How Does 1984 Impact Me

500 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary censorship

I read 1984 about a year ago in AP English. George Orwell’s 1984 impacted me in a way, unlike any other novel I’ve ever read. The various themes explored by Orwell along with the journey of his protagonist, Winston Smith, really took this book beyond the words printed on the page. The most striking thing about 1984 that is still explored today over 75 years later are the themes of censorship, individual identity and the power of propaganda. Throughout the novel, we see the combined effects of government censorship doubled with propaganda from Big Brother on the identity and expression of every character. It is a stark warning to the effects of this kind of control from a governing body on a population, making them mindless robots just repeating sanctioned propaganda. Acts such as the editing of history by Winston during the novel go on to solidify the feeling of helplessness that can come with this utter control by the government. In a sense, this is what really took hold of me while reading this …show more content…

In the beginning, he was just another member of society doing whatever Big Brother wished, but unlike those around him, he harbored a secret hatred for the government he swore loyalty to. Throughout the novel we see his rebellion slowly grow, entering an unlawful relationship and staying in an unmonitored house. Of course, it seems he’ll break away from the clutches of Big Brother when Winston and his lover are captured. From there Winston is broken, forced to betray the one he loves and abandon the ideals of the rebellion he held so dear. Then came the ending when Winston was just another citizen. He supported the war effort and thanked Big Brother for all he gave him. The journey of Winston was the most powerful, and heartbreaking, part of the book for me. It showed the vulnerable we all have inside us, no matter how big and bad we think we are, everyone can be broken and then

Show More
Related

  • Metaphysics In George Orwell's 1984

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • 1984 Conflict Essay

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today I am going to be writing an essay on the book, 1984 by George Orwell. This book is about Winston Smith and Big Brother where an external conflict arises between the two. The internal conflict that also takes place in this book was between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism. The reason this novel was written was to show society what it could and or would become if things continued to go down the worse of the paths: Orwell sensed of the expansion of the great communism when he was thinking of this novel. The conflict that took place between these two ideas in the year 1945 created the two characters, which were the two characters above Winston Smith and the Big Brother, in his mind. The Big Brother is head of the totalitarian

    Read More

  • 1984

    1981 Words  | 4 Pages

    From the beginning of the novel, it was inevitable that Big brother would eventually win, and Winston would be caught by the thought police. He could never have an immediate affect on the Party. His long and pointless struggle achieved no result in the end, and finally was brainwashed and lost any freedom of thought he once had.

    Read More

  • Winston in Nineteen Eighty Four - 1984

    480 Words  | 1 Pages

    The whole point of this novel is to teach the reader, because during Orwell’s life he has experiences many things that have inspired him for this novel, which makes you think that it is possible for a world like the one which Winston lives in. Orwell’s inspiration came from such leaders like when Bolshevik gaining control of the Russian Revolution. Also experiencing the European Fascism, under Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy. Yet even though many years have pasted since the time of any totalitarian governments the book is still very relevant to today’s society.

    Read More

  • The Dystopian Society In The Novel 1984, By George Orwell

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    All of his character traits combined lead him to his ultimate death. His attraction to beauty makes him keep hold of objects and things considered suspicious, his rebelliousness causes him to break nearly all of society’s rules, and his curiosity steers him toward people and places that eventually causes the Winston torture he endures in Ministry of Love. Winston could have had some false hope of a better world where he could get away from all of the harsh rules and regulations of the Party, but in reality, his personality traits dragged him through a life already pre-written and stamped with an early death.

    Read More

  • 1984

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, O’Brien, a member of the inner party, uses technology to accomplish complete control over the public through the means of telescreens, hidden microphones and torture machines, ‘Any sound that Winston made… could be picked up by [the telescreen]. [Winston] could be seen as well as heard’. This emphasises to the reader the extent of control that the party can exercise over the public, enabling them to eliminate any potential rebels. Furthermore, this loss of freedom and individuality exterminates any real friendship, family or love forcing the public to turn to Big Brother for companionship. This in turn minimises the chance of rebellion as everyone views Big Brother as a figure of comfort and security, ‘As he seemed to tower up, an invincible, fearless protector…’ O’Brien also uses a torture machine on Winston, ‘[He] had never loved [O’Brien] so deeply as at this moment’. This machine enables O’Brien to manipulate Winston’s views, personal opinions and even feelings. O’Brien is able to make Winston view the world as he wants him to, even to the extent of making Winston love him, his tormentor, the person inflicting the pain. ...

    Read More

  • Fear And Propaganda In George Orwell's '1984'

    660 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book, 1984 written by George Orwell, is in the perspective of Winston. Winston lives in airstrip one, which is Britain broken by war. In the beginning Winston opens up with his frustrations towards the party and Big Brother’s controlling ways. Winston’s freedom is limited by the rules and regulations of the party. Winston finds ways to get out of these rules, but he soon finds out that the people he thought were helping him were actually spies and workers for the party. He gets put through brainwashing until he has no individuality or freedom wanting to break out of him. In the end he is successfully brainwashed as seen on page 298 “He loved Big Brother.” As seen through Kim Jun Un who controls his followers through propaganda. The author’s

    Read More

  • How Does Winston Rebel

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    Winston would not have been better off not challenging the party without Winston rebelling he would've never started feeling emotion for doing simple things in life. Winston goes to buy a book so that he can write what he's thinking about there

    Read More

  • George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    To accomplish this, Orwell utilizes the theme of individuality versus tyranny, foreshadowing, and irony, in order to fully extract all possible motives behind Winston’s actions.Many countries, such as the United States, are founded on principles of individuality reigning over tyranny, more specifically, the freedom of choice. However, in the futuristic Oceania, run by “Big Brother”, such freedom and individuality is, for the most part, completely suspended. To act impulsively, or choose to oppose Big Brother, is a “thoughtcrime” of dire consequence. This is the basis behind the Inner Party’s control of Oceania. Winston however, from the commencement of the novel, showed that he was not willing to conform to such a tyrannical society. From his writing “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” in his diary as the novel opened, to his relationship with Julia, which was considered sexcrime in Oceania, Winston proved his thoughts were antiparallel to those of the Inner Party.

    Read More

  • 1984

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    Book One uncovered how the government attempted to restrict any kind of expression to gain absolute control, but there are still strains of people who were unwilling to be subordinate to it’s power, such as Winston. Im the first few chapters, Winston, an seemingly ordinary worker in the Records Department took his first step of rebellion by writing in a diary. Just this simple act of writing your thoughts into a book could be dangerous, because it would generate individual thoughts. It was very true too as seen in this quote “ His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals- DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER ” Unknowingly, he had written this down, and this was a thoughtcrime of high caliber. Even if he had tried to stop himself, his inner thoughts couldn’t help but want to defy the government. The party had destroyed all records of the past and altered...

    Read More

  • Response to Goerge Orwells 1984

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    Upon my reading of the novel 1984, 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 ² and Ï. As I got deeper into this novel I began to see similar events of world history built into 1984.

    Read More

  • Winston’s Struggle in 1984

    1726 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Heroism In 1984

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    Winston was an average everyday man living in Oceania. It all started out when Winston bought a diary and felt an urge to write in it. He started to question the things around him and the people around him. He tried to fight the party that was ruling over him and the people but ultimately fell into a trap by trusting the wrong person that led him and his love to a series of torture.

    Read More

  • Free Essay on George Orwell's 1984

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    Winston works for 1 of the 4 government agency’s, The Ministry of Truth. In his job he re-writes old news articles so they show that The Party has always been and will be in control. By re-writing everything in print, The Party effectively changes history. The only proof of actual history is in the minds of the people who were there. Winston realizes that there is something wrong with this, yet he doesn’t know what. The re-writing of history is all he has ever known. It is most likely Winston’s job that leads him to rebel against The Party.

    Read More

  • Manipulation In 1984

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Firstly, the book has a strong point of showing that the totalitarian government featured is unjust and “wrong” compared to the way present day politics in America work, “the black moustachioed face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house-front immediately opposite. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston’s own” (4). Even as early as the fourth paragraph of the book, “Big Brother” and the government are painted in a negative light, and this sense is felt throughout the entire novel.. This is greatly important, because in showing people how bad totalitarianism can be, the story gives the reader a negative connotation on this type of government, hopefully leading people to be against the unfair and unjust form of leadership.

    Read More

More about How Does 1984 Impact Me

Open Document