Isolation in 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

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Isolation refers to the “state of separation between persons or groups.” In 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, George Orwell and Ray Bradbury explore the idea of isolation in the futuristic world in which the novels are set as a warning to modern day society. The Inner Party uses several methods to assume almost complete control over their people. They want people to be cold and indifferent towards others, all while having fear slowly drilled into their minds. Isolation is something that the Inner Party wants to see. They want people to be isolated from one another so that the concept of “we” is completely eliminated. If everyone keeps to themselves, they cannot come together as one and possibly overthrow Big Brother, which is something that the Inner Party is afraid of.
To prevent this possibility, everyone has been more or less brainwashed by the Inner Party. They all follow the ominous Big Brother who rules over everything, even though they never actually see him. David Goodman even says in “The Future Is Here” that Big Brother is “seen only on television…he never appears in public,” yet the Party members still blindly follow him. This shows how the people have been brainwashed but do not even realize it.
Big Brother and the Inner Party want to keep everyone apart from one another. Their desire for this has gotten so out of control that they have gone as far as putting a device in everyone’s home that monitors everything they do. These diabolical machines are called telescreens. They watch what people do and hear what people say. This is an extremely effective move by the Inner Party because it allows them to catch anyone who even thinks about rebellion in the form of assimilation. If the people cannot even think about forming a rebel...

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Malinowitz, Harriet. "The 'Newspeak' of our time." The Women's Review of Books Sept. 2004: 19+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
McGiveron, Rafeeq O. "Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451." Explicator 54.3 (Spring 1996): 177-180. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 235. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Orwell, George. 1984. New York, N.Y.: Signet Classic, 1949. Print.
Rand, Ayn. Anthem. New York: Dutton, 1995. Print.
Sisario, Peter. "A Study of the Allusions in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451." English Journal 59.2 (Feb. 1970): 201-205. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 98. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
WriteWork contributors. "1984: Isolation" WriteWork.com. WriteWork.com, 17 April, 2004. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.

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