therefore the understanding of a Space includes an understanding of its political

and social construction as well as the individual’s dealings with the space produced.

70

The idea of the conscious production of space and the politic of space is also well

illustrated by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish. He argued that the space is strictly

designed to be stable, standardized and immovable in order to facilitate the monitoring of

the inhabitants. Accordingly if we refer to Tuan’s conscious arrangement of space, and to

the Lefevrian theory concerning the political production of space, as well as the

Foucauldian measures of discipline and the cautious design of the space of surveillance, it

is possible to conclude the space created in Oceania did not come to exist at random ,but

instead it has been perceived first and then conceived by the government of INGSOC and

it has been consciously and meticulously designed to create what Foucault termed as the

Utopia of a perfectly governed city. The conscious production of space illustrates the main

motive behind the conscious and meticulous organization of space which is obviously to

keep the citizens under the government close watch in the Orwellian London. As for the

structure to be followed and how this production was achieved, it is illustrated by

Foucault’s Panopticism, which he described as an effective mechanism of power without

any physical instrument other than architecture.

It has been illustrated in the second chapter that there were clear similarities

between The Foucauldian Panopticon, and the space produced by the government of

INGSCO in the Orwellian London as both are designed to provide a powerful model of

‘disciplinary mechanism’, which emphasizes the clear distribution and partition of bodies,

in order to enable a constant surveillance of their actions and thoughts, and to prevent any

form of deviance that might cause a rebellion. This architecture of surveillance holds a

resonance of a gigantic prison, where surveillance is omnipresent

71

The carful separation and partition as well as the careful positioning of bodies

within the macroscopic space of the protagonist of Nineteen Eighty Four are all indicators

of the conscious and the political production of space with the clear goal to maintain control

and power over the individual’s actions and thoughts. And form the description of the

protagonist apartment and ‘The Telescreen’ one may distinguish some similarities of the

Foucauldian description of the panopticon architecture. The architectural design of

Panopticism, focusses on the carful distribution of the bodies and the constant scrutiny

which escorts perfectly the mechanism of surveillance. And this description could be

juxtaposed on the Orwellian London of Nineteen Eighty Four. The citizens were perfectly

governed through the control of the spatial element of their lives which left no rooms for

deviance, consequently it seems obvious that design of the macroscopic space in the

Orwellian London of Nineteen Eighty Four was inspired by the panopticon architecture,

which facilitate control of its citizens by means of the constant and continuous surveillance.

Thus in the light of the Foucauldian description of Panopticism, and in addition to the

description of the macroscopic space of Winston , which includes Victory Mansion and the

his cubicle in the Ministry of Truth and the description of the ministry of love and room

101, it is possible to confirm the hypothesis that the space in living space in Nineteen

Eighty Four has been consciously designed to maintain a perfectly supervised space were

the citizens are constantly scrutinized and monitored, and that the architecture that escorts

this mechanism of surveillance is the Foucauldian Panopticon

72

In this gigantic Panopticon that George Orwell has created in Nineteen Eighty Four,

there still remain one space supposedly uncontrolled by the government of INGSOC, the

room above the antique shop; where the Protagonist is presumably able to evade Big

brother’s watch, thus this counter-site becomes his heretopic place in the homogenous

space. In the Dystopian society of Oceania the room above the antique shop stood as a

counter-site which noticeably differed from the other spaces in the novel and it had a

noticeable impact on Winston. In this space he experienced the feeling of privacy,

individuality and knowledge. From his experience and his interaction with the room it

became evident that a change in the physical environment could bring about radical

changes in one’s physical as well as mental health.

The insights of Yi Fu Tuan concerning space and place and the difference between

these closely related notions, has contributed into making a clear distinction between the

two terms. According to Tuan ‘Space’ becomes a ‘Place’ as it acquires definition and

meaning and starts having its own specific characteristics and an aura, or an atmosphere of

its own, and this process that marks the shift from space to place; through conferring an

atmosphere on a place is interlinked with the human senses and modes of perception, thus

a place can only be defined through the interaction that occurs via the direct and indirect

modes of perception. In Geocriticism, Bertrand Westphal has also tackled the distinction

between space and place form a different perspective. He referred to two different sorts of

73

spaces, ‘The Homogeneous Space’ which excludes the particularity of minority perception

and ‘The Heterogeneous Space’, which is presented as the outcome of the transgression on

the homogenous space. According to Westphal transgression relates to the crossing of

boundaries outside which exists ‘a marginal space of freedom’, and when this transgression

occurs repeatedly it becomes a customary habit it turns into what Westphal termed as

‘Trangressivity’. Westphal further clarifies that this repeated act of transgression would

result in the creation of a new space far from being homogenous, an intimate space outside

of the boundaries of the enclosure. It creates for the individual a zone of intimacy, guarded

against external intrusions and allows the synthesis of all differences. Henry Lefebvre

advanced in his Schema of ‘Trialectic of Space’ that Space is three dimensional which

includes ‘The Perceived Space’, ‘The Conceived Space’ and ‘The Lived Space’. According

to Lefebvre the first and the second space will permit the understanding of the ideology

and politics behind the conception and the perception of a particular space. However, none

would account for the individual’s contact with that space, especially if we take into

consideration, what Tuan refers to as ‘The Experiential perspective of space’, That is to

say that each and every one would probably have a different representation based on their

interactions and experiences of a space or a place in particular. Within the same stream of

thoughts concerning the distinction between space and place, we may refer to Michel

74

Foucault who also focused on, the crossing between the macroscopic space and the

individual space, through his introduction of the ‘Heretopic’ space.

As previously suggested the space in Nineteen Eighty four has been designed as

some sort of a panopticon, and within the narrative we can witness how the protagonist is

affected by the macroscopic space that has been designed homogenously allowing no

individuality. However, in the second section of the novel the protagonist Winston commits

what Bertrand Westphal referred to as an act of recurrent transgression on the homogenous

macroscopic space and created a his personnel zone of intimacy which became his

heretopic place . Unlike the Panopticon space of surveillance, the heretopic spaces are

described as counter- sites, which have the property to contradict the homogenous spaces.

According to Michel Foucault; Heterotopia is another name for the sphere of intimacy that

resist the pervasive codification in the macroscopic space attributed to the state apparatus.

In Other Spaces Foucault, explained that the Heterotopia spaces, could be also termed as

‘the crisis heterotopia’ which places reserved for the individual in time of crisis. He finally

attributed to these counter sites the function to create a space of illusion or compensation:

In Nineteen Eighty Four this new secret place which Tuan , described as the

outcome of the individual’s perception and interaction with space ; and which is also the

result of what Westphal described as a transgression on the macroscopic space , and which

Foucault described as a Heretopic place of intimacy that resist the prevalent classification

in the macroscopic. Is the room above the antique shop which is the outcome of the

transgression of the protagonist on the Panopticon space created by the government of

75

INGSOC. In Nineteen Eighty Four Winston was fully aware of the folly that he was

committing a transgression when he decided to rent this place he was also aware that he

was deviating from the rules imposed by the homogenous space .Thus he created a counter-

site that contrasted with the Panopticon architecture of surveillance.

The room above the antique shop, has a distinct atmosphere and an aura that

opposed the other spaces in the novel which is further illustrated by Winston’s interaction

and perception of the room. In this room the protagonist started having what Tuan referred

to as ‘The Experiential perspective of space’, which involves the interaction with a space

with all our modes of perceptions. And the minute description of the warmth and friendly

atmosphere is what turned the room above the antique shop form a space to a place with

an aura of its own. The author also gave a minute description of the room with its Victorian

furniture, which also contrasted with the austerity described in his flat or his cubicle. The

Description of the room above the antique shop came as a clear contrast to the cold and

grimy space of the protagonist under INGSOC governance. The room was described as

being designed to be lived in, it was inviting and awakened Winston’s ancestral memory.

And perhaps the most distinguishable feature of this room is the feeling of privacy and

intimacy which was induced by the absence of the gazing and spying of the tele screens,

which was also a manifest contrast with the Panopticon space of surveillance.

76

Accordingly if we refer to Michel Foucault’s description of Heretopia, we may

deduce that this new Place that resulted from the protagonist transgression on the

homogenous space in Oceania; holds the features that Foucault attributed to the Heretopic

space. Considering that the room stands as a counter site which had the property to

contradict the Panopticism created in the Orwellian London. In addition to the most

significant feature of the room is that it had no apparatus of surveillance, and this

particularity provided what Foucault termed as a sphere of intimacy that contrasted with

the rule and regulations imposed by the government. The room above the junk-shop could

be also viewed as a shelter in which the protagonist managed to hide thus it constituted

what Foucault termed as a ‘Crisis Heretopia’ .Thus we may concluded that the room above

the Junk shop is the Heretopic place in the novel as it is presented as a counter site to the

Panopticon architecture in the Orwellian London, it also welcomed the Protagonist in time

of crisis, and served as a shelter to cover up his deviance, and most importantly it created

a space of illusion or compensation a characteristic that Michel Foucault had also attributed

to these counter sites.

The Heretopic place in the novel had a noticeable impact on the protagonist both

physically and psychologically. The physical impact of the heretopic place on the

protagonist is made apparent in the portrayal of the protagonist in the Panopticon space

which contrasted with his physical portrayal of the protagonist in the heretic place. Early

in the novel Winston is described to as a smallish frail figure. In contrast in the heretopic

place he seemed to flourish .The room symbolized a space of freedom, a safe zone. It

created for them a space of illusion, this herotopic place gave them a sense of hope .This

Heretopic place in the novel embodied the personal space that was missing in the

77

Panopticon space. The feeling of protection, and welfare that the protagonist experienced

in this Heretopic place contributed to nurture his hopes and dreams.

Towards the end of the novel the protagonist is forced back to the Panopticon space.

In the final section , he is arrested and imprisoned in the Ministry of Love where he

physically tortured and psychologically broken. The final stage of his rehabilitation occurs

in room 101 which is similar to what Foucault referred to as a ‘laboratory of power’, in this

room he is confronted with his biggest fear, which takes away he final power of resistance,

thus he ends up completely and fully psychologically broken, which by the norms of the

government of INGSOC; Winston Smith is considered to be fully rehabilitated and fit to

return to the society as he did not constitute a heresy in the gigantic Panoptic space

anymore.

Form this dissertation it may be possible to observe that the interaction of the

protagonist with the Panoptic space contrasted clearly with his interaction with the

Heretopic Place. In the panoptic space the protagonist is almost just a shadow of himself

he is a simple body placed within the hegemony imposed by Big brother’s regime, however

in the heretopic place the protagonist regained human features and has begun to acquire a

life of his own. In this vein it may be possible to confirm that the space in the Orwellian

London has been consciously and meticulously designed to keep a firm control over the

psychological space of the individual. The Panoptic space had a clear impact on the psyche

78

of the observed subject, considering that the simple fact of the constant scrutiny was

sufficient in coercing the individual to behave in the desired manner. And in contrast the

lack of surveillance, and the feeling of privacy the protagonist experiences in his Heretopic

place has nurtured another form of behavior.

79

Appendices

Appendix 1: Nineteen Eighty Four: Synopsis (Plot and Characters) ....................79

Appendix 1: Short Biography: George Orwell .....................................................82

Appendix 1: Short Biography: Michel Foucault ...................................................83

Appendix 1: Short Biography: Henry Lefebvre ....................................................84

Appendix 1: Short Biography: Yi Fu Tuan ...........................................................85

Appendix 1: Short Biography: Bertrand Westphal ...............................................86

Appendix 1: Figure: Panopticon ...........................................................................87

80

Appendix 1:

Nineteen Eighty Four: Synopsis (Plot and Characters)

Set in 1984 in a futuristic and dystopian

London and its capital Oceania, where the state is the

ultimate source of power, and all forms of

individuality and personality have become

criminalized. Citizens live in an atmosphere of

suspicion and extreme surveillance imposed by ‘Big

Brother’ and ‘the telescreen’. Society is segmented

into three classes: the Inner Party, which constitutes

the elite upper class; the Outer Party, composed of

educated workers; and the Proles, or proletariat who are described as the disregarded

masses, of the population of Oceania, and who constituted the working class. The novel

focuses on the life of Winston Smith, the main protagonist, who lives in London, the chief

city of Airstrip One (formerly England), which is one of the many provinces of Oceania.

Winston who is a member of the outer party; is employed in the Records Department of

the Ministry of Truth and his job is to rewrite history .The novel begins, a bleak day in

April, when Winston ‘commits his tiny, brave act of defiance and, starts to keep a diary,

even though he knows that the punishment for doing so is death’. He is even obsessed, with

unanswerable questions, and particularly the question of “Why?” .All through the novel

we have access to his thoughts about the party, big brother and the brotherhood

organization, his inquiries about the past, about INGSCO practices of erasing knowledge

81

and supplanting it with a manipulated one, his hopes in the proles regaining consciousness

and overthrowing the government as well as his doubts worries and fears.

Apart from Winston, the novel revolves around Julia and O’Brien. . Julia, like

Winston, is employed in the Fiction Department in the Ministry of Truth. She is a secret

rebel against the regime. At first, this is unknown to Winston, who believes Julia to be

either an agent of the Thought Police or an amateur spy. Julia, however, secretively passes

a note to Winston that says simply ‘I love you’. Following this encounter they begin a

secret love affair, an act which itself becomes an act of resistance. And O’Brien, is

presented as a mysterious and fascinating figure to Winston, who is a member of the Inner

Party. Winston believes that O’Brien is really a member of a secret revolutionary group

known as the Brotherhood; a supposedly underground organization aiming to overthrow

the Party. However, O’Brien is far from a traitor to the Party on the contrary he personally

oversees the torture and confession of Winston

Nineteen Eighty-Four is divided into three large sections with an additional short

appendix discussing Newspeak, a new linguistic space which imposes a more concise and

accurate language for Oceania. In section one, Winston Smith, describes the material

conditions of his life which include his daily rituals, the censorship he is subjected to, his

feelings towards his colleagues, work, women food, history, reality, truth and especially

the regime's ideology and its leader, Big Brother. It is a section which sets the scene and

introduces all the major and minor characters in the novel. He also gives minute description

of his living place and working place. The second section introduces an element of hope as

Winston and Julia experience the temporary feeling of privacy in the room above the

antique shop. In the second section, Winston's relationship to Julia is foregrounded and

includes not only a description of her character, their affair and their mutual effort to escape

82

detention, but also their thoughts on government and the possibility of revolution. In this

section, Winston has been given 'The Book' to read - presumably authored by the

revolutionary Goldstein - and before he finishes reading it, they are captured by Oceania's

secret services led by O'Brien himself. The third section is even uglier than the first, and

exposes the extent of the brutality of Oceania's regime, in this section the protagonist is

caught and tortured at the ministry of love by O'Brien's. Once Winston is estimated to be

totally re-educated; he is set free and given a new, less responsible job at the Ministry of

Truth. It is on the last page of this section that Winston expects to die, having first met

Julia, who is also psychologically broken. Finally, in the appendix, Newspeak is described

as if written at a time far beyond the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four. It includes a detailed

descriptions of how the vocabulary of the new language will be greatly reduced. Newspeak

was one of the forms of device that the government of INGSOC used, and it aimed with it

to eventually be able to control the citizen’s thoughts

83

Appendix 2: George Orwell (1903-1950)

George Orwell was born under the name Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, Bengal, India in

1903.The Blair family moved from colonial India back to England when Eric was just a

young boy and he remained there until after his lackluster academic career was over.

Unable to attend more college because of his lack of winning scholarships, Orwell moved

back to India and secured a job working as an administrator for the Indian Imperial Police.

Orwell began to notice the inequities inherent to colonial rule and upon returning to

England, Orwell finally decided he wanted to write professionally. His first novels

including Out in Paris and London and Burmese Days. His socialist views began to

solidify in the wake of several worldwide events. After realizing his political views, Orwell

left for Spain where he fought with the United Workers Marxist Party milita. Shortly after

this experience, he served for the British in World War II as a correspondent and it was

after this that he wrote Animal Farm. Shortly after, he released 1984 which finally gave

him the critical and even commercial success her was looking for. Unfortunately, the

majority of the recognition came too late with his death (from tuberculosis) in 1950

84

Appendix 3: Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a French social theorist, philosopher, historian, He is

remembered for his method of using historical research to illuminate changes in discourse

over time, and the evolving relationships between discourse, knowledge, institutions, and

power. Foucault’s work inspired sociologists in subfields including sociology of

knowledge; gender, sexuality and queer theory; critical theory; deviance and crime; and

the sociology of education. His most well-known works include Discipline and

Punish, The History of Sexuality, andThe Archaeology of Knowledge.Madness and

Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, 1961.The Order of Things: An

Archaeology of the Human Sciences, 1966. Archaeology of Knowledge, 1969. Discipline

and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 1975.The History of Sexuality, Volumes 1-3, 1976-

1984.

Source :http://sociology.about.com/od/Profiles/fl/Michel-Foucault.htm

85

Appendix 4: Henri Lefebvre (16 June 1901 – 29 June 1991)

Lefebvre was a French Marxist philosopher and sociologist, best known for pioneering the

critique of everyday life, for introducing the concepts of the right to the city and the

production of social space, and for his work on dialectics, alienation, and criticism

of Stalinism, existentialism, and structuralism. In his prolific career, Lefebvre wrote more

than sixty books and three hundred articles.[1] He studied philosophy at the University of

Paris (the Sorbonne), graduating in 1920. Among his works Dialectical

Materialism (1940), The Critique of Everyday Life, The Critique of Dialectical

Reason (1960). In 1961, Lefebvre became professor of sociology at the University of

Strasbourg, before joining the faculty at the new university at Nanterre in 1965. Lefebvre

introduced the concept of the right to the city in his 1968 book Le Droit à la ville. Lefebvre

wrote several influential works on cities, urbanism, and space, including The Production

of Space (1974), which became one of the most influential and heavily cited works of urban

theory.

86

Appendix 5: Yi-Fu Tuan ( 5 December 1930)

Tuan is a Chinese-U.S. geographer, he attended University College, London, but

graduated from the University of Oxford with a B.A. and M.A. in 1951 and 1955

respectively.[1] From there he went to California to continue his geographic education. He

received his Ph.D. in 1957 from the University of California, Berkeley. He became a full

professor at the University of Minnesota in 1968 and there began his focus on humanistic

geography. He describes the difference between human geography and humanistic

geography in a 2004 'Dear Colleague' letter: . He was elected a Fellow of the American

Association for the Advancement of Science in 1986, of the British Academy in 2001 and

of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002. Tuan was awarded the Cullum

Geographical Medal by the American Geographical Society in 1987. Yi-Fu Tuan is

an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.. His most recent books are

Human Goodness (2008) and Religion: From Place to Placelessness (2010).

87

Appendix 6: Bertrand Westphal, 1962

Westphal is born in Strasbourg, France. He is a professor of comparative literature at the

University of Limoges, where he leads a team of researchers. He has established the fondations

for Geocriticism in serval ouvrages published in recent years et the Limoge Press such as : La

Géocritique mode d'emploi (2000) et Le rivage des mythes, Une géo-critique méditerranéenne,

Le lieu et son mythe (2001).

88

Appendix 6: Panopticon Design

The panopticon penitentiary, was based upon an idea of the 'central inspection principle' which would facilitate

the training and supervision of unskilled workers by experienced craftsmen. Jeremy Bentham came to adapt

this principle for his proposed prison, an 'Inspection House' envisaged as a circular building, with the prisoners'

cells arranged around the outer wall and the central point dominated by an inspection tower.. Bentham argued

that the idea of constant, domineering surveillance in the panopticon and its central inspection principle would,

have diverse benefits: 'Morals reformed—health preserved—industry invigorated—instruction diffused—

public burthens lightened—Economy seated, as it were, upon a rock—the gordian knot of the Poor-Laws not

cut, but untied—all by a simple idea in Architecture!' ( Bentham qtd in University College London)7

7 https://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/who/panopticon

89

Bibliography

Primary sources

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty Four Planetebook.com,. '1984 | Download Free Ebook'.

N.p., 2015. Web. 17 June 2014

Secondary sources

Azizi, Kyoumars, and Shahram Afrougheh. 'Space, Geography And Literature; A

Geocritical Perspective'. International Research Journal of Applied and Basic

Sciences 6.5 (2013): 641-643. Print.

Bernstein, Gerald S. 'The Architecture Of Repression: The Built Environment Of George

Orwell's 1984'. Journal of Architectural Education (1984-) 38.2 (1985): 26. Web.

Butterworth, lain 'The Relationship Between the Built Environment and Wellbeing: a Literature Review ' The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation 2000.

De Young, Raymond. 'Environmental Psychology Overview'. Green Organizations:

Driving Change With IO Psychology. Ann H Huffman and Stephanie Klein. 1st ed.

Routledge: N.p., 2013. Print.

Elden, Stuart. Understanding Henri Lefebvre. London: Continuum, 2004. Print.

Foucault, Michel, and Jay Miskowiec. 'Of Other Spaces'. Diacritics 16.1 (1986): 22. Web.

Foucault, Michel. Discipline And Punish. New York: Pantheon Books, 1977. Print.

Hawking, Stephen. The Theory Of Everything. Beverly Hills, CA: New Millennium Press,

2002. Print.

Lefebvre, Henri, and Kanishka Goonewardena. Space, Difference, Everyday Life. New

York: Routledge, 2008. Print.

Lefebvre, Henri. Rhythmanalysis. London: Continuum, 2004. Print.

Lefebvre, Henri. The Production Of Space. Oxford, OX, UK: Blackwell, 1991. Print.

Lewis, Jonathan. 'BIG BROTHER IS LISTENING TO YOU: The Space Of Language In

90

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four'. E-Teals: An e-Journal of Teacher Education

& Applied Language 2 (2011): n. pag. Print.

Monnet, Jerome. 'The Symbolism Of Place: A Geography Of Relationships Between

Space, Power And Identity'. cybergeo (2011): n. pag. Web.

'Power, Space And Resistance: Foucauldian Reading Of The Pickup'. Advances in

Language and Literary Studies 6.3 (2015): n. pag. Web.

Pready, Joanna Elaine. 'He Power Of Place: Re-Negotiating Identity In Hotel Fiction'. PhD

thesis. University of Nottingham, 2009. Print.

Prescott, Holly. 'Rethinking Urban Space In Contemporary British Writing'. Ph.D. thesis.

University of Birmingham, 2011. Print.

Soja, Edward W. Third space. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1996. Print.

Tuan, Yi-fu. Space And Place. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977. Print.

Tyner, James. 'Self And Space, Resistance And Discipline: A Foucauldian Reading'. Social

& Cultural Geography 5.1 (2015): 129-149. Print.

Westphal, Bertrand, and Robert T Tally. Geocriticism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan,

2011. Print.

Webography

Elden, Stuart. 'Stuart Elden On Foucault’S Third/Eleventh'. Berfrois. N.p., 2014. Web. 1

May 2015.

<http://www.berfrois.com/2014/01/stuart-elden-discipline-punish-examine-produce-

foucault/>

Encyclopedia, Britanica. 'Greek Mythology- Panoptes'. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 February

2015.

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/34032/Argus/>

Gieseking, Jen. 'The People, Place, And Space Reader - Edited By Jen Jack Gieseking &

William Mangold, With Cindi Katz, Setha Low, & Susan Saegert'. The People,

91

Place, and Space Reader. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

< http://peopleplacespace.org/>

Goldberg, Michael. 'Hegemony'. Faculty.washington.edu. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

< https://faculty.washington.edu/mlg/courses/definitions/hegemony.html/>

Hawkings, Stephen. 'Lectures - Stephen Hawking'. Hawking.org.uk. N.p., 2015. Web. 16

January 2015.

< http://www.hawking.org.uk/lectures.html/>

Institute, Melbourne. 'Iain Butterworth | Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute'.

Sustainable.unimelb.edu.au. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 May 2015.

< http://sustainable.unimelb.edu.au/iain-butterworth>

Les éditions de minuit, 'Bertrand Westphal'. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 May 2015.

< http://www.leseditionsdeminuit.com/f/index.php?sp=livAut&auteur_id=1830>

Merriam-webster.com,. 'Space | The Amount Of An Area, Room, Surface, Etc., That Is

Empty Or Available For Use'. N.p., 2015. Web. 5 Feb. 2015.

<http://www.merriam-webster.com/>

'Michel Foucault A Brief Biography And Intellectual History'. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 May

2015.

< https://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/who/panopticon>

Oxforddictionaries.com,. 'Space - Definition Of Space In English From The Oxford

Dictionary'. N.p., 2015. Web. 5 Feb. 2015.

<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/space>

Psychologistworld.com,. 'Environmental Psychology - Psychology Issues - Psychologist

World'. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

92

< http://www.psychologistworld.com/issues/environmental-psychology.php>

Tate, Karl. 'Einstein's Theory Of Relativity Explained (Infographic)'. Space.com. N.p.,

2015. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.

< http://www.space.com/28738-einstein-theory-of-relativity-explained-infgraphic.html>

Ucl.ac.uk, 'UCL BENTHAM PROJECT : Panopticon'. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 May 2015.

< https://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/who/panopticon>

Wikipedia, 'Henri Lefebvre'. N.p., 1901. Web. 25 May 2015.

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Lefebvre >

Wikipedia, 'Yi-Fu Tuan'. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 May 2015.

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi-Fu_Tuan>