Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
Fall 2024
Abstract
The purpose of this project is to compare the Soviet novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1924) to the English novel 1984 by George Orwell (1949). Many have previously drawn comparisons between the two works, but the focus of this research is to find dissimilarities in their respective emotional arcs using sentiment analysis, a computational tool used for processing large bodies of text. The findings of this research were twofold. Firstly, the novel We suffers from an undeveloped emotional arc due to a weak narrative voice and a lack of emotionally varied events. This is especially notable when compared to 1984, which despite having a similar plot, has a strongly developed emotional arc that fluctuates in proportion to the events of the novel. Secondly, this research suggests that emotional arcs are an essential quality of a successful work, equal perhaps, to the importance of a robust plot. This research is relevant to the fields of literary criticism and publishing as sentiment analysis becomes increasingly used as a tool for understanding quality stories and predicting successful sales.
Recommended Citation
Fiore, Annalia and Elkins, Katherine, "What Makes an Emotionally Compelling Novel? A Sentiment Analysis of Science Fiction Novels 1984 and We" (2024). IPHS 200: Programming Humanity. Paper 81.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/dh_iphs_prog/81
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.