Review of 1984

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Recommended: Orwell's imagined dystopian society

In George Orwell's 1984 Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party from Oceania, which is a fictional state that represents England and America, lives in all visible ways as a good party member, in complete conformance with the wishes of Big Brother, who is the leader of the Inner Party. He keeps his hatred for the workings of the Party, for the vile food and drink, the terrible housing, and the conversion of children into spies deep inside, because he knows that such feelings are an offense to the Party, punishable by death. Winston buys a journal to keep his thoughts safe from the Thought Police because even this was forbidden and dangerous. There were telescreens all over showing Big Brother Propaganda, they even had a secret camera and microphone installed so that the Inner Party could watch over the citizens. In essence the fictional Big Brother had taken over life to the furthest extent, including people's every action, even their thoughts. In the attempt to make a society where no individual could venture away from the dictatorship, or government, the result has become somewhat similar to the cloning of identities including personalities, thoughts, and just about everything that sets any one person different from another. In the book 1984 individuality has been abolished, citizens are seen specifically on a class level, and are not even allowed to have thoughts of their own because these thoughts may lead to an uproar or rebellion. History has been altered to fit the ideal of the government after the war. People are only allowed to remember and talk about the falsities that have been created. This concept is called doublethink and it is a manipulation of the mind that makes people believe contradictions as being true. ... ... middle of paper ... ...yday in this world to perfect the idea of society to best suit every citizen's needs, including the lower class parties. The idea of a utopia originated from the underdogs, those who were being taken advantage of. The society that Winston Smith lives in depicts this persecution of all lower class citizens to the greatest extent. There is no concept of relative equality; it is only a gross simplification of the class system, which goes against any ideas of utopia. There are three so-called classes, the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the Proles who are commoners and workers. This society is developed simply to benefit those who run it, with no care or actions to help the oppressed, the Outer Party and the Proles. So by definition the society depicted in 1984 is a complete dystopia subject to corruption because of the persecution of the people within the society.

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