1984 was a product of it's time. When the novel was written in 1949,it was a product of world events.In 1936 George Orwell traveled to Spain to report on the Spanish Civil War. When he was in Spain,he saw firsthand the atrocities committed by fascist regimes. The rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany and Joseph Stalin in Russia only added fuel to Orwell's hatred of totalitarianism. Orwell poured his energy into writing such novels as 1984.This novel was a warning of what could happen if totalitarianism when unopposed.
In 1984,we follow a man named Winston Smith. Winston is a low ranking member of the ruling party in London. Everywhere he goes,he is watched by the leader of the party,Big Brother. In the opening of the novel,Winston feels frustrated with the total control of the Party,which prohibits free thought,love,or any individuality. Winston is also interested in a high ranking Party member named O'Brien,whom he believes is a member of the secret rebel group called the Brotherhood attempting to overthrow the Party. He also meets a dark haired girl named Julia,who one day slips Winston a note saying “I love you.”They begin to have a secret affair,but Winston is always on the lookout for Party members,because love is illegal. Eventually,Winston is told O'Brien would like to meet him in his apartment. When Julia
Throughout the novel we see cameras all over. We ever see security cameras in Winston's home. But this invasion of privacy is not the only danger shown. We are shown many examples of how the government could control people.The Party manipulates people psychologically. The screen in every citizens room blasts a stream of propaganda . Everywhere people go them are constantly reminded that authorities are watching. The Party dissolves the family structure by inducting all children into a group called the Junior Spies,where children are encouraged to watch their parents for signs of
...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.
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.
Winston Smith is a thirty-nine year old man who participates in a group of the “outer-party,” which is the lower part of the two classes. Smith works in one of the four main government buildings. This building is called the Ministry of Truth; his job is to rewrite history books so those that read them will not learn what the past used to be like. The occupation Winston is the major factor that allows him to realize that Big Brother is limiting people’s freedom. He keeps these thoughts to himself as secrets because the totalitarian party will not allow those of rebellious thoughts around. The tensions between the two grow throughout the book because the Big Brother becomes very suspicious of Winston. The Big Brother becomes so suspicious of Winston that he sends a person by the name O’Brien, to watch over him. Mr. O’Brien is a member of the “inner party,” which in this book is the upper-class. Winston doesn't know of the trap that Big Brother had set tells O’Brien of his own idea and plans. He tells Winston of a rebellious leader that has been rounding up those that want to go against the totalitarian government. But like the Big Brother had done, he set a trap and O’Brien betrayed Winston. During the story the conflict between Big Brother and Winston climaxes when Winston is caught. He is taken to some sort of bright underground prison type
While government as an institution can be used for benevolent purposes, George Orwell’s novel 1984 contends that when taken to an excess in the form of totalitarianism, government becomes dangerously self-serving.
Tired of his constricted life, Winston decides to take part in rebellious acts against the Party and attempts to overthrow the government that rules over him. As one could imagine, Winston’s personality does not conform to the rest of the population, because he possesses original characteristics that make him different. For example, within the first few pages of the novel, Winston wrote down the words “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” several times in his journal (Orwell 16). “Big Brother” stands for the leader of the Party who supposedly watches over everybody.
1984 was a representation of what the future held in store, and how society could change. By creating a leader who people feared and appreciated society could easily be controlled and how one person could control everyone. Orwell predicted the future in a sense with things he noticed in real life experiences and how the world was changing in such an early time. Based on ideas he had, he was correct! We are all watched, we are controlled and the world is in fact changing.
1984: The Control of Reality for Control of the Masses. 3 KEY POINTS:.. 1. What is the difference between a. and a Party Controls History 2.
Upon my reading of the 1984 novel, I was fascinated by George Orwell’s vision of the future. Orwell describes a world so extreme that a question comes to mind, asking what would encourage him to write such a novel. 1984 took place in the future, but it seemed like it was happening in the past. George Orwell was born in 1903 and died in 1950; he has seen the horrific tides of World War II and. As I got deeper into this novel, I began to see similar events in world history built into 1984.
The book, 1984 by George Orwell, is about the external conflict between Winston Smith and Big Brother; and the internal conflict between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism. Orwell wrote the novel to show society what it could become if things kept getting worse: he sensed of the expansion of communism when he wrote the novel. The conflict between democracy and totalitarianism at the year of 1945 created two characters, Winston Smith and Big Brother, in orwell's mind. Big Brother is the embodiment of all the ideals of the totalitarian party. In contrast to Big Brother, Winston Smith keeps the idea of democracy emphasizes freedom, he has to hide his own thought because the Big Brother's party will punish him by death if the party finds it out. George orwell criticizes of Big Brother's society by describing it as a dark and a gloomy place. It warns that people might believe that everyone must become slaves to the government in order to have an orderly society, but at the expense of the freedom of the people.
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.
The major aspects of the aforementioned control stratagem are the alterations of history as the wishes, the invention of Newspeak to eliminate any chance of rebellion, psychological and physical intimidation, and the use of technology to monitor citizens. The Party changes records of the past constantly to match its needs. If someone commits a crime, they are vaporized, and then erased from any and all historical records. There are no more martyrs, because no one remembers them after they are killed. The government also changes history to make people believe that the Party has been in power since the beginning of man.
The Invasion of Privacy is also used to control people. Devices called Telescreens are setup everywhere for the use of your entertainment and the party’s. They are objects that not only allow you to watch them and hear them like a television but in return you yourself are watched and heard by the party. Other ways in which privacy is taken away is by the use of little sound devices called “Bugs.'; In one scene Winston and Julia are talking and Julia says, “I bet that picture’s got bugs behind it'; (Orwell 122)1. When she says this she is implying that the party is listening to everything they say and do. The final way the party invades privacy is by The Thought Police. The Thought Police are members of the party that control life through the telescreens and bugs. When you are caught by them for a crime you must then go to prison for as long as it takes to purify or make you sane enough to work for the party once again.
In the novel 1984, Orwell produced a social critique on totalitarianism and a future dystopia that made the world pause and think about our past, present and future. When reading this novel we all must take the time to think of the possibility that Orwell's world could come to pass. Orwell presents the concepts of power, marginalization, and resistance through physical, psychological, sexual and political control of the people of Oceania. The reader experiences the emotional ride through the eyes of Winston Smith, who was born into the oppressive life under the rule of Ingsoc. Readers are encouraged through Winston to adopt a negative opinion on the idea of communist rule and the inherent dangers of totalitarianism. The psychological manipulation and physical control are explored through Winston's journey, and with Winston's resistance and ultimate downfall, the reader is able to fully appreciate O'Briens reasoning, "Power is not a means, it is an end."
The constant theme of betrayal in 1984 is being used by George Orwell to show how hopeless Winston’s struggle against the Totalitarian system is, giving the reader an idea of how bad this type of government is. The reader is introduced to this dark time and given hope in the form of the rebellious protagonist, Winston. However, the reader soon realises how hopelessly alone Winston is in his silent battle when they see that the government is against him, he has no support or allies, and that even his own mind can be turned against him. The message is clear and makes readers who live in a democracy happier with what they have.
George Orwell developed a habit of spending time alone because he was unpopular at school and his father was never home. Orwell, therefore, strongly disliked him (British Writers 275). The main character in 1984, Winston Smith, also had no father figure in his life. In this way, Orwell and Winston share the common characteristic of the desire to have deeper connections with others. In 1984, the government despises intimate relationships. Marriage has been restricted to reproducing to make more party members. All marriages must be approved so that two people, who actually love each other, cannot get married. At the same time, Winston is searching for a deeper bond, so he breaks the rules and sneaks off with a woman to spend more time with her. This goes against all of the party’s laws that keep people, like Winston, from having the relationships that he yearns for. Winston goes on to say, “…you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, b...