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Emmanuel Goldstein is a key character in George Orwell's Novel '' Nineteen Eighty-Four ''. In the novel Goldstein is rumored to be a former top member of the ruling (and sole) Party who had broken away early in the movement and started an organization known as "The Brotherhood", dedicated to the fall of The Party. However, in the course of the novel, the reader never learns if "The Brotherhood" or Goldstein himself actually ever existed, even though he is led to believe that neither Goldstein, nor the "Brotherhood," nor "Big Brother" exists outside of suggestion. Each member of "The Brotherhood" is required to read a book supposedly written by Goldstein, '' (a one-channel Television with Surveillance devices in it). It is thought that the opposition to Big Brother —namely, Goldstein—was simply a construction, which ensured that support and devotion towards Big Brother was continuous. It is never revealed whether this is true. The character of Goldstein is considered to be modeled after Leon Trotsky (the Pen Name of Lev Davidovich Bronstein), who had similar ideas regarding the regime of Joseph Stalin , whose banishment from the Soviet Union had a similar timeline, and whose appearance was similar to the description of the image of Goldstein in the novel. Far more significantly, however, Goldstein represents the Bogeyman used by all regimes to represent the "them" who are against "us". The character's name could be a reference to religion (which is banned in the world of '' Nineteen Eighty-Four ''), "Emmanuel" being a name used for Jesus , and "Goldstein" being a typically Jewish surname (Trotsky himself being Jewish). Alternatively, it could be derived from the name of Emma Goldman , an Anarcho-socialist whom Orwell greatly admired. Another possible source of inspiration for Orwell's Goldstein, and likely the most 'concrete', was the poet Emanuel Goldstein. A radical, Goldstein was friends with Norwegian painter Edvard Munch among others, and little else is known of him or his work. |
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