Imagine this, you are in a dark cold world where you are being watched 24/7. You begin thinking about the lunch you had an hour ago. The look on your face morphs into a slightly disgusted and disappointed frown as you remember the sandwich that had wilted lettuce and bread that was drenched in mayonnaise. That look costs you your life. The authority feels threatened by the scowl that took control of your face. You are immediately contained and thrown into jail. Although this may seem extreme, the plot of 1984 is an allegory that provides a forewarning to rapidly developing society. The totalitarian regime in George Orwell’s novel, 1984, dehumanizes the citizens of Oceania and strips them of all individuality. The suppressive governing body …show more content…
Big Brother, the controlling power in Oceania, shapes the citizens views through configurations of the past. In the novel the guiding words of the Party are stated as, “‘Who controls the past’, ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past’” (Orwell 92). The root of the Party’s power stems from the conception that the present and the future are linked together. The ability to change the past and how it is viewed will allow the controlling power to have a higher success when trying to manage the …show more content…
The relationship between the two is seen as stubborn because “The absolute power of this oppressive system is threatened by the pretense of even a single dissident, someone who can laugh at its pretentiousness, energized by remembering when life was different and better, and by imagining future realities, future possible selves, with meaningful opinions and viable choices.” Winston, opposed to the Party’s values, causes a state of fear in the power, and it becomes necessary for them that they use external forces to convert them to the Party’s ways. The citizens are under constant watch because the Party is afraid that Winston, along with people similar to Winston, could cause an uprising that could overtake the power from the
Deception and a blatant contradiction of facts in the spirit of impunity form the foundation of the construct of modern dictatorship and draconian governance. Leaders with this attitude treat the public office and nation as personal property and deploy the state resources at their disposal for selfish use. Their behavior takes the form of frivolous “surveillances, monitoring, and other control structures founded on lies and ambiguities” (Dean and Orwell 23). The same scenario is exactly what happens at Oceania. The nation is governed by the party headed by the big brother (“Gordon State College” n.p.).
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.
In the beginning of 1984, Orwell expresses how those living in an oppressed society ultimately becomes oblivious to the uncontrollable power, resulting in individuals accepting the views of their leaders. The government, otherwise known as Big Brother, monitors everyone’s actions in the town of Oceania, and leaves them with no power to have any individual rights. Emmanuel Goldstein, is the head of the anti-totalitarian organization, called “The Brotherhood.” While Emmanuel was giving a speech, the telescreen switched to Big Brother who was offering words of encouragement, attempting to restore confidence within the publi...
The book “1984” by George Orwell is a fictional work that was penned as a discourse on Orwell’s views of what it would be like to live in a totalitarianism society. It is my belief that his views were based on his personal life experiences as he witnessed first hand many of the violent crimes perpetuated by those in positions of authority. Often, these crimes against one segment of society were carried out by other members of the same society in the name of political advancement or at other times out of fear for one’s life. Due to his experiences, Orwell began to write of his hatred of political power and the concept of a totalitarianism society. “1984” serves as a warning to readers of how a government can become abusive when seeking total control of it’s population. Furthermore, it showcases in great detail how a society can allow itself to be controlled through a series of psychological abuses and manipulation of historical information.
These examples display the inevitable fact that all over the world subtle but significant events are taking place that appear to signify a shifting toward a totalitarian government, much like the one present in 1984. This is extremely disturbing because most people will agree that the life lived by the characters in 1984, is not one of any value. Though they are “protected” from several of the problems that many of the free world citizens and officials face, they have no control over their thoughts or actions. This leads to unbearable uniformity. It is chilling to know that though George Orwell’s book was written as fiction, portions of it are becoming factual.
The fictional world of 1984 is best described as bleak. In the aftermath of the fall of capitalism and nuclear war, the world has been divided among three practically identical totalitarian nation-states. The novel takes place in London, which has become a part of Oceania, the nation state comprising the Americas and western Europe. A state of perpetual war and poverty is the rule in Oceania. However, this is merely a backdrop, far from the most terrifying aspect of life in 1984. Oceania is governed by a totalitarian bureaucracy, personified in the image of Big Brother, the all-knowing/ all-seeing godlike figure that represents the government. Big Brother is best described as a "totalitarian socialist dictator, a political demagogue and religious cult leader all rolled into one." So great is the power of Big Brother that the reader is unsure whether he actually exists or is simply a propaganda tool of the government. The party of Big Brother, Ingsoc (English Social...
George Orwell’s horrifying novel entitled 1984 sets out what the end result of a totalitarian society may be. Orwell takes examples of inhumanity from past and existing totalitarian societies and shows the extremes that can be attained by the use of an all–embracing regime. Orwell accomplishes a sense of claustrophobia and inhumanity through a variety of literary techniques, his careful choice of language and by creating images in ones mind of this dull, intangible, sadistic world.
An overview of the Orwellian world of 1984 will give some context for comparison between what is happening in our world today, how it mirrors the situation in the novel, and the implications that it carries regarding what is happening within our society...
In order for the Party to survive in 1984, the people of Oceania must be dehumanized. This cruelty is achieved by removing the people's freedom of thought and emotion, to the point of elimination of all love and connections to everything but the Party. George Orwell drew inspiration from regimes such as Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. These units of government, including Oceania, live in a fragile balance of power, in which total control is necessary for survival.
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
For Big Brother to stay in control there cannot be individual identity. The ‘Party’ strives to strip away people's identities to have power over a group of emotionless individuals. Big Brother believes that the past must be controlled in order to regulate the present. Since Big Brother “is in control of the present” ( 20 ), they decide how everyone lives their everyday lives. The reason why the Party breaks links between the past from the present is clear. Therefore, citizens will fail to remember their individual identities from the past, and way of life was far better than is it now. “Oceania” lacks diversity, all their citizens are thought to be like emotionless robots. They all live in the same style apartment buildings, wear plain clothes, and eat stale food, everyone has to be uniform. This uniformity causes their citizens to act how they are told to which is the reason for their uniqueness and lack of personal identity. All over Oceania are posters reminding their citizens “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING [THEM]” ( ). This is the ‘Party's’ way of telling citizens there is never a time they can be alone or be by themselves. They always have to act in accordance to how the party expects them to. To make sure of this, the government is constantly monitoring their citizen via ‘telescreens’ that are found in every room. Big Brothers obsession of complete control leads to the destruction of individual's
1984 is a dystopian book by George Orwell that shows the world what it would be like if the central government controlled every aspect of our lives. Many people may believe that the government has to be strong for the nation to succeed. This novel shows us the many reasons as to why it is not such a good thing and the many problems that will come with it. The central leader “Big Brother” doesn’t even allow the citizens to talk against him in any way! He has many different tactics as to how he enforces it. Big Brother uses fear and hysteria against all the citizens to keep them from even thinking of doing against him through The Thought Police, and the way the government makes everyone think “Big Brother is always watching”. The book shows the third person point of view of a man named Winston Smith, who is against the totalitarian government and how he shows his feelings about the entire government. He doesn’t have many people who believe the same way as him about the government, but as the book goes on he finds out about the Brotherhood, a secret underground society that is against Big Brother. This essay will show you how the theme Too much power in the hands of one person will become corrupt and the many ways to show the way that it goes bad.
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, is a superb novel with outstanding themes. One of the most prominent themes found in this novel is psychological manipulation. Citizens in this society are subject to ever present signs declaring “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 1). Along with psychological manipulation, physical control takes place. The Party not only controls what people in Oceania think, but what they do as well. Technology is another important theme. Without the constant telescreens, microphones, and computers, the Party would be all but powerless. Big Brother is the main figure of the Party. The main symbol that drives these themes is the telescreens. It is representative of the party always watching and controlling everyone at all times.
George Orwell’s novel 1984, is the most powerful warnings ever released about the dangers and the controls of living under a totalitarian government. The main character, Winston Smith is at war, trying to control the Inner Party and rebelling against Big Brother, the dictator of Oceania. The author gives us readers an image of inhumanity and the impacts it has in the citizens, physically and mentally. Orwell uses literary elements such as imagery, foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony to demonstrate the theme of indestructible of a totalitarism.
Long before George Orwell wrote 1984, a man by the name of Lord Acton wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Orwell expresses a similar sentiment regarding the future of political powers, more specially totalitarianism. A totalitarian society is a government that is overruled by one major power, or person. Although the dystopian novel is merely fiction, Orwell created it as a warning and expression of fears about totalitarianism. Big Brother resembled Adolf Hitler in many aspects. When drawing parallels between the novel and an application of its politics in modern society, it is as though Orwell foresaw the development of numerous dictatorships and corrupt governments to come. The purging of undesirable elements by the governments of both Hitler’s Third Reich and Orwell’s Oceania were done in the pursuit of perfection and power, but both resulted in manipulative, controlling nightmares, which distorted humanity’s perception of reality.