The Consequences of Totalitarianism
Winston and Julia in George Orwell’s 1984, are characters existing in a setting of complete control. Life in Oceania is one of complete and total destruction by an entity known as Big Brother. This entity enacts its control by brainwashing the people of Oceania into believing what it wants them to believe. Winston and Julia function in a sphere of loneliness until they suspect that there is another human being that loathes Big Brother, which is, literally, why they come together. This partnership gives them hope to fight against Big Brother. The reality is that a totalitarian government leaves little room for hope or individuality. Orwell’s purpose is to show the destructive effects of totalitarianism
Human accountability is nonexistent in a world where the totalitarian regime is never-ending (“1984” 240). A visualization example is given to Winston when he and Julia are undergoing torture:
“O’Brien gives Winston an image of the future: a boot stomping on a human face, forever and ever” (“1984” 240). Dictation consistently triumphs, and multiple beings are innocently defeated with no explanation as to why (“1984” 242). An excessively cruel government brutalizes anyone possessing desires in remaining righteous (Stewart). Through it all, Winston contains perseverance and pushes through severe pain while ignoring the hurt (Rae). Orwell created a horrific scenario where such a citizen as Winston, who rebels is cast away. The narrator resists authoritative forces and takes part in something that is outlawed by the Party: he maintains a personal book (Burt). Winston craves a chance to be unique, to have his own ability to reason, to have intimate space to utilize; these wants are all outlawed by authoritative leaders such the Party and Big Brother. Authorities have placed environmental restrictions, and citizens lack place to be oneself (Glover). The narrator is persistent in refusing to partake in monstrous Big Brother. All in all, after betrayal emerges, Winston becomes faithful to authoritative figures
In “1984,” Orwell uses Winston to portray a single individual’s attempt to take action against a powerful government, culminating in his failure and subjugation. His individual efforts failed tremendously due to the overarching power of the Party to control every aspect of social life in Oceania. Orwell uses Winston’s deeply seated hatred of the Party to portray his views on power and social change. Winston’s actions show that even in the direst of situations ...
George Orwell’s novel, 1984, is a dystopian literary text that illuminates the tenets of totalitarian and authoritarian governance in most areas where the leaders seek total loyalty and near hero worship. It was published in 1949, but has since remained relevant because its details promoted authoritarian political constructs and the political leadership concepts that evolved in the globe over time. Set at Oceania province in Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, the book displays an omnipresent government that institutes constant state surveillance on the people that it suspects to be a threat to its regime and agitators of rebellion. It infringes on human rights
Winston’s method of resistance is actually taking action and doing something to solve Oceania’s problem with Big Brother’s complete control. Winston does not like that the Party can just tell you that 2+2=5 and you would actually believe it, because that means that the Party has complete influence over you, and can make you change your ideas about basic facts and truths. “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” In other words, Freedom is the ability to know unquestionable truths, and if you have that, you can have more freedom, but if your basic knowledge is taken away, then your freedom is doomed. Winston looks for solutions, while Julia just tries to wait it out and only cares about herself. Winston at one point gets fed up with this attitude and even tells Julia that she is only a rebel from the waist down, which Julia takes as a compliment, “She thought this brilliantly witty and flung her arms round him in delight.” Julia and Winston’s perspective on resisting the party are similar at first but end up being completely different. Winston’s perspective is more compelling because his ideas can actually make an impact and change society, whereas Julia’s rebellion is
Winston Smith from George Orwell’s 1984 is a creative thinker who starts off behaving like a common man, but in the end, he ends up rebelling against the ruling Party. Throughout the book, Winston revealed that he is an intelligent individual with interest in literature, he loses his fear in the Party over time, and is unable to control his emotions.
Today I am going to be writing an essay on the book, 1984 by George Orwell. This book is about Winston Smith and Big Brother where an external conflict arises between the two. The internal conflict that also takes place in this book was between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism. The reason this novel was written was to show society what it could and or would become if things continued to go down the worse of the paths: Orwell sensed of the expansion of the great communism when he was thinking of this novel. The conflict that took place between these two ideas in the year 1945 created the two characters, which were the two characters above Winston Smith and the Big Brother, in his mind. The Big Brother is head of the totalitarian
George Orwell has created two main characters that have conflicting traits: believe in the idea of love in a world where it is forbidden. Although both are secret rebels of the Party and share the same hatred for the Party’s totalitarian power, Julia and Winston display a remarkable number of differences between each other. The differences between them include their morality, their motivation towards the rebellion, and their personalities. Julia represents elements of humanity that Winston does not: survival, instincts, pure sexuality and cunning (1984 By George Orwell Character Analysis Julia). Her actions show the lack of an emotional connection to anyone, even Winston.
Prior to meeting Julia, Winston frets constantly about life and essentially has nothing to look forward to. Julia’s arrival into his life not only gives him
Winston is confronted with struggle throughout the entirety of George Orwell`s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Living within a totalitarian regime subsequently causes Winston to seek approaches for dealing with such abundant oppression; he finds liberation through self-awareness, understanding and ultimately rebellion. First, Winston realizes that “if you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself”, alluding to the notion of thoughtcrime (162). This recognition exemplifies the complete cognizance that Winston has regarding the oppressive society displayed throughout the novel. Next, Syme states “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words”, alluding to the idea of Newspeak (28). This statement directly correlates to Winston speaking with other party members to gain knowledge about how others feels about policies deployed by the government. This information-seeking also connects with Winston`s rebellion, as he actively searched for others to join his uprising, which is shown when Winston tells O’Brien “We want to join [The Brotherhood]” (171). Winston’s attempt to join a rebellious organization exhibits his evident desire to release his suppressed emotions. Winston devises a very methodical approach to deal with the problematic society he resides in.
Orwell explores the social impact of government through the means of Big Brother and how it affects social conformity. Big Brother is a character presented in the novel which exercises restriction and maximum control of the mass. Winston writes, “Down with the Big Brother” (Orwell 19). From the beginning of the novel, readers see Winston’s extreme disgust with the government.
The book, 1984 by George Orwell, is about the external conflict between Winston Smith and Big Brother; and the internal conflict between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism. Orwell wrote the novel to show society what it could become if things kept getting worse: he sensed of the expansion of communism when he wrote the novel. The conflict between democracy and totalitarianism at the year of 1945 created two characters, Winston Smith and Big Brother, in orwell's mind. Big Brother is the embodiment of all the ideals of the totalitarian party. In contrast to Big Brother, Winston Smith keeps the idea of democracy emphasizes freedom, he has to hide his own thought because the Big Brother's party will punish him by death if the party finds it out. George orwell criticizes of Big Brother's society by describing it as a dark and a gloomy place. It warns that people might believe that everyone must become slaves to the government in order to have an orderly society, but at the expense of the freedom of the people.
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
Given that George Orwell’s occupation was a English novelist, journalist, and critic his opinion that totalitarianism is wrong is not surprising because as a kid growing up in India and England he was brought up as a socialist. In 1984, Winston starts to look at his own life and the job that he has to help realize that what he is doing is wrong. He also tries to remember what is was like before Big Brother and he remembers his parents and he doesn’t know how they disappeared. Winston also starts a journal to keep track of all the dreams and thoughts he has. Furthermore in 1984, Julia knows that Big Brother is controlling the public so in her way of rebelling she has sex. One of the rules by Big Brother is that people are not allowed to have kids or any type of relationship unless permitted by the government. Julia knows that there is not much she can do to change the future but as she examines her own life she comes closer and closer to the truth. Winston and Julia looked at their own lives to help figure out that Big Brother was controlling the public. They did this by looking at their everyday lives, like the constant playing propaganda for Big Brother, the forced hate meetings, morning exercises by the telescreen. These all contributed to them checking their chains and finding
The novel 1984 by George Orwell is a fictional future where The Party controls everything. The Party is lead by a larger than life figurehead named Big Brother. The main character is Winston Smith. The story is divided into 3 parts and chronicles Winston’s rebellion against and then re-entering of The Party.
Authors often use their works as a way to express their own opinions and ideologies. However, it is the skill of the author that determines whether these ideas are combined with the plot seamlessly, making a creative transition of ideas from the author’s mind, to the reader’s. There is no doubt that George Orwell is a masterful writer, and one of his most popular works, 1984, clearly expresses his negative views of the Totalitarian government. A common theme in the dystopian society in 1984 is betrayal: The Party is very intolerant towards any form of disloyalty, and anyone who plots against them or Big Brother will eventually either betray their own mind and accept Big Brother as their leader, or be betrayed and revealed to The Party by one of their so-called comrades. Overall, Orwell is using this constant theme of betrayal to show how alone and alienated the protagonist (Winston Smith) is in his quest against Totalitarianism, thus showing how flawed and hopeless the political system is.