Schwefler 1

Andrew Schwefler

Mrs. P. Bradley

AP English 12 Period 2

3 February 2017

My Novel as a Work of Literary Merit

George Orwell's dystopian fiction novel, 1984, is a novel of what the year 1984 would be

like. When people think about what the future would be like, most picture a utopian society with

amazing technology, clean environments, and a progressive society. However, Orwell had a

different view of what the future would be like. In his novel, he thought that 1984 would be a

dystopia. Orwell wrote that the area that was formerly known as Great Britain would be

controlled by the Inner party, a government that persecutes individualism and independent

thinking. This novel was very ifluecenical and is still being read today and is considered to be a

book of literary merit. However, why does this classic book have literary merit?

For a novel to have literary merit, the novel must be entertaining to read, not conform to

the expectations of a single genre or formula, to have been judged to have artistic quality by the

literary community, have stood the test of time, show thematic depth, demonstrate innovation in

style, voice, structure, characterization, plot and description, have a social, political or

ideological impact on society during the release of the novel and/or years after the novel came

out, not fall into the traps and cliches of pulp fiction, be intended by the author to communicate

in an artistic manner, and must be universal in its appeal. A novel does not need to meet all of

these requirements to have literary merit and could only meet three or four of these criteria and

still have literary merit.

 Schwefler 2

While I have not read 1984 yet, based off of online summaries, research, and learning

about it from students, teachers, and places on the internet, I can say that this novel does have

literary merit for it meets five requirements of literary merit. 1984 looks like an interesting read

for it is set in a dystopian future. This novel also does not conform to the expectations of a single

genre for it falls into the category of multiple genres like dystopian fiction and political fiction.

1984 has also been judged to have artistic quality for was chosen by the Time magazine in 2005

to be one of the best 100 English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. This novel was also

awarded with a spot of both list of Modern Library 100 best Novels, reaching number 13 on the

editors list and 6 on the readers list. Not only has this book won many awards, but it has also

stood through the test of time. References from the book are still being made today, people are

still reading the book, and articles are still being written about the novel today. 1984 has a

universal appeal. This novel was not only influential with its topic and themes during the period

it came out, but is influential today. For these reasons, 1984 is considered to have literary merit.