The outlook to the future is usually one filled with hope. When failures of the past and present problems collide together, the future is often seen as a place of hope. This mindset was no different in Britain during the mid 20th century, especially in the late 1940’s. World War II had finally ended, the days of fighting Nazi Germany was behind everyone but present circumstances were bleak. Britain was still recovering from the effects of World War II and handling the transition of a new socialist democratic government. From the east there loomed Stalin’s Soviet Union with its communism government and Totalitarian ruling mindset. Many were oblivious to the facts surrounding communism and looked hopefully to it. The reason for this was as Mitzi Brunsdale states because of “all kinds of personal and social inadequacies” (139). Many in the west were discouraged with present conditions and looked to Stalinism for hope. Many of the “Western support for Stalin often took the form of neo-religious adulation” (Brunsdale139). On the other hand, George Orwell stood in direct opposition. This resistance against the Totalitarian rule of Stalin was especially expressed in one of his most popular books called 1984, which “brings home to England the experience of countless who suffered in Totalitarian regimes of Eastern Europe” (Meyers 114). George Orwell through his life experiences and through the accounts of others had seen the dangers of Totalitarianism. In 1984, George Orwell exposed three dangerous aspects of Totalitarianism by showing the oppression of the individual's in the story in order to show the true nature of Totalitarianism. One of the first ways that Orwell exposes Totalitarianism through the oppression of the i... ... middle of paper ... ...y to write a novel that so clearly shows the power of the state and diminish of the individual send chills to those who read his book. Even in the future, every reader is faced with the reality of the possibility of such a society existing. With technology advances and many history defining issues arising, the possibility of elements of the book coming true seems to become more and more of a reality. Works Cited Bal, Sant S. George Orwell The Ethical Imagination. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981. Print. Brunsdale, Mitzi M. Student Companion to George Orwell. Westport: Greenwood, 2000. Print. Meyers, Jeffrey. A Reader's Guide to George Orwell. Totown: Littlefield, Adams &, 1975. Print. Meyers, Valerie. Modern Novelists George Orwell. New York: St. Martin's, 1991. Print. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Penguin Group, 2003. Print.
middle of paper ... ... He loved “Big Brother” (Orwell 638). This chilling thought really drives home Orwell’s point that if we allow totalitarianism, it will overwhelm anyone and drive out any concept of free will. This world Orwell creates casts light on the psychological manipulation in totalitarian societies that leads to so many other infringements of human nature, such as the ability to think for oneself and form your own opinions.
George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four has been extolled by Western critics for its incisive political commentary on the social and cultural ramifications of a totalitarian government. After witnessing the alarming extent to which totalitarian governments in Russia and Spain would exercise their power over the proletariat, Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949 to alert Western nations on how to approach the imminent rise of communism. The text is generally received as a “negative dystopian” novel that focuses on depicting the degeneration of humanity through the ubiquitous influence of technology, propaganda and political discourse. As Orwell rightfully avowed in his essay, Why I Write, “every line of serious work that I have written
1984 was first published in 1949 by George Orwell, during which was a crucial time in world history leading up to the Cold War. Orwell, having lived in Spain and Russia communst run countries while growing up, wrote the political novel to warn the Western world of the dangers of a totalitarian government. Although the book can be considered a social commentary on many subjects, I chose the following three to focus on: Power, Media Manipulation and Language.
When writing his novel 1984, George Orwell was conveying his disapproving thoughts about the actions of the fascist dictators that were attempting their rise to power during World War II. The dystopian society created in the novel was created as a warning to those who supported the dictators at the time, including Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini, and the negative effects that their power would bring. Although Orwell’s intentions were not to prophesy what the world would be like, society today is beginning to closely resemble that of 1984. The similarities between George Orwell’s novel 1984 and society today are becoming increasingly more significant because of an excess use of technology, a lack of privacy, and the extreme measures taken by the government.
In the novel of 1984 by George Orwell, citizens of Oceania, constantly live in fear of saying, doing or thinking of anything that is socially unacceptable in their everyday lives through an endless surveillance without being aware of it. The country venerates the idol known as Big Brother in the government’s hierarchy structure, and has information that is strictly measured and filtered to benefit the one-party system. Orwell’s 1984 attacks the totalitarianism of the East while warning the West of its consequences.
The book 1984 by George Orwell is a book about a person who is an outer party member that works for the government, the Ministry of Truth which controls and rewrite the history of the society, and in order to escape the tyranny of their leader “Big Brother”, Winston decided to write a diary about his thoughts, but in their society this is an act that can lead to death. They live in a country that has a totalitarian government that controls everything, in which they have “telescreens” exist to watch and listen to the people, the people are trying to live a human life in inhuman circumstances. The Party that controls the country are capable of everything, because they have the power based on hate to control the people, they have ministries where
Dystopian novels are written to reflect the fears a population has about its government and they are successful because they capture that fright and display what can happen if it is ignored. George Orwell wrote 1984 with this fear of government in mind and used it to portray his opinion of the current government discretely. Along with fear, dystopian novels have many other elements that make them characteristic of their genre. The dystopian society in Orwell’s novel became an achievement because he utilized a large devastated city, a shattered family system, life in fear, a theme of oppression, and a lone hero.
George Orwell’s haunting dystopian novel 1984 delves into the closely monitored lives of the citizens of Oceania as the Party tries to take control of society. In totalitarianism, propaganda and terrorism are ways of subjugation with a main goal: total obedience. He aimed to create a “what if” novel, what would happen if totalitarian regimes, such as the Nazis and Soviets, were to take over the world. If totalitarianism were to happen, the leader would be the brain of the whole system. Orwell emphasizes the theme of individualism versus collective identity through Winston, the protagonist, and his defiance to the Party and Big Brother, with a frightening tone, surreal imagery and a third person limited point of view.
Orwell wants the reader to discover that an individual’s and a family’s privacy is vitally important to the success of the individual and the family. With Big Brother watching every facet of their lives, the people of Oceania are amoral people. They rely on their protector so much that they don’t think for themselves or act for themselves.
George Orwell used Nineteen Eighty-Four to show how totalitarianism can supress individual freedom in the near future by exposing many different aspects of a modern government
Howe, Irving, and George Orwell. 1984 Revisited Totalitarianism in Our Century. New York: Harper & Row, 1983.
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell was extremely insightful for its time. The novel, published in 1948, touched on technological, social, and political issues way before its time. The dystopian setting of 1984 mirrors what Orwell saw happening around him during the time of Nazi Germany and communist Russia, both totalitarian governments. The book’s purpose is to warn society of what could come if the two parties were not stopped. Although technological, social, and political issues continue to change, the predictions Orwell made nearly seven decades ago still stand true in both Western, and modern totalitarian societies today. Along with his accurate predictions, Orwell has made an impact lasting way beyond 1984 by influencing popular culture
When George Orwell’s epic novel 1984 was published in 1949 it opened the public’s imagination to a future world where privacy and freedom had no meaning. The year 1984 has come and gone and we generally believe ourselves to still live in “The Land of the Free;” however, as we now move into the 21st Century changes brought about by recent advances in technology have changed the way we live forever. Although these new developments have seamed to make everyday life more enjoyable, we must be cautious of the dangers that lie behind them for it is very possible that we are in fact living in a world more similar to that of 1984 than we would like to imagine.
Love is the foundation and the weakness of a totalitarian regime. For a stable totalitarian society, love between two individuals is eliminated because only a relationship between the person and the party and a love for its leader can exist. The totalitarian society depicted throughout the Orwell’s novel 1984 has created a concept of an Orwellian society. Stalin’s Soviet state can be considered Orwellian because it draws close parallels to the imaginary world of Oceania in 1984. During the twentieth century, Soviet Russia lived under Stalin’s brutal and oppressive governments, which was necessary for Stalin to retain power.
Everything is a symbol. Everything has a deeper being in which it represents once it is unlocked. The father of deconstruction, Jacques Derrida, was quoted in an interview saying that deconstruction is “to not naturalize what is not natural”. Therefore symbolism is deconstruction in its rawest form. Symbols beg to not be taken at their natural face-value, but rather dived into to reach their deep inner-core of true meaning. One must use every element of deconstruction to unlock the true meaning of a symbol. Symbolism in literature allows the author to express his thoughts and motives in a way that is engaging and entertaining to the reader. The reader must dissect every bit of knowledge presented in order to reach the full fountain of knowledge that can be expressed by a symbol. Symbols are a beautiful thing. It allows the reader to make his own connections to the author’s expressions. The reader can especially be engaged in George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel 1984. Symbolism is important in 1984 because the reader can find connections to today’s government in Orwell’s message of control, propaganda, and oppression within the symbols that Orwell creates.