The Dangers of a Totalitarian Dictatorship

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Soon after the conclusion of World War II in 1945, Communism posed a threat in the United States. This threat, also known as the Red Scare, was triggered because of the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. The tension between the two superpowers led to the beginning of the Cold War in the late 1940s. Because the Soviets were a communistic country, many Americans feared Communism because of the influence that it had in America. Many intellectuals supported Communism in the U.S. which led to more concern within the country. The communistic threat presented by the Soviets in the war led to the spread of Communism within the U.S. It was a fear that many Americans spoke out against in attempt to save the American society. George Orwell spoke out against it in 1949 by warning people in his novel 1984 that the spread of Communism would affect the country negatively. In this book, he portrays how a totalitarian dictatorship corrupts and has the power over citizens through technology, psychological manipulation and mind control, physical control, and the alteration of facts about history. Big Brother, the head of the Inner Party in 1984, uses technology to control the middle-class citizens, known as the Outer Party. The government places telescreens and hidden microphones across the city in order to monitor their citizen’s behavior. The members of the Outer Party have telescreens inside their houses because their intelligence creates a threat against the government. However, the Proles, who make up the lower class, do not obtain much attention because they are hopeless and ignorant and do not pose a significant threat against the government. The government uses telescreens because they want to prevent their citizens from committing thought crime. Thought crime is the law against thinking and is punishable by death. If the government charges someone of thought crime, they use machinery to torture them. If they do not follow the rules of Big Brother, the government kills them. However, if the torture forces them to give in and follow Big Brothers’ laws, they usually survive as in Winston Smith’s case. Winston is the protagonist of the novel who becomes a victim of torture. As the novel begins, Winston keeps his thoughts secretive because of the fear of getting caught. He has to hide in a secret room in order to write hi... ... middle of paper ... ...trict organizer of the Junior Anti-Sex League. At nineteen he had designed a hand grenade….At twenty-three he had perished in action…. (42) This character is totally fictional, but the government forces Winston to make it factual. The government goes to the extreme to satisfy their desires. The alteration of history is no more than another significant power that the Inner Party exerts on their citizens to influence their thoughts. The dictatorship in this novel portrays how fortunate the United States is to be a democracy. Americans have freedom under a democracy while the citizens under dictatorships have no independence whatsoever. 1984 depicts how hard it must have been to live under the past autocracies of the fascist Germany and Italy or the communistic Soviet Union and China. Thanks to the brave Americans and their Allies, America maintains its democracy. Americans are lucky that they are not under the control of a fascist or communistic regime. Because of George Orwell’s portrayal of the average citizen’s life under a dictatorship in 1984, it is truly a privilege to live in the great country of America as opposed to a totalitarian domination.

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