Jonestown, a World Not so Different from Orwell’s 1984
Holly J. Holton
Concord High School
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Abstract
This analysis is a compare and contrast essay between the book, 1984, and the society of Jonestown. Jonestown, was a community based on a religious group know as the People's Temple. This was a place, where people felt that they had control of their lives, when in reality they didn’t. Their leader, Jim Jones, was very manipulating and was able to convince almost the entire community to commit suicide together because of his paranoia. In 1984, people didn't even realize the need for freedom, because the government was already in control of every aspect of their lives. That is just one of the reasons Jonestown and 1984 are similar, but don't be mistaken, there are many differences too. The people in 1984 never were given a choice between freedom and being either a party member or a prole. The people involved in Jonestown were there on their own accord. The people of the People's Temple had at one point at least wanted to be there, and to follow their leader.
Keywords used: People's Temple, Jim Jones, Jonestown, The Party, the proles, erasure.
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1984 Compare and Contrast Essay
The book, 1984, is a classic example of an utopian scenario. There are also other societies that are similar to
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this in the recent past, or even present times. One of these societies is Jonestown, Guyana. Some of the similarities between this book and Jonestown, include erasing information, called erasure, the desensitization of humans, and the controlling leaders. Yet there are still many differences too. The main one which I will touch upon is the atmosphere of the two places, and the way the people responded to their governments. 1984, is similar to the happenings in Jonestown, in several ways. One of these similarities includes the use of erasure. Erasure is the removal of writing, recorded material, or data. In 1984 this is done by the removal of information from record bases. In the book, the government controlled all of the records, papers, and books. Any change that occurred, caused the removal of conflicting information, and complete rewrites to that there was no trace of the past. Because of this no one knew that there was ever a difference between what had happened and what was told to them by the government. In Jonestown, a different type of erasure occurred. By the entire community committing suicide, or being killed with the rest of the community, Jim Jones was making it so that no one could be a living testimony of what happened through the People’s Temple in Guyana (Maagga, 1989). If no one had survived, we would have very little insight into these events, even the few survivors haven’t given us sufficient insight to fully understand what happened in Jonestown. Another similarity 1984 has to Jonestown is the desensitization to violence. In 1984, Winston was so used to the use of bombs on his own city, that body parts of dead people didn’t even bother him. When he kicked the hand into the gutter on the side of the road, Winston didn’t even think twice about it. The move was natural for him and it wasn’t until later that he even realized the consequences of the desensitization of his world. Jim Jones was a master at manipulating people. The people who followed him willingly participated in mock suicide attempts, and when the final day came, very few people questioned his authority and went through with the suicide plan, as rehearsed. Children were the first to go, because once the children were gone, there was no reason for the parents to want to escape (Sachs, 2008). Parents administered the poison to their own children as proposed by their leader Jim Jones. I think that speaks for itself about how desensitized the people in Jonestown were. One of the main differences between Jonestown and 1984 is that Jonestown was not a forced community. The people in Jonestown were fully committed to the religion presented and at the end even willingly committed suicide, joining in with their leaders wishes (Sachs, 2008). “At one level, the deaths at Jonestown can be viewed as the product of obedience, of people complying with the orders of a leader and reacting to the threat of force. In the Peoples Temple, whatever Jim Jones commanded, the members did (Osherow, 2000).” 1984 was not that way. The people in 1984, specifically the party members, were not allowed to feel like they had a choice in deciding if they agreed with the party or not. From a young age the party members were taught to catch thought criminals, and to be disconnected from their families. Children would even turn their own parents in, which was how Mr. Parsons, O’Brien’s neighbor, was caught. Mr. Parsons’ daughter heard him talking in his sleep and reported it to the thought police. In Jonestown the families were a unit and stayed together. Even families not in Jonestown still felt connected and cared about their family members. There are many different governments today that are still similar to 1984.
North Korea, China, and even Cuba are similar to 1984. They try to control their people just the same as in 1984, and just like in Jonestown. The only people who were free in 1984 were the Proles. The community in Jonestown began as everyone wanting to be there, and then as conditions worsened the people wanted to leave. They were not allowed to, much like 1984. The people in both situations are similar, in that they are oppressed by their governments, but only the people in Jonestown are given the ability to think they are even able to
escape. Page Break References “As Peter Berger points out: To go against the order of society is always to risk plunging into anomie.” Pg 33 https://books.google.com/bookshl=en&lr=&id=eoMPKsIZJdwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=Jonestown&ots=U-lSXoR2VU&sig=FKmOaiVZM_X5G9Ag8J0rAMprm7w#v=onepage&q=Jonestown&f=false the people of Jonestown were fully committed to this cult, and most of them willingly committed suicide http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1859903,00.html Erasure. (n.d.). In Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/erasure. Jonestown Research. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2015, from http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=47 Orwell, G. (1950). 1984. New York, NY: Signet Classic. Maagga, M. (1989). Hearing the Voices of Jonestown. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. Mass Suicide at Jonestown: 30 Years Later - Photo Essays. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2015, from http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1859872_1799885,00.html Osherow, N. (n.d.). Making Sense of the Nonsensical: An Analysis of Jonestown by Neal Osherow. Retrieved December 5, 2015, from http://www.guyana.org/features/jonestown.html
Between the poem, ¨ No one died in Tiananmen Square¨ by William Lutz and the novel, 1984 by George Orwell there are multiple similarities. Subjects such as their government, their denial of history, and the use of doublethink and re-education are all parallel between the novel and the poem. For instance, both the governments have a highly strict government. Their governments are so controlling of their people that they use brute force in order to help re-educate them. For example, in 1984 the main character, Winston Smith was trying to go against their government, The Party, and because he tries to do so, he is placed in The Ministry of Love and brutally beaten by the man whom he assumed was a part of the Brotherhood, O'Brien. O'Brien claimed
Several conflicting frames of mind have played defining roles in shaping humanity throughout the twentieth century. Philosophical optimism of a bright future held by humanity in general was taken advantage of by the promise of a better life through sacrifice of individuality to the state. In the books Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 clear opposition to these subtle entrapments was voiced in similarly convincing ways. They first all established, to varying degrees of balance, the atmosphere and seductiveness of the “utopia” and the fear of the consequences of acting in the non-prescribed way through character development. A single character is alienated because of their inability to conform – often in protest to the forced conditions of happiness and well being. Their struggle is to hide this fact from the state’s relentless supervision of (supposedly) everything. This leads them to eventually come into conflict with some hand of the state which serves as the authors voice presenting the reader with the ‘absurdity’ of the principles on which the society is based. The similar fear of the state’s abuse of power and technology at the expense of human individuality present within these novels speaks to the relevance of these novels within their historical context and their usefulness for awakening people to the horrendous consequences of their ignorance.
1984 was written in 1948 and published in 1949 by Eric Arthur Blair under the pen name ‘George Orwell’. It is set in the year 1984 in Airstrip One, which is a province in the country of Oceania. The world is in a constant state of war between Oceania, and the other two countries, Eurasia and Eastasia. Oceania is controlled by English Socialism, or INGSOC in Oceania’s language, Newspeak. The powerful Inner Party controls the country using omnipresent surveillance, and manipulation. Every part of life is regimented and controlled, but the only crime is ‘thoughtcrime’: independent thinking and individualism. Big Brother is the figurehead of the Inner Party, and throughout the book, it is heavily implied that he may not really exist. The people
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.
1984 was written as a warning to the western countries about having a totalitarianism government which is refers to a system of government in which lawfully electes representatives maintain the integrity of a nation state whose citizens, while granted the right to vote, have little to no participation in the decision-making process of the government. The author felt like these countries were not able to find tactics to withstand the communism that was being taken placed. When the book was written in 1949 the Cold War had not yet broke out, and most people supported the diplomacy with the democratic communism. The author found the cruelty that was committed in the communist countries very disturbing, and the technologies that were used to help these countries control the citizens intriguing. This book tells how a complete government controlled country could be. Warning those who lived during this time to that if they did not want this to happen then they better vote against totalitarianism.
Many people today are fighters and make attempts to stand up for what they believe in. Another way 1984 impacted us today is that the novel was a prediction of a controlling government. “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever” (page 267). Just like in 1984 they had “telescreens”monitoring their every move, we know there are so many surveillance cameras used everywhere we go. There are also microphones and the government is able to tap their citizens’ phone to monitor what they say. This ties into the main theme
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.
Every human is born with an innate sense of morality, but ultimately it is the social and political situations we are in that shape our primary beliefs. We have our own views on war, love and sex, and even our own personal philosophies; however, we tend to alter these views when they are put under scrutiny and our values questioned. In Voltaire’s Candide and Orwell’s 1984, the subjects of love, sex, war, politics, and philosophy are all put under intense scrutiny. The main characters in each book, Winston and Candide, when compared, are in very parallel situations and can be connected to each other through their experiences and personal beliefs. They both exist in very cautious and constrained social settings which are heavily influenced by
This dream of forming and maintaining a utopian society was immortalized in two novels dealing with the same basic ideas, 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Both of these novels deal with the lives of main characters that inadvertently become subversives in a totalitarian government. These two books differ greatly however with the manner in which the government controls the population and the strictness of the measures taken to maintain this stability. This essay with compare and contrast the message and tone of each novel as well as consider whether the utopia is a positive or negative one.
We are becoming a society like 1984 for many reasons such as being under surveillance, censorship, and the government having a lot of control. There are many examples throughout this novel that are quite similar to our society today. In 1984, their whole society was under constant, close observation. Nowhere is it safe to go. The novel states, “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen.
The year 1984 has long passed, but the novel still illustrates a possibility for the future of society. It still remains a powerful influence in all sorts of literature, music, and social theory. 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. From his work, readers who live in prevailing democratic society have a chance to consider about these very different political systems, democracy and totalitarianism.
A persona is defined as “The image or personality that a person presents to other people” (Merriam-Webster). This concept of a persona is featured largely in both George Orwell’s 1984 and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, two texts which tell the tale of men rebelling against a higher authority. By comparing the personas of multiple characters in both novels it becomes clear that whether a character is in a position of power or not, a persona always hides one’s true intentions, and that a loss of this persona ultimately leads to death. Hamlet has a very simple goal: kill his Uncle and avenge his Father’s death. Of course, with Hamlet’s uncle being the current king of Denmark, he cannot simply go around acting suspicious and seeking to kill him.
Can society survive under total control of something that doesn’t even exist? In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, readers find a dystopian society under totalitarian control. Big Brother controls all aspects of people’s lives. Jobs, housing, even sex and marriage are controlled by the party. By the end of the novel, it is revealed that Big Brother is merely an idea used to keep citizens under control. Orwell paints a picture of a society that is destroyed by political lies, spy technologies, and social segregation. Orwell’s novel is a warning. A modern society could very well fall into a position similar to Nineteen Eighty-Four. With political scandals, advancement in technology, and a great division in social class modern American finds itself along a path which can ruin the future.
Have you ever felt as is our government is trying to control us? In George Orwell’s book “1984” he points out that the government had people watching them doing their everyday things. He says that the government wants control of everything in their lives. They have this all knowing person called “Big Brother” which is always watching them.
While Mao Zedong’s China and Orwell’s 1984 society share many similarities, Mao Zedong shows difference by running a communist regime, slightly different to that of a totalitarian regime found in 1984. Before Mao Zedong was exposed to the ideals of Karl Marx, Mao Zedong was enrolled in a school called the First Provincial Normal School. At this school, Mao led an organization called the New People’s Study Society, and this is where Mao began to form his intellect and politics. Rebecca E. Karl, in her book titled, Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth Century, discusses the importance of this educational space for Mao Zedong. Karl states, “A student organization that Mao led, produced many future members of the Chinese Communist Party: friendships