23SIMILE: A COMPARATIVE STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF "1984" AND ITS
UZBEK TRANSLATION
Dilshod Dilmurodovich Togaymurodov
Denau Institute of Entrepreneurship and Pedagogy d.to gaymuradov@dtpi .uz
ABSTRACT
This article presents a detailed comparative stylistic analysis of the use of simile in George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984" and its Uzbek translation. The study examines the ways in which similes are employed to convey meaning, create literary effects, and enhance the reader's understanding of the characters and themes in both the original text and its translation. The results show that while some similes are translated directly, maintaining their original form and meaning, others are adapted or replaced with culturally appropriate equivalents to better fit the context of the target language. This analysis sheds light on the challenges and strategies involved in translating figurative language across linguistic and cultural boundaries. It highlights the importance of considering not only the literal meaning of words but also their connotations and cultural associations when translating literary texts. The findings contribute to our understanding of the complexities of literary translation and provide valuable insights for translators, scholars, and readers interested in cross-cultural communication and the art of literary translation.
Keywords: translation, adequacy, stylistics, figurative language, simile, 1984, Orwell.
INTRODUCTION
The original version of the novel can be considered expressive since the core of the function is the mind of the writer. In 1984 the writer is appalled by the political system and catastrophic destiny of his friends after war. They are all the outlook of the writer which he tries to illustrate by means of following lexical units such as words, expressions and unusual collocations. Therefore, translation process of the work might demand much effort from the translator for the necessity of transferring not only meaning of the word but also their emotional effect to the reader. Translator, first of all, must feel the taste of hatred and disappointment which the author has experienced.
Text style is a narrative description of a particular political situation. It describes a war-torn social environment where people
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reside in wooden dwellings with famine and poor housing. On one hand it gives a story about the inner events (inside Victory Mansion and Winston's apartment, his sighting of Big Brother's poster, his pain, his experience of drinking and writing, his monologue, his sheer panic, his hatred, and the current news heard over telescreen, etc.). On the other hand, the outer events are also narrated throughout the plot. Some happenings outside his apartment in his workplace, Ministry of Truth, the people he meets, his feeling towards them, the political speeches on telescreen, dummy rhythmic tramp of soldiers' boot, roaring of machine guns, and helicopters which hover here and there can be evidence to the argument above.
The source text intends to demonstrate writer's point of view to the subject matter. George Orwell tries to describe a war-torn society and his hatred of political situation with the help of explicit, implicit, ironical and paradoxical lexical units by wise selection of similes. For further analysis we can refer to the usage of the aforementioned stylistic device and its translation problems into the Uzbek language
LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODS
A simile is a stylistic device for making a comparison. A simile, like a metaphor, is distinguished by the use of the words "like" or "as' to draw a comparison. Aristotle also claimed that there was almost no difference between them by stating "the simile also is a metaphor...the difference is but slight" (Aristotle, 1954, p. 105). Michael Israel, Jennifer Riddle Harding and Vera Tobin explained this idea in their article as following: "Traditionally, what difference there is has been seen as a matter of form: a simile, so the story goes, simply makes explicit what a metaphor merely implies. Since the difference between the two is apparently so superficial, theorists have tended to define one figure in terms of the other." (Israel, 2004, p. 1). In order to differentiate them in literature it is vital to notice the distinction between two forms. "A simile makes an explicit connection between two concepts through the use of the IS LIKE formula." (Simpson, 2004, p. 43)
George Orwell, author of "1984", is most recognised for his eerily prescient dystopian concepts rather than his brilliance with words. Orwell's use of simile in "1984", on the other hand, demonstrates an inventive capacity to produce vivid pictures. From the linguistic point of view one of the most common stylistic devices which creates imagery is simile. (Ashurova & Galieva, 2013, p. 55). For that reason it is possible to assume that Orwell used deliberately this type of stylistic device regularly in the novel.
However, in some cases translators might confuse simile with metaphors since they serve to express similar meanings.
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"Metaphor and simile serve to animate and humanise what is inanimate: the engine "stumbles", the headstocks are "clumsy", the winding engine has "spasms", the cottage "squats" (Leech & Short, 2007, p. 93).
It is essential to choose appropriate approach to identify the functions and transform the meaning correctly. "The cognitive stylistic approach to metaphor sees metaphor as cognitive rather than linguistic. The emphasis in understanding the metaphor lies less with whether a particular instance is a simile or an instance of metaphor proper and more with the cognitive metaphors upon which the linguistic realizations are based." (Boase-Beier, 2014, p. 136). From that perspective translators sometimes translate metaphors by changing it into simile in the target language. This may cause the loss of emotional degree of the expression. Below a comparative stylistic analysis will be carried out between the original novel "1984" as a source text and its translated version in Uzbek as a target one.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
We identified following examples of similes used in throughout the novel.
1. metal plaque like a dulled mirror
2. instant like a bluebottle
3. dwellings like chicken-houses
4. gulped it down like a dose of medicine
5. wallowing along in the water like a porpoise
6. mouth was opening and shutting like that of a landed fish.
7. like an electric current
8. like the flame
9. standing like a rock
10. thumping like a drum
11. frightening, like the gambolling of tiger cubs
12. rasped your skin like sandpaper
13. masses like women's hair
14. a harsh gabble almost like the quacking of a duck
15. like a line of type cast solid
16. like the quacking of a duck.
17. shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies.
18. humming on like the reverberation of a bell
19. like cattle turned loose upon the plains of Argentina
20. like a mountain crumbling
21. like a fossil bone
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22. shooting into the doorways like rabbits
23. Like a leaden knell
24. like the smoke of a rubbish fire
25. like the sneeze of a horse
26. like the sneeze of a horse
27. unalterable, like the sky
28. despairing sensuality, like a damned soul
29. like a foretaste of death
30. like a landscape
31. lack of superfluous motion, like an artist's lay-figure moving of its own accord
32. like a baby monkey
33. gleamed like a ruby
34. sweet taste, like that of blackberry jam
35. like a snowdrift
36. prop one another up, like three sheaves of corn
37. sweeps to and fro over their bodies like a tidal wave
38. coarse in the grain like an over-ripe turnip
39. contourless body, like a block of granite
40. swollen like a fertilized fruit
41. a tiny crinkle of pink like a sugar rosebud from a cake
42. doubling her up like a pocket ruler
43. carried her out of the room like a sack
44. straight-featured face was like a wax mask
45. a chinless, toothy face exactly like that of some large, harmless roden
46. Innumerable fingers, like moving trees
47. float off this floor like a soap bubble
48. crushed him like a bludgeon
49. stink like a goat
50. snap your neck like a carrot
51. watched him like a beetle under a magnifying glass
52. locked up inside him like a ball of matter
53. fill him like an enormous roaring flame
54. pouring down into the tip of Africa like a column of ants
55. looking at one another with extinct eyes, like ghosts fading at cock-crow
Table 1. List of similes used in "1984" Below, we will compile a list of inventive uses of simile to identify difficulties and also success faced by translator and give possible suggestions for solving misunderstanding contextual cases.
"The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall."
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(Part 1 Chapter 1)
"Ovoz o 'ng tomondagi devorga o 'rnatilgan cho 'zinchoq, xira tortgan oynaga o 'xshash metal qutidan kelardi."
In this example, we receive our first glimpse of how Big Brother interacts within novel's protagonist, Winston's house. Orwell constructs a picture of a TV screen before there were TVs by comparing the metal plate to a "dulled mirror". Translator uses "Literal translation" strategy due to the fact that the notion being compared is a material object and can be understood by the representatives of both languages. There is not complicated case, therefore, in this line.
"In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight" (Part 1 Chapter 1)
"Yiroqda - tomlar orasida vertolyot ko'rindi, bir lahza o'likka qo'ngan pashshadekmuallaq turdi-da, enkayib ko 'zdanyo'qoldi. Helicopters were in their infancy when Orwell wrote "1984". Orwell compares a helicopter to a bluebottle, a sort of insect, in this illustration. The imagery is highly impressive, giving the aircraft fast, insect-like characteristics. In addition, bluebottle conveys the impression of upheaval. Translator has used an additional expression to express the meaning of disturbance fully. It helps a reader to feel emotiveness of the phrase.
"A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledgehammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic." (Part 1 Chapter 1)
Orwell demonstrates the capacity of tremendous emotions to move among a group of people in this compelling example. Comparing the capacity of emotions to move swiftly as if transmitted by electricity provides the emotions a certain level of strength, infecting and electrifying everybody who comes into contact with them. K. Bahriyev again used rewording in this example.
"Keyin barcha qatnashchilar qo 'rquv va intiqomning jirkanch jazavasi komiga tushadi, g'anim basharasini bolg'a bilan majaqlash, o'ldirish, azoblash istagi odamdan odamga elektr misoli tarqaydi." It is understandable for a reader. However, using other similes which are associated with Uzbek culture to illustrate quickness and strength of emotions might be suggested. For example, it is common to
compare fast movement to wind rather than electric current.
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"And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switchedfrom one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp." (Part 1 Chapter 1)
It is not exactly original to compare rage to something like fire. However, Orwell depicts a very particular picture of a blowlamp, often known as a blowtorch. Reader may feel the heat of hatred considering the scorching heat of a blue flame. In translated version we can read following lines.
"Ayni paytda bu g'azab mavhum va beboshlarcha bo'ladi, uni payvandchiroqning tili kabi istagan tomonga burish mumkin." As it is seen, translation has some errors on this excerpt. Translator might be considered failed to transfer proper emotive meaning because of wrong word choice.
"He went to the bathroom and carefully scrubbed the ink away with the gritty dark brown soap which rasped your skin like sandpaper and was therefore well adaptedfor this purpose." (Part 1 Chapter2)
"Uyuvinish xonasiga kirdi va barmoqlarini qumqog'ozday qirtishlaydigan, shu maqsadda ishlatishga mos donador jigarrang sovunda obdon yuvdi" Orwell excels at creating tangible similes. Orwell highlights items that are highly substandard or of poor quality throughout "1984". In this example, Orwell compares Winston's soap to sandpaper. You can practically taste the gravel. In this instance translation has been done properly owing to the fact that object used to make simile is the same in both nations' householding.
"From the table at Winston's left, a little behind his back, someone was talking rapidly and continuously, a harsh gabble almost like the quacking of a duck, which pierced the general uproar of the room." (Part 1 Chapter 5)
In this example author used not only "simile" but also "onomatopoeia" which is the instrument for expressing natural sounds into written speech. With this suitable combination of two literary devices Orwell, as in the preceding example, is an adept at utilising similes that pique our interest. Orwell uses our sense of sound to compare a crowd's banter to the quacking of a duck in this illustration. Bakhriyev, translator, used again literal translation to express this situation.
"Orqadagi stolda va Uinstonning chap tomonida kimdir to 'xtovsiz bidirlardi -keskin, shoshqin nutqi o'rdakning g'aqillashiga o'xshar xonadagi umumiy guldurosdan ham ajralib turardi."
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It is possible to argue that the adequacy of translation has been kept in this example because the onomatopoeic word can be used to deliver the same emotion in Uzbek language too.
"They needed only to rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies."
(Part 1 Chapter 7)
"Ular o'rnidan turib, bir siltanib olsa kifoya - xuddi tulpor siltanib pashshalarni quvgani kabi." Here we can see so visually fascinating analogy that it is almost audible. Although this simile is translated literally into target language, it does not lose its expressiveness due to the fact that movement of the chosen animal is as known for source text reader as to the reader of translation.
"But this was concrete evidence; it was a fragment of the abolished past, like a fossil bone which turns up in the wrong stratum and destroys a geological theory ".
"Qo'lidagi parcha aniq dalil edi, o'chirilgan o'tmishning parchasi edi, kutilmagan geologik qatlamdan topilgan toshotgan suyak butun geologik nazariyani vayron etgani kabi edi". (Part 1 Chapter 7)
This is a pretty effective simile. Orwell compares a piece of data discovered by Winston to a fossil that contradicts prior ideas. This analogy is particularly intriguing because it contrasts something abstract from the past with something physical from the past: a fossil that can be touched and held.
"His tiny sister, clinging to her mother with both hands, exactly like a baby monkey, sat looking over her shoulder at him with large, mournful eyes" (Part 2 Chapter 7)
In this example Orwell compares the little sister of Winston to a baby monkey to describe her infancy as well as her innocent looking. For English literature it is usual to use baby monkey to give such kind of description. But while translating "interpretation method" should be used since in Uzbek culture people tend to compare babies more to lamb rather than a baby monkey.
"Singlisi onasini qo 'lchalari bilan quchoqlab, maymun bolasi kabi, unga yelka osha katta-katta, ma 'yus ko 'zlari bilan boqardi'. Therefore, translated version above simile do not possess the same emotive strength as in the original.
"Seen from the top the stuff looked almost black, but in the decanter it gleamed like a ruby."
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"Suyuqlik yuqoridan qaraganda tim qoraday, ko'zachadagi nurda esa tovlanib, la'l toshday jilvalanardi". (Part 2 Chapter 8)
This example happens in the section of the novel where Winston first sees and sips wine. Orwell's imagery is really effective. When we compare the wine to a ruby, we get not only a bright visual reference, but also a sense of the wine's uniqueness and preciousness.
"For some reason he had always thought of wine as having an intensely sweet taste, like that of blackberry jam and an immediate intoxicating effect". (Part 2 Chapter 8)
"U nima uchundir hamisha vino qora qarag'ay murabbosi kabi shirin bo 'lishi va darhol boshga urishi kerak deb o 'ylardi" Author, in this case, used the simile so wisely and effectively that you can taste that flavour in your mouth while reading it. However, this effect might not happen if blackberry jam is not common thing in particular region. In that situation it would be better that translator replaces this fruit with another one which has similar taste and is common among target language speakers.
"On the contrary, so long as they remain in conflict, they prop one another up, like three sheaves of corn" (Part 2 Chapter 9)
"Three sheaves of corn" describes unity as they are put together leaning each other to make the stem of corn dry. Orwell used this comparison because this method is utilized in English agricultural production.
"Aksincha, toki ular bir-biri bilan yovlashar ekan, xuddi binoning uchta ustuni kabi bir birini tik tutib turadi"
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Translator, Karim Bakhriyev realized that this simile would be a little strange to Uzbek reader. For this reason, he replaced it with "three arches of a building" to keep the meaning of "unity".
"It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it." (Part 3 Chapter 4)
"Bu oqimga qarshi suzishga o 'xshaydi - har qancha harakat qilma, oqim seni ortga itarib tashlaydi, va sen birdan ortga o 'girilasan va oqim bilan kurashish o 'rniga oqim bo 'ylab suzib ketasan ". This is another simile that appeals to our sense of touch. This example employs the frequent metaphor of swimming against the tide, which means going against a trend or precedent. Reading this section nearly seems like you're in the ocean or a fast -moving river, being swept away and completely out of control.
We see the potential of simile to express imaginative imagery that ties thoughts or actions to visuals throughout these instances of simile in Orwell's "1984". The simile's visuals make it easier for readers to interact with an author's work. Now that you understand how simile works in literature, try if you can spot it elsewhere in "1984' or other works of fiction.
CONCLUSION
To summarise, Orwell used the Soviet Union as a model to bring his vision of a totalitarian society to life. To do this, Orwell employed the literary methods dystopia, dysphemism, and distortion to demonstrate to people what the Soviet Union was truly doing and what a society like the Soviet Union looked like. Orwell depicts 1984 as a controlled society in which everything in its residents' social, spiritual, and everyday life becomes nothing more than a government's concept of a perfect society. "1984" is written in a straightforward language, with few embellishments or superfluous words. While many students interpret this to suggest that Orwell was a humourless man who lacked the capacity to write in an entertaining manner, the truth is quite the opposite. Orwell had such mastery over his craft that he was able to tailor his writing style perfectly to the mood and context. The work is written in a minimalist, dismal language that complements and portrays the story's dark, miserable, and hopeless environment. The reader has the same boring, plodding sensation of ordinary existence as Winston. "Outside, even through the shut window pane, the world looked cold," Orwell relates. Little eddies of wind were blowing dust and crumpled
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paper into spirals along the street, and despite the sun beaming and the sky a glaring blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything save the posters that were plastered everywhere As stated in his work, Orwell used the literary technique dystopia to construct his fictitious authoritarian society.
For the reasons above this novel cannot be considered as an easy task to translate. At the first glance, "1984" seems to include only a plain language. Nevertheless, it has a great number of literary devices and implicit expressions as we analyzed in the article. Translated version of the novel should be edited concerning the problems mentioned above. In that case, the adequacy of translation can be increased. Adapting stylistic devices to the target language culture is essential but over-adapting is not acceptable.
REFERENCES
1. Aristotle. (1954). Rhetoric. New York: Modern Library.
2. Ashurova, D., & Galieva, M. R. (2013). Stylistics of literary text. Tashkent: Alisher Navoiy nomidagi O'zbekiston Milliy kutubxonasi nashriyoti.
3. Boase-Beier, J. (2014). Stylistic Approaches to Translation. New York: Routledge.
4. Israel, M. H. (2004). On simile. Language, culture, and mind, 123-134.
5. Leech, G., & Short, M. (2007). Style in fiction 2nd edition. Edinburgh: pearson Education Limited.
6. Orwell, G. (2008). 1984. Sydney: Planet Ebook.com.
7. Orwell, G. (2020). 1984 translated by K. Bakhriyev. Tashkent: Nihol.
8. Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A resourse book for students. London: Routledge.
9. Togaymurodov, D. D. LITERARY TRANSLATION AS AN INSTRUMENT OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION.
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