Question

1984 by George Orwell

The novel is full of images and ideas that do not directly affect the plot, but nevertheless attain thematic importance (e.g. the paprweight, the St. Clement's Church picture and the rhyme associated with it, the prole women singing outside the window, and the phrase "the place where there is no darkness.") How does Orwell use them?

Answer 1

There was an association of the paperweight with fhe freedom of existence and ideal past, which insinuated that not everything needed to exude utility in order to exist, but pure aesthetics were appreciated too.

The church painting was also symbolic of the same ideal past that the paperweight was symbolic of, and the nursery rhyme with it was one that was weighing down the Winston down trod.

The prole woman singing outside were the representation of the grass root class, who would one day rebel and overthrow the current rule of the part, they were the symbols of fertility.

The main symbol, which is where Winston believes that Obrien wants to have a meet with him, in his dream, and it also shows the demise of fate that is inadvertent and inevitablly coming his way.