A bit bigger than the previous short stories, this piece capitalizes upon the story 1984 by George Orwell and asks the internet to help me understand it better. I then pitted three such resources against each other and wrote notes as they fought to the death for my entertainment, only to be disappointed by the capability of the embodiment of a website providing literary analysis to be interesting outside of an academic review setting.
It was very interesting to be given this as a topic for the final, big, paper of the class, especially as it was an experimental topic that had interested the professor for a while but they had never gotten around to field-testing. Probably because it requested a thorough understanding of the literary work to be able to confidently put you in a position to then judge other interpretations, especially ones meant to be used as a means of producing profit (so they must be enticing and at least seem robust.)
Kind of a lot to ask in a first year English course, but I had fun making up a ranking system and applying it indiscriminately. It's interesting how the space of a few years can turn what must have been a lot of stress and uncertainty in its writing into something I can call 'fun' today.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy my judging web-services that try to exploit students for profit (or at least enjoy the last of my essay titles which I thought were clever), have yourself a lovely day, and see you Monday for other stuff!
Preoccupied with 1984 by Mac Clevinger
Websites such as SparkNotes, Shmoop, and eNotes provide a service to students seeking aid in writing an essay on novels that tackle complicated themes, such as the novel 1984 by George Orwell. However, these websites can serve as an ‘out’ for students, where instead of acting as an aid to their understanding and helping them along in the process of original thought, they instead replace it with surface-level analysis that does not reach the quality expected in a college-level essay. Many students are still learning how to approach a novel properly, and are not easily capable of the in-depth analysis they need to perform, making these websites both alluring to place their faith in and difficult to recognize as being of insufficient quality for the essay they are expected to write.
How, then, should a student tell the useful sources from those that are a waste of their time? As no precedent exists for this kind of review, it has been decided to grade these websites based on three areas of criteria. Firstly, to what depth do these websites go into their examination of the themes of a work of literature? Secondly, does the website take the context of the work’s writing into account, as well as drawing a fine line between the author’s intent and the actual message of the work? Finally, how far do these websites go in aiding the student in writing their essay, how reliable is their information, and how would a student access it? For this essay, it has been decided to use the novel 1984 as the common work of literature examined by each of the three sites being reviewed: SparkNotes, Shmoop, and eNotes.
A mind that only knows how to think and converse in Newspeak would be theoretically incapable of possessing any thought that the creators of Newspeak did not want them to possess, allowing the government to eradicate dissenting opinions. As 1984 characterizes the government as being a ‘bad-guy’ figure in its attempts at absolute control of every aspect of its citizens’ lives, the further control of language can be assumed to be intended not as an evolution of communication but as a degradation where original thought, individuality, and the ability to resist fascist governments are lost in the absolute, cloying control of a dystopian nightmare. This would lead one to assume further that the freedom of language without restraint resists such fascism and dystopia. Language without constraint, without fear in its use against tyrants, is what frees society, not its restriction for the comfort of a governing body.
Furthermore, language is the cornerstone of civilization; it is what elevates humanity and brings society forward in a free-trade of ideas and communication. To restrict language is to restrict what we consider humanity, to hamstring civilization and fall back into the darkness that we have emerged from. Restricting language with Newspeak is not restricting the thoughts that can be had by people, it is making them incapable of thinking beyond the message pounded into their heads daily, degrading them into something lesser that is more easily controlled by fascist overlords.
In a society of such complete control, language is the last vestige that the people have of their humanity, which is why the government in 1984 seeks to take it from their citizens, and why this theme is so overt in this story: people cannot sacrifice language, and cannot let it be taken from them by anyone at any cost; otherwise we lose our humanity. The novel uses language to describe what is at stake in the society depicted here and the risks a fascist government can have on the very basic nature of humans and our humanity, serving as a dire warning of a future Orwell feared.
If students were posed with a similar premise as this, and they chose to approach a website for aid, they would get a different kind of result for their inquiry. SparkNotes, to begin, acknowledges the presence of language and how it is used in this novel as something under threat by the rule of the fascist government, but that is where its analysis ends. “If control of language were centralized in a political agency, Orwell proposes, such an agency could possibly alter the very structure of language to make it impossible to even conceive of disobedient or rebellious thoughts, because there would be no words with which to think them.” (SparkNotes Editors, “SparkNote on 1984”).
While this analysis of language within the story is accurate, SparkNotes goes no further in its examination of the theme associated with language, and believes pointing out how it was used by George Orwell to be all the information a student would need if writing an essay on 1984. This is not the kind of critical analysis required at a college-level essay, and would perhaps serve as a stepping stone for a student if they were not led to believe that language was nothing more than a literary device used by Orwell with no deeper meaning behind it. Shmoop, similarly, has this to say about language: “In 1984, language is of central importance to behavior control. The major proposition is that if control of language were centralized in a state, then the possibility of rebellion or disobedience would be eliminated.” (Shmoop Editors, “1984”).
Again, it is correct in what it says, but when searching for a theme in 1984, this is not the kind of analysis that a student should focus their essay on. It is a surface level examination at best, and lacks the depth of a college-level analysis of a work of literature rife with heavy themes about society and human nature. Shmoop goes on to refer to how language impacts “history, culture, life, behavior, thoughts, concepts, and power.” (Shmoop Editors, “1984”.) However, that is the end of its analysis. It does not say how it impacts these subjects, or what themes the author implanted into the story using them. For the use of students, these sources are insufficient and will largely hinder their efforts in making a deep, critical analysis when they find such shallow findings that assert themselves as fact and leave no room or suggestion that the student go further in analyzing the text for themselves.
As rating these websites go, Shmoop would be the best choice despite its briefness due to mentioning that language impacts other subjects, leading students to think on those relations in the context of language being controlled by a fascist government. SparkNotes, only examining what is given by the story with no loose-threads for students to follow, would be the second choice, though it must be said that its quality of analysis is insufficient for the needs of a college essay. eNotes has been purposefully left out of this analysis for reasons pertaining to accessibility, the third matter of review these websites will be subjected to.
It is easy to approach a work from a modern mindset unaware of the social pressures and context that it was written in, leaving readers unaware of certain references or fears that would have been easily recognized by readers at that time but are missed without a cloud of fascism hanging over their heads. Understanding the context that a work of literature and its author come from is a great aid to identifying themes and messages in a work, but a fine line must be walked between the author’s intent and what is present in the novel.
SparkNotes provides a biographical account of George Orwell’s life, attributing the anti-totalitarian nature of 1984 to his view of the many fascist governments that rose to power during his lifetime, and furthermore asserting the presence and reasoning for certain themes within the novel. “Having witnessed firsthand the horrific lengths to which totalitarian governments in Spain and Russia would go in order to sustain and increase their power, Orwell designed 1984 to sound the alarm in Western nations still unsure about how to approach the rise of communism.” (Sparknotes Editors, “SparkNote on 1984”). As a source to benefit a student’s understanding of the context surrounding 1984 and other novels, SparkNotes provides relevant information and applies it appropriately to support itself in giving aid to the student. Shmoop, however, takes a more liberal approach to its giving context for 1984, likening it to the reality show Big Brother and saying little else of what culture it was written in. “If you've ever seen the so-bad-it's-good reality show Big Brother, you should close this page right now and get back to watching, because guess what? You're already familiar with George Orwell's dystopian classic, 1984. Phew, that was easy.” (Shmoop Editors, “1984”).
As a source for giving relevant information to support students in making a critical analysis of 1984, Shmoop does not provide that context. It gives students the premise, likening it to modern-day equivalents, but the full breadth of where 1984 was written from cannot be gleaned from this site. Neither is this context present for eNotes, which devotes an entire page entitled ‘Critical Context’ to mentioning its influence and impact on the dystopian genre, whether the book should be classified as ‘young-adult’ or ‘classic’, and that it is often banned from libraries due to likening sexual relations to political rebellion. No actual context of the novel’s writing or the experiences that led to George Orwell to write it are given by eNotes, making it inadequate as a source to provide context for its existence or the themes portrayed within. In terms of supplying context and avoiding the mistake of assuming meaning in a novel to the author’s intent, SparkNotes would provide the best resource for students, Shmoop would be inadequate but at the very least present, and eNotes has no relevant information for the student.
Several aspects of these websites that do not immediately deal with the quality of the information provided have been deemed important qualities to examine: their tendency to lead students towards plagiarism, the reliability of its information in terms of who, exactly, is writing for these websites, and how accessible the websites are to students. Many of the worries associated with the idea of students approaching these websites is that there is no assurance of the quality of its information, or confidence in the credentials of its writers. Additionally, in the interests of their own profit, they may goad students into paying a fee for the use of tools or services that promise to make the writing of their essay easier in ways that may be considered academically dishonest.
SparkNotes is an entirely free service that profits from sensational advertising of articles written by third-party sites which, while distracting, do not interrupt the use of its website. It is written by “top students or recent graduates who specialize in the subjects they cover.” (SparkNotes Editors, “SparkNote on 1984”). An examination, however, of the 1984 page did not reveal who wrote it, its citation page merely saying “SparkNote Editors” (SparkNotes Editors, “SparkNote on 1984”). With no way to ascertain who actually wrote anything on this website, and no strict assurance that its writers are credentialed literary analysts, any information it gives is suspect at best. In terms of plagiarism, the most help SparkNotes would give a student is an essay topic, such as: “Describe Winston’s character as it relates to his attitude toward the Party. In what ways might his fatalistic streak contribute to his ultimate downfall?” (SparkNotes Editors, “SparkNote on 1984”).
While this topic would not suit a college-level essay, SparkNotes does not offer any pre-written essays or strict outlines that would lead a student towards plagiarism. Shmoop is a mostly-free service that provides all its information without any cost, but does provide an essay-building tool that is only accessible if a student paid for their premium service. It also profits from advertising, its numerous ads making the navigation of its website slow and difficult. Shmoop is alleged to be written by college graduates, but the actual writers of these articles are unknown. Shmoop does not provide the names of these writers, and in its citations, it only says: “Shmoop Editorial Team” (Shmoop Editors, “1984”). As stated, Shmoop provides an essay-building tool at the cost of a subscription to their website that outlines the essay for the student in six simple steps to build their thesis and supporting paragraphs.
Furthermore, “Shmoop will provide quotes and thought-starters that help you develop your own point of view.” (Shmoop Editors, “1984”). More than providing a topic, this is replacing the work of students in developing their essay with its own prepared outline and thought-processes, a task students are expected to perform for themselves as part of their assigned essay. Offering such an alternative, for a suitable fee, provides students a means of plagiarizing their essays, a serious act of academic dishonesty that is not permitted. eNotes requires a subscription to be purchased by the student before they can have access to its study-guides, giving a short teaser of each section before informing the student that the information is blocked. Without payment, the service is nigh-useless.
The writing for eNotes is alleged to be a combination of submitted material from teachers and professors, and from the group of editors at eNotes that collate this information and make it publishable on their website. However, for their study guide of the novel 1984, numerous writers contributed different sections of the study guide, of whom no credentials could be found for several of these writers. Furthermore, no context or explanation was given for the appearance of an author who died a year before eNotes was first founded. The website also provides essay outlines for the student to follow, giving step-by-step instructions on how to write each individual paragraph and what conclusions to come to in the essay, again interrupting the expected writing process of students and permitting an overt act of plagiarism.
Through the system of grading devised to compare these websites against each other, looking at the quality of theme-analysis, whether context for the novel was given, how far each went in developing an essay for the student and the reliability/accessibility of the website, and using 1984 as a common work of literature, it has been found that SparkNotes is the best online source for a student to go to for help, followed by Shmoop as the next best, and eNotes as the worst. However, none of these sources gave an adequate theme analysis, none had reliable writers, and two of these websites pushed students towards committing acts of plagiarism for a ‘convenient’ subscription fee, putting doubt to the effectiveness of even the best of these sources.
Fogiel, M. “1984 – Overview.” eNotes. Research and Education Association, Inc. 2000. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
Orwell, George. 1984. Penguin, 2008.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "1984." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on 1984.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.