Orwell’s 1984 Draft Analysis
1984 (2nd draft version)
It was a cold day in early April, and a million radios
were striking thirteen. Winston Smith pushed open
the glass door of Victory Mansions, turned to the
right down the passage-way and pressed the button
of the lift. Nothing happened. He had just pressed a
second time when a door at the end of the passage
opened, letting out a smell of boiled greens and old
rag mats, and the aged prole who acted as porter
and caretaker thrust out a grey, seamed face and
stood for a moment sucking his teeth and watching
Winston malignantly.
1984 (published version)
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were
striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled
into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind,
slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory
Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a
swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.
Diction:
What word choices did Orwell make between the draft and the published version? How did his choices change meaning? How did the changes
alter the tone?
Syntax:
How did the changes affect syntax? Did Orwell change sentence patterns? How? What syntactical devices did he use? How was meaning
altered?
