Totalitarian Government In 1984

1000 Words2 Pages

In his 1949 dystopian novel 1984, George Orwell depicts a totalitarian government after the Cold War in a territory known as Airstrip One, or present day Britain. The socially awkward Winston Smith represents a typical citizen in Airstrip One during the year 1984. Through Smith’s surroundings, Orwell comments on the poor conditions and apparent poverty caused by the totalitarian government. A colleague of Smith’s, O’Brien, denounces him to the Thought Police, a government organization that conforms “old” ideals to fit the new ideals of the Party. Through the use of O’Brien and the Party, Orwell exhibits that things aren’t exactly as they seem to be, and ultimately one should always be skeptical, while providing a possible image of the future totalitarian nations. Orwell lays out this ideology starting in Part One, first by saying, “”Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past”” (Orwell 32). The Party hires staff, such as Winston Smith, to work at the Ministry of Truth as historical revisionists; …show more content…

According to the Huffington Post, “In fascist societies, patriotism is the product of a rigorous attempt at not only sugarcoating a nation 's history, but promoting only the favorable aspects of the past in hopes that controversial or tragic episodes are forgotten, or whitewashed as the propaganda of the enemy” (Goodman). In authoritarian or totalitarian societies, such as the Soviet Union, this practice illustrated in 1984 perhaps occurred in a less severe manner. This revelation really shows how close that portrayed society was to communist and fascist nations in the Cold War era, and if communism or fascism were to overtake the world, that society could have became a reality. Although democracy won the Cold War after the fall of the Soviet Union, 1984 still provides a valid warning about the nature of authoritarian and totalitarian

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