Similarities Between 1984 And The Allegory Of The Cave

There are many connections between Socrates’ Allegory of the Cave and the dystopian novel 1984 by George Orwell. They both have the same idea of a societal structure that is very controlling and leaves the people in the stories with almost no free will. Both the stories have a similar setting the story of 1984 by George Orwell takes place within an imagined dystopian future; the allegorical cavern. They also have very similar characters and details. 1984 and The Allegory of the Cave explore a diabolical form of control through images in combination with strict surveillance and imprisonment. First, one of the main similarities that stands out is the characters. In the Allegory of the Cave, most people are chained and forced to watch images on a cave wall. Sounds very familiar, the chained people are equal to the citizens in 1984 because they do not have any freedom. The forced images being the telescreen that the citizens are never allowed to turn off. The images are cast on the wall by the captors, who use a fire behind them to produce various

Winston didn’t exactly see “shadows”, but he was in the dark living in the society that The Party had created for them. The shadows in 1984 are the lies that the people of Oceania are told. They think they are being told the truth, but they have no idea what the government is doing to create these truths. The lies that the people are told, for example, would be that Oceania has a surplus of chocolate, boots, laces, etc. They also rewrite speeches and other historical documents. Winston does not understand why living in the world he does, he feels so out of place. Not until he starts to question the society he is living in. Just like the human in the cave. They are both living in caves of