JETIR2309598
JETIR2309598
JETIR2309598
org(ISSN-2349-5162)
Introduction:
The present paper focuses on the pride and nationalism in George Orwell’s ‘The Sporting Spirit’. Let us try to
understand these two key terms in detail.
Pride:
‘Pride is the consciousness of satisfaction that you have when you or general public who are
close to you do something exceptional.’
The word ‘pride’ is derived from the French word ‘prud’ which means ‘brave’. It is the sagacity of having
estimation of oneself. It essentially manifests self-centeredness. It is a multifaceted derivative sentiment that
develops logic of self. As per Merriam Webster, pride can be defined as,
‘…….a reasonable self esteem or self-assurance and contentment in oneself.’
Oxford defines pride as,
‘…..The quality of having high judgments of oneself.’
Pride is the source of all malevolence. It is viewed as a virtue as well as vice. It is virtue in the form of righteous
pleasure, magnitude of spirit etc. It would be a vice as a self-importance, disrespect, self-idolatry etc. Richard
Taylor comments about pride,
Nationalism:
‘Nationalism is the desire of a group of people who share the same race, culture, language,
etc. to form an independent country.’
It is an idea that holds that nation should be harmonious with the state. It also endorses the wellbeing of a particular
nation. Its aim is to achieve and continue the nation’s self governance. It holds that each nation should oversee itself
and should be liberated from external obstructions. Nation is an accepted and ultimate foundation for a overview
and it is the authentic basis of opinionated authority. It constructs and preserves nationalized distinctiveness,
harmony, autonomy and integrity. The prominent features of nationalism are ethnicity, civilization, geographic
locality, verbal communication, political affairs etc. It seeks to safeguard and promote a nation’s customary
traditions. It is used to validate ethnic, cultural and spiritual separations and demoralize human rights and
autonomous customs.
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Objective of the Paper:
The objectives of the paper are as follows.
1. To explore the concepts such as pride and nationalism in George Orwell’s ‘The Sporting Spirit’.
2. To correlate sporting spirit to nationalism.
3. To delineate the realities of sports played at international level
4. To juxtapose the causes for the rise of the modern cult of sport
Literature Review:
1. Dr. M. Kasirajan Assistant Professor Dept. of English, P. Manimaran, Research Scholar, Bharathiar University
Coimbatore, ‘Sports as a Bifurcating Aspect of Two Nations: A General View on George Orwell’s The
Sporting Spirit’ Language in India, Vol-19, Issue-6, June 2019
In this article, the researchers have attempted to write about the actual status of sports in detail and how it bifurcates
two nations. Degradation of human community is reflected in modern and post modern era through sports. The
games played between two countries create bitterness, produces friction and disintegrates the nationalism.
2. Beck. Peter. ‘War Minus the Shooting’, George Orwell on International Sport and the Olympics
George Orwell has depicted about the reality of international sports. His article ‘The Sporting Sport’ is published I
December 1945 in Tribune. He represents his hostile attitude towards the Stalinist totalitarian regime in the Soviet
Union. He envisages that sport is the significant tool of nationalism by citing the Dynamo Moscow Football Team’s
visit in 1945.
The researcher has delineated his research perspectives and offered a new dimension to the earlier topics by
citing the critical and eye opening issues such as utility of sports, its current status, political predilections and
vicious passions of players, local sport and international sport, pride, passion, greed, rivalry and nationalism among
the teams, the true nature of sporting spirit and modern cult of sports through the research paper entitled as ‘An
exploration of Pride and Nationalism in George Orwell’s ‘The Sporting Spirit’
Implication of Sport:
Sports are very indispensable for every human being. It keeps them vigorous and offers corporeal as well as
cerebral growth and strength. It also keeps our all organs attentive and our hearts become stronger by recurrently
playing some kind of sports. It develops the persona of people. in addition, it amplifies the blood stream in the
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whole body. It increases self-reliance and diminishes stress. By playing outdoor games, the imperviousness of the
body augments. Thus sports are played for robustness, infatuation and accomplishment.
The writer presents the circumstances of numerous sports such as cricket, football, boxing etc. Cricket, the
game of vacation, demands the elegance rather than potency. It can cause much ill motivation. The readers can
observe the disagreement over body line bowling and over the forceful strategies of the Australian team that visited
England in 1921. Football is the game in which the players get injured. Every nation has its individual
technique of play which seems inequitable to foreign persons. There is a most horrible condition in case of a
boxing. In this cosmos, we can envisage the most atrocious landscape and it is about the struggle between white and
coloured boxers before an assorted audience. It is the sardonic truth that boxing spectators are constantly repulsive
and the behaviour of army women does not permit them to attend its contests. Here he shares his experience as an
official of Home Guard,
‘Two or three years ago, Home Guards and customary multitudes were holding a boxing
competition. I was positioned on protector at the entrance of the hall, with orders to keep the
women out.’7 (TSS: Page 5)
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Orwell’s Notion of ‘The Sporting Spirit’:
The writer highlights the actuality that solemn sport has nothing to do with a fair play. It is bound up with
detestation, covetousness, arrogance, ignorance of all rules and aggressive enjoyment in witnessing violent
behavior. In reality, it is combat minus the shooting. He looks at the numerous discernment and approaches of
smugness, enthusiasm, resentment, xenophobia and revulsion. To prove the fact, he shares some of the examples of
the sporting spirit. For instance, showing reverence for two nations by participating in national anthem, shake hands
with the other team before and after the game, applaud and carry the team mates by saying ‘good shot; or ‘good
try’, not to disparage the team mates, treating other team with high opinion, stay away from banter or harassment
other team, accepting calls and not to dispute with the officials etc.
Further he adds that sportsmanship is the precise strength in which a game is played. In fact, it is the
procedure of accepting ones accomplishment with unassuming nature. It helps to deal with disappointments that
come in our path and to make demanding labors to accomplish achievement in supplementary endeavor. It also
aims to enhance the way to focus and endeavor to be successful in the next game. A perfect sportsman, according to
Orwell, plays a game for the pleasure and satisfaction. He is neither winded by a triumph nor disheartened by a
defeat. He remains ever the unchanged both in misfortunes and affluences. It exemplifies the individual potency,
understanding, endeavor and optimistic realization. The strength of sport is the merriment of the human spirit, body
and intelligence. It is reflected in our ethics such as moral principles, fair play, truthfulness, physical condition,
luminosity in performance, temperament building, team work, commitment, dedication and admiration for rules and
laws and for other team mates.
To Sum Up:
George Orwell holds a conviction that when a game is played between two nations, they both should have
equal probability of winning and losing. He powerfully asserts that both teams should demonstrate sportsmanship
and vigorous competition against opponents. Orwell here expresses his anguish that there is lack of sporting spirit
among the players who engage themselves in the games at international level. It is the hostility which keeps apart
two countries and generate bitterness among them. Competitive sports are generating viciousness and it should be
absolutely exterminated. In today’s world, sports are become the foundation of satisfaction and advertising
platform. Thus sporting spirit infringes the maxim ‘unison is strength’.
Bibliography:
1. Chaskar, Ashok. ‘Pearls of Wisdom’, Orient Blackswan Private Limited, Hyderabad, 2019
2. Dr. M. Kasirajan Assistant Professor Department of English, P. Manimaran, Research Scholar, Bharathiar
University Coimbatore, ‘Sports as a Bifurcating Aspect of Two Nations: A General View on George Orwell’s
The Sporting Spirit’ Vol-19, Issue-6, June 2019
3. Beck. Peter. ‘War Minus the Shooting’, George Orwell on International Sport and the Olympics
Web References:
1. https://www.google.com/search?q=pride+definition&rlz=1C1YTUH_enIN972IN972&oq=pride+definition&a
qs=chrome..69i57j0i512l9.7260j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&bshm=rimc/1
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride
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3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism
4. http://orwell.ru/library/articles/spirit/english/e_spirit..
5. https://prezi.com/ublz2weibwxj/the-sporting-spirit/.
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