George Orwell wrote 1984 in the midst of wars against the totalitarian government his novel portrays. World War II had ended but there was still tension and fears of communism spreading around to different countries. People believed communism was corrupt and evil and Orwell's novel created a futuristic society where communism really did take over the world. 1984 gave people a view of how political, social, and technological aspects of their lives could have changed if they didn't have any freedom. The main character of 1984 is a plain man named Winston Smith. He lives in Oceania where the government has a complete control over how the people behave. The ruling power, Big Brother, can always see people through the telescreens which resemble televisions we have today. Telescreens are located in nearly every home, business, and on street corners so no matter where you go you can count on Big Brother knowing your every move. In today's society security cameras can be put anywhere to keep watch over people, but the people who are able to see the footage is limited. …show more content…
The only political party in Oceania is simply called “The Party”.
Since they have no competition they remain in power creating a totalitarian government.There are hardly any totalitarian governments remaining today possibly because Orwell pointed out how terrible it can be. The leader can do whatever they please without consequence, people have no say in how their country is run, and they are often not treated fairly, “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power” (Orwell
275). George Orwell's totalitarian government also controls the people's minds. The Party has been conditioning the people to follow their every order for years without question. They have become an all powerful, unstoppable force and even though they treat the citizens like slaves, everyone loves Big Brother and if they do not show their love, they end up being vaporized “People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, and your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word”(Orwell 21). Orwell boldly predicted a hateful government and in a way he was not wrong. The modern day country of North Korea is not too much different from Oceania. Today's society has different social and economic classes just like 1984 but ours are a little more blurred. In 1984 the three social classes, the inner party, outer party, and the proles are easily distinguishable at a glance because they all wear different clothes. The inner party wears black overalls and the outer party wears blue ones while the proles all wear regular street clothes. Besides their attire, the classes have different privileges separating the from each other. The inner party can have items like real sugar, coffee, razors, and wine. Outer party members can only find these items on the black market and for a prole to even know what some of the items are is rare, ”He saw Julia pick up her glass and sniff at it with frank curiosity. ‘It’s called wine...You will have read about it in books,no doubt. Not much of it gets to the outer party, I am afraid’ His face grew solemn again” (Orwell 178). The social classes we see today are much more equal and without a drastic jump from class to class than that of Oceania. The world we live in today and Orwell’s world both differ and resemble each other. Thankfully, the majority of our population can live however they want without fear of persecution. 1984 has been forewarning the world of the terror a totalitarian government could bring since 1948. By putting his ideas into a book everyone could read and understand, Orwell made sure no one could obtain too much power and ruin the sanctity of a free world.
1984, a dystopian novel, was written by George Orwell. Winston Smith, the protagonist, lives in a society where people have restrictions both mentally and physically. The story takes place in Oceania in the year 1984. Citizens of Oceania do not lead personal lives because the people are constantly being observed by telescreens. Thinking individually or thinking against the Party, which is the government of Oceania, is considered thoughtcrime. People are vaporized for doing such things.
Since the rise of totalitarianism in Europe and Asia was the cause of World War II (Perry, 2002), naturally many people such as Orwell feared and despised it. In this way, 1984 was most likely written solely because World War II occurred, and was effective and remains effective because of the memory of the horrors of World War II.
The novel 1984 is one that has sparked much controversy over the last several decades. It harbors many key ideas that lie at the root of all skepticism towards the book. With the ideas of metaphysics, change, and control in mind, George Orwell wrote 1984 to provide an interesting story but also to express his ideas of where he believed the world was heading. His ideas were considered widely ahead of their time, and he was really able to drive home how bleak and colorless our society really is. Orwell wrote this piece as a futuristic, dystopian book which contained underlying tones of despair and deceit.
Orwell wrote 1984 a few years after the end of WWII, trying to combat totalitarianism at a time when many nations were beginning to take it on. Totalitarianism was and is a form of government with a single dictator that doesn’t require, but almost always involves, censorship. Totalitarian dictators use this censorship to control the people, and cover up the dictator’s evil-doings. Many people were afraid that totalitarianism was going to spread all over the world, and tried their hardest to stop it from happening. George Orwell was among the many that were deathly afraid, so he wrote 1984, doing his part to prevent it from spreading. 1984 takes place in Orwell’s far future (but our
George Orwell’s key objective throughout his novel, 1984, was to convey to his readers the imminent threat of the severe danger that totalitarianism could mean for the world. Orwell takes great measures to display the horrifying effects that come along with complete and dominant control that actually comes along with totalitarian government. In Orwell’s novel, personal liberties and individual freedoms that are protected and granted to many Americans today, are taken away and ripped from the citizen’s lives. The government takes away freedom and rights from the people so that the ruling class (which makes up the government), while reign with complete supremacy and possess all power.
Totalitarianism is one of the main themes in 1984. In WWII Europe, Oceania became the ruling power with the so called “Party” ruling everybody and have the “Big Brother” at its head. Some examples of totalitarianism is how they make people workout, they put tele-screens everywhere to monitor the peoples actions, also they refuse to allow any sexual intercourse outside of marriage. “Winston kept his back turned to the tele-screen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing” (Book 1, Chapter 1). This quote represents how fearful Winston is that he ...
George Orwell's 1984 was a book with a lot of deeper meanings and messages about the political systems of the world and about society. 1984 is about a world where privacy does not exist and the ruler of the so called "free world" is called Ingsoc. Ingsoc has a political party called big brother which watches over everything in the world through manned helicopters flying over the city of Oceania at all times, Tele-screens in every house business area and room blurting out propaganda and cameras with microphones listening and watching every conceivable object and person in Oceania.
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.
I strongly agree with Fromm’s viewpoints and interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 text. He warns that the future federal powers will dehumanize society and leave everyone alienated. Thus, I agree with Fromm to the extent that he acknowledges the fact that humanity can indeed cease to exist as a result of our own self-destruction as well as the effect of our actions. Many of his opinions and warnings expressed by Orwell to an extent appear in contemporary society.
War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength. The party slogan of Ingsoc illustrates the sense of contradiction which characterizes the novel 1984. That the book was taken by many as a condemnation of socialism would have troubled Orwell greatly, had he lived to see the aftermath of his work. 1984 was a warning against totalitarianism and state sponsored brutality driven by excess technology. Socialist idealism in 1984 had turned to a total loss of individual freedom in exchange for false security and obedience to a totalitarian government, a dysutopia. 1984 was more than a simple warning to the socialists of Orwell's time. There are many complex philosophical issues buried deep within Orwell's satire and fiction. It was an essay on personal freedom, identity, language and thought, technology, religion, and the social class system. 1984 is more than a work of fiction. It is a prediction and a warning, clothed in the guise of science fiction, not so much about what could happen as it is about the implications of what has already happened. Rather than simply discoursing his views on the social and political issues of his day, Orwell chose to narrate them into a work of fiction which is timeless in interpretation. This is the reason that 1984 remains a relevant work of social and philosophical commentary more than fifty years after its completion.
Through 1984, Orwell warns his readers and audience of the possible totalitarianism that may evolve into the government like the dystopian world, Oceania. Through his use of imagery, irony, and satire, George Orwell successfully demonstrates his fear of a world under a totalitarian government and warns his readers through his rhetorical techniques that it may soon occur in the United States.
Have you ever told an inappropriate joke at the wrong time and place, then notice an elderly lady staring into your soul making you question your existence? Imagine a world where everything you said, did, or thought was discriminated and controlled not only by the old lady but the entire government. Correlating with the basis of being human, humanity is the building blocks of human life, which goes to show its importance.What if those same blocks were being taken away one by one? In the novel, 1984, by George Orwell, these blocks were being stripped away from the citizens every day. Orwell gives the reader insight into a world where technology inhibits daily life, humans lack intuition, and resulting in the repression of individuality.
Dystopian novels are written to reflect the fears a population has about its government, and they are successful because they capture that fright and display what can happen if it is ignored. George Orwell wrote 1984 with this fear of government in mind and used it to portray his opinion of the current government discretely. Along with fear, dystopian novels have many other elements that make them characteristic of their genre. The dystopian society in Orwell’s novel became an achievement because he utilized a large devastated city, a shattered family system, life in fear, a theme of oppression, and a lone hero. Orwell’s novel begins with a horrid description of the living conditions of his main character, Winston.
George Orwell envisioned a nightmarish utopia that could have very easily become a possibility in 1949? the year the novel was written. He managed to create such a realistic view of humanity?s future, that this story has been deemed timeless. There will always be the threat of totalitarianism, and at some moments civilization is only a step away from it. Orwell hated the thought of it, and 1984 shows that.
The struggle for complete domination and power has been apparent in the past, most notably when Germany and Russia conflicted to maintain control in World War 2. In 1984, written by George Orwell, a totalitarian society seeks unlimited power by constantly monitoring it citizens. This monitoring was used to manipulate the minds and alter the thoughts of the people of Oceania. The population of Oceania is led to support ideas, which they do not truly believe. The lack of privacy and personal belief in citizens induces the idea of “doublethink”, where two contradictory ideas are both accepted. This is utilized by George Orwell to demonstrate political power and dominance. The Party forces the people to believe that “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,