George Orwell’s book, “1984,” has influenced its’ readers from the time it was written even until now. The book has presented a future different from that of the scientific future of flying cars and hovercrafts that society has presented to us. Instead, it tells of rotten political future. Today some people refer to our society as “Orwellian”. They believe Orwell’s story is realistic and compares to our present society. However, there are many people that believe “1984” is satirical nonsense. Orwell was not aware of the impact that his book would have on the world. Even people that have never read “1984” know who Big Brother is and use the term Orwellian. I agree with the realistic half of George Orwell’s audience. The book can be compared to today’s society in many ways. We are even beginning to see some characteristics of an Orwellian society in our social classes, laws, and wars. Winston Smith is the main character in George Orwell’s “1984”. He is a thirty-nine year old man, he commits thought crimes, and he has anti-party views. Winston, also, is not in the best of health. “1984” tells of Winston’s struggles as he tries to make a change in his society. He and every party member is constantly being watched and listened to by the telescreens. There are such things as the “Thought Police,” “Hate Week,” and the “Junior Anti-Sex League”. The party’s main goal is to control their people and sculpt them into feeling nothing unless it is love for the party and for the Brotherhood and Goldstein. The society is split up into four parts, the slaves, the proles, the outer party members, and the inner party members. Winston feels that everybody is against him and he desperately wants to find a member of the Brotherhood, if it exists. O’Brien had struck him as a man that was on his side during one of the Two Minutes Hate sessions when they had eye contact
...of the world if fascism were to continue. In Orwell's day, the leading fascists were Hitler and Stalin, and today there are Muammar Qaddafi, Kim Sung-un, and Xi Jiaping, while in 1984 there is Big Brother. All of these governments are very similar to each other, as Orwell had predicted. These points reveal that even though those who live in free nations think that 1984 is dystopian science-fiction, in some places around the world, 1984 is almost a work of realistic fiction.
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.
George Orwell’s ‘1984’ is an uncanny and frighteningly accurate portrayal of the modern world; where dangers are continuing to emerge surrounding a concerning lack of personal freedom. Whilst in contemporary society we consider ourselves relatively free, this is oftentimes not the case; as it is the social standards to which we as a society must adhere to that keep us confined to established commonalities. This, in a way, is a dangerous tool that, if utilised correctly, could act as a method of controlling the masses; just like that outlined in the novel. Orwell presents his work, essentially, as a vehicle used to give insight into the types of personalities that emerge in retaliation to individualism within a socially confined society. It is not only a reflection of the human condition, but a warning; that we must be aware of such characters
Orwell was a Socialist and believed in the ability for a rebellion to change society, but unfortunately too often he witnessed such rebellions go wrong and develop into totalitarian rule. 1984 warns us against the idea of absolute power through the analysis of the dangers of Big Brother and statist roots. 1984 remains an important work of literature because the ills of totalitarianism in all forms are still relevant in this day and age. Freedom and authoritarianism resonate with us, those of us who live beyond the 20th century and those who lived around that time. In 1984, Orwell uses irony and paradox to show the difference between the novel’s major conundrums: Emmanuel Goldstein, who is the enemy of the state but doesn’t pose any real threat, and Big Brother, the ultimate danger.
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.
Throughout the history of our country rules and authority have helped us maintain our personal freedoms through events such as The American Revolution. The question is do we really need a moderate level of rules and authority. Some people believe that rules and authority are not needed because they believe that they are competent enough to work together and maintain a safe and hard working environment. However, a closer examination reveals that our society needs a mediocre level of rules and authority because without them our society could potentially go into chaos.
The novel 1984 by George Orwell can be viewed as prophetic or, at the very least, a logical extension of some governments’ control in Orwell’s time. The story is about a middle class man, Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of a ruling Party in London, Oceania. Everywhere, even in individual homes, the Party watches its people through telescreens; a television with a camera inside. Everywhere he looks he sees the face of Big Brother, the Party’s omniscient leader. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even the history and language. The Party is introducing the implementation of an invented language called Newspeak, which prevents rebellion by eliminating all words related to it. Even thinking unorthodox thoughts is a treachery to the government. Such “thoughtcrime” is the worst of all transgressions (sparknote.com).
Although Winston is an ordinary man rebelling against the social system, his only motives throughout the story are purely selfish. He is not aiming to change the social system for the respect of human decency because he does not even consider himself powerful enough to take a stand against the totalitarian government. Instead he believes that only the proles have the power to overthrow the Party “If there is hope,’ wrote Winston, ‘it lies in the proles” (Orwell 69). Winston’s only goal is to pursue a relationship with Julia. Throughout the plot, Winston constantly displays naïveté, his willingness to believe what he wants to be true. He is conscious that his actions will lead him to trouble, yet he continues to follow through with them. In spite of the fact that he has survived physically, his personality, the memories, and experiences that made him who he was, have been burned away. Now he is a “cell” in the body of the Party. Therefore, Winston Smith is not a character that readers can admire and emulate. Through the changes in Winston, Orwell depicts that rebellion in a dystopian society only leads to a downfall of total manipulation and brain wash. The events in the novel relate to Orwell’s central message because they exemplify that people driven by fear can be manipulated into a state of complete obedience by a totalitarian
George Orwell’s 1984 is a dystopian novel that serves as a warning of what to
When written in 1949, George Orwell’s 1984 held immense importance for a variety of individuals and societies, and continues to do so today. At the time, it was considered a warning and a visionary novel for what the future might hold. Despite certain inconsistencies between the book and reality, a fair number of elements are apparent in today’s society.
At its date of publication in 1949 George Orwell’s 1984 served as a warning of a bleak future. However, due to recent government actions both domestically and abroad the novel is no longer a warning of a possible future, but rather one that has already begun.
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.
The novel 1984 by George Orwell is a literary masterpiece that brings together various literary elements to warn people of a dystopian future in which the government is all-controlling and all-seeing. These various elements add to this allegorical tale, in a way that leaves the reader with a vague sense of terror and a mix of understanding and confusion at the same time. Orwell utilizes such elements as imagery, characterization, and symbolism to add to the depth of the story and its meaning. The use of literary elements in 1984 contribute to the deeper meaning of this well-written cautionary tale.
George Orwell outlines the effects of a tyrannical government, which conveys the needed caution in the world we live in now. As a student surrounded by peers who act as servants to one another, I feel the constant force of society to conform. This obligation felt unbearable until I understood the meaning of 1984: my freedom relies on individuality. After reading the novel, my outlook on resistance changed with significant vigor. I attained the responsibility to stand up for what I believe in. At last, my accountability to my own destiny became clear, and my attitude toward the world changed without
The novel 1984 is yet another masterpiece written by author George Orwell, and indeed it is written with a direct purpose in mind. The novel is written in such a way that it exposes and dispels the hypnotic allure of the rising Socialist movement that manifested itself following the Second World War. Although Socialism ideologically appears to be for the general benefit and wellbeing of the people, Orwell incongruently observes that a significant portion of Socialist leaders seize complete control of the government via intellectual manipulation and emotional repression. In this staunch reprise of Totalitarian government and its contemporaries, Orwell focuses on creating a setting that will