Isolation in 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

1900 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 essay

Isolation refers to the “state of separation between persons or groups.” In 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, George Orwell and Ray Bradbury explore the idea of isolation in the futuristic world in which the novels are set as a warning to modern day society. The Inner Party uses several methods to assume almost complete control over their people. They want people to be cold and indifferent towards others, all while having fear slowly drilled into their minds. Isolation is something that the Inner Party wants to see. They want people to be isolated from one another so that the concept of “we” is completely eliminated. If everyone keeps to themselves, they cannot come together as one and possibly overthrow Big Brother, which is something that the Inner Party is afraid of.
To prevent this possibility, everyone has been more or less brainwashed by the Inner Party. They all follow the ominous Big Brother who rules over everything, even though they never actually see him. David Goodman even says in “The Future Is Here” that Big Brother is “seen only on television…he never appears in public,” yet the Party members still blindly follow him. This shows how the people have been brainwashed but do not even realize it.
Big Brother and the Inner Party want to keep everyone apart from one another. Their desire for this has gotten so out of control that they have gone as far as putting a device in everyone’s home that monitors everything they do. These diabolical machines are called telescreens. They watch what people do and hear what people say. This is an extremely effective move by the Inner Party because it allows them to catch anyone who even thinks about rebellion in the form of assimilation. If the people cannot even think about forming a rebel...

... middle of paper ...

... 2014.
Malinowitz, Harriet. "The 'Newspeak' of our time." The Women's Review of Books Sept. 2004: 19+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
McGiveron, Rafeeq O. "Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451." Explicator 54.3 (Spring 1996): 177-180. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 235. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Orwell, George. 1984. New York, N.Y.: Signet Classic, 1949. Print.
Rand, Ayn. Anthem. New York: Dutton, 1995. Print.
Sisario, Peter. "A Study of the Allusions in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451." English Journal 59.2 (Feb. 1970): 201-205. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 98. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
WriteWork contributors. "1984: Isolation" WriteWork.com. WriteWork.com, 17 April, 2004. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book Fahrenheit 451 the theme is a society/world that revolves around being basically brain washed or programmed because of the lack of people not thinking for themselves concerning the loss of knowledge, and imagination from books that don't exist to them. In such stories as the Kurt Vonnegut's "You have insulted me letter" also involving censorship to better society from vulgarity and from certain aspects of life that could be seen as disruptive to day to day society which leads to censorship of language and books. Both stories deal with censorship and by that society is destructed in a certain way by the loss of knowledge from books.

    Read More

  • George Orwell's 1984

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thinking back into history, many important events have occurred in history since the publication of 1984 by George Orwell in 1949. In no specific order there would be the Holocaust, The creation of the United Nations, NATO (North Atlantic treaty Organization), and even The Iron Curtain being established. After 1984 was published huge events also occurred in history. There was the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Korean war, the Vietnam War, the creation of the Berlin Wall, and the destruction of the Berlin wall, Joseph Stalin dies, and Khrushchev gains power....etc, etc. No matter when a book is published the events in history will always surround it, such as this book.

    Read More

  • 1984, by George Orwell and Gattaca, by Andrew Niccol

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nineteen Eighty-Four written by George Orwell and Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol are prophetic social commentaries which explore the broad social wrong of a totalitarian government. Both texts depict a futuristic, dystopian society in which individuality is destroyed in favour of faceless conformity. Niccol and Orwell through the experiences of their protagonists reflect the impact isolation from society has on individuals. The authors of both texts also use their protagonists Winston, who cannot understand the rhetoric of the government party and Vincent, who is trapped, unable to achieve his dreams because of his imperfect genome, to demonstrate individual rebellion against society and explore the significant social injustices of a totalitarian state.

    Read More

  • Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    Perseverance pushes people towards what they believe in, a person’s perseverance is determined upon their beliefs. A person with strong beliefs will succeed greater to someone who does not. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag perseveres against society as well as himself in order to demolish censorship. Perseverance embraces values and drives people closer to their goals.

    Read More

  • Over The Cuckoo's Nest And Fahrenheit 451 Comparison Essay

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Fahrenheit 451 share two main characters that are seemingly lost in the unknown. Both Chief Bromden and Guy Montag are protagonist in the respective novels. These two characters both have a false sense of reality; however, this is the only reality they know. Bromden and Montag have little sense of what the world they live in has to offer. However things start to change for both of these men when they start to receive guidance from their counterparts, Randle McMurphy and Clarisse McClellan. Both of these characters become the catalyst for the freedom and liberation that Bromden and Montag come to find.

    Read More

  • Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    With a spout of kerosene and a flick of a match, a fireman sets fire to a house and all the books inside it, not waiting for the heat to reach 451 degrees farhenheit; the temperature in which it is said books ignite. This may seem a strange thing, a fireman setting fire, but in the futuristic world author Ray Bradbury created in his work Farhenheit 451(1951) this is the norm. A fireman's job is to hunt those with books and set destroy all the books with thier flames. In the Bradbury's book, the government has deemed books and all who possess them public enemy Number One, and society has accepted that with no questions asked. Books represent knowledge, difference of opinion and ideals that are now unsavory in the public's eye.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Douglas Bradbury

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ray Douglas Bradbury was one of the most distinguished science fiction writers of the last century. Having been penniless during the Depression, Bradbury did not attend college but instead spent countless hours in the library teaching himself everything he believed he would have been taught by a professor (Norman “Obituary: Ray Bradbury…”). Before long, this noble autodidact was writing for mass market publications developing a style of fantasy science fiction writing that would serve as a model for future acolytes such as Steven King and Steven Spielberg (“Bradbury’s prose style…”). In the 1950s, a year in which anti-communist hysteria was most prevalent, Bradbury began to develop an irrational fear of censorship. (Norman “Obituary: Ray Bradbury…”). Bradbury infuses his writings with man vs. society conflicts and despotic characterization which accurately depict his ambivalence towards technology that stems from his fear of these advances eventually leading to the suppression of independent thought, thus suppression of the individual. These elements, found primarily in his first novel, Fahrenheit 451, not only impacted the sci-fi genre, but also made an impact on many readers worldwide gaining Bradbury much admiration in the literary realm.

    Read More

  • Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

    1722 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fahrenheit 451 is a literary work of art. It is a novel about censorship and one mans fight against it. The story was written in the fifties, but is set in the future. Ray Bradbury’s prediction of what the future will be like is precise in some aspects, but completely outrageous in others. He pictures the future as a somewhat a dictatorship government. The government controlled everything in their lives. People don’t think either. Technology is made it so that people are given all their information through a television sort of a device that imitates a family. Books are obsolete, so they are burned. Our hero of this story is a “fireman';. Only, these futuristic firemen don’t fight fires, they burn books. They burn them so people don’t think, and so everyone is of equal intelligence. They don’t want anyone to rise up and be higher than the next person. This fireman’s name is Guy Montag. He lives in a condominium with his wife Mildred. The story sets off as Guy is walking home from work.

    Read More

  • Differences and Similarities Between V for Vendetta and 1984

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    Invasion of privacy is shown in the “Youth League”. Children who are young and persuading are being brainwashed into believing every single word Big Brother has to say. They are told to spy on their own family to assure their loyalty to the party. While the inner party is busy making propaganda and re-writing history, the proles are left like animals. Free.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    Monsters under the bed, drowning, and property damage are topics many people have nightmares about; nightmares about a dystopian future, on the other hand, are less common. Despite this, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and George Orwell’s 1984 display a nightmarish vision about a dystopian society in the near future. Fahrenheit 451 tells of Guy Montag’s experience in a society where books have become illegal and the population has become addicted to television. Meanwhile, 1984 deals with Winston Smith’s affairs in Oceania, a state controlled by the totalitarian regime known as the Party. This regime is supposedly headed by a man named Big Brother. By examining the dehumanized settings, as well as the themes of individuality and manipulation, it becomes clear that novels successfully warn of a nightmarish future.

    Read More

  • A Parallel Between Two Worlds: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Majority of people today believe that the society in Fahrenheit 451 is far-fetched and could never actually happen, little do they know that it is a reflection of the society we currently live in. In Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 books are burnt due to people's lack of interest in them and the fire is started by firemen. Social interactions is at an all time low and most time is spent in front of the television being brainwashed by advertisements. In an attempt to make us all aware of our faults, Bradbury imagines a society that is a parallel to the world we live in today by emphasizing the decline in literature, loss of ethics in advertisement, and negative effects of materialism.

    Read More

  • 1984 and Fahrenheit 451

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Much can happen in a matter of minutes; a man can go from thinking he is happy to thinking his life is falling apart, or can change from hating someone to loving them. These experiences sound outlandish, but they happened to Guy Montag, the main character in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Winston Smith, the main character in George Orwell’s 1984. These two dystopian novels are about the characters discovering major problems in their societies, and then trying to fix them. Montag lives in a society where television controls people’s lives and books have become illegal. On the other hand Smith lives in Oceania, a territory led by a totalitarian regime. This regime is headed by Big Brother and is referred to as the Party. By examining Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, it is seen, not only through the dehumanized nature of society, but also through the theme of lies and manipulation that both Orwell and Bradbury wish to warn of a horrifying future society.

    Read More

  • George Orwell’s 1984 and Stalin’s Russia

    2134 Words  | 5 Pages

    Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Orwell, George. A. A. 1984. The. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1977. Print.

    Read More

  • Psychological Manipulation in 1984

    1923 Words  | 4 Pages

    Magill, Frank N. Ed. “Nineteen Eighty-Four” Masterpieces of World Literature. New York NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1989. 582-585. Orwell, George.

    Read More

  • Trapped By Society: I Only Came to Use the Phone

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    Do you ever feel trapped when you are in a place that you have never been before? Isolation criticizes society since it does not let everyone be equal or have the same rights. Isolation can completely change a person, and it is usually for the worst. Society “acts” like they try to prevent isolation, but in reality they isolate people for certain reasons, then those people get judged for being “different.” Upon closer inspection it is human nature to deny equal rights because people that do not act, dress, or look the same are labeled as strange, and unfortunately, many times are not accepted by the majority of society. This gives authors a way to shine a light on society’s flaws.

    Read More

More about Isolation in 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Open Document