Research Paper: Love in Utopia, Brave New World and 1984
Love is without a doubt one of the most powerful emotions in the world. Most people in the world who have experienced this emotion know that with love, almost anything is possible. ¡§When in Love, the greater is his/her capacity for suffering, or anything else in that matter¡¨ (Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life). The governments in both Brave New World and 1984 understand that eliminating love and loyalty is important in their continual process of domination over their societies. In Sir Thomas More¡¦s Utopia, his Utopian society understands the importance of love and loyalty. There is a huge contrast between the way love is treated in Utopia, and Brave New World & 1984. In both Brave New World and 1984, the governments have replaced love and loyalty, with suspicion and hatred, while in Utopia it is treasured.
In the novel 1984, many examples are provided as to how the Inner Party manages to manipulate the public into scorning emotions, love and loyalty. Suspicion and hatred are the main two feelings that replace love and loyalty, in the society of 1984. ¡§The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, a look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself¡¨ (Orwell, 65). This example shows the unfortunate replacement of loyalty with fear and suspicion of everyone in 1984. ¡§It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place, or near a telescreen¡¨ (65). Suspicion is a dominant feeling felt by almost all the members of the Outer Party in 1984. For example, when Winston met Julia for the first time, his immediate thoughts were; ¡§She must be with the thought police¡¨ (45). The society of 1984 is a total nightmare, in which everyone is suspicious of everyone and very little loyalty exists. An example of betrayal in the novel occurs when Winston entrusts his secretive relationship with Mr. Charrington. Then, Mr. Charrington turns around and betrays Winston, by turning out to be a member of the notorious thought police! ¡§It occurred to Winston that for the first time in his life, he was looking, with knowledge, at a member of the thought police¡¨ (234). Love in 1984 does not exist and has been eradicated because the inner party knows that it is dangerous. Feelings towards other human beings can sometimes compel us to do things that we would not normally do.
Several conflicting frames of mind have played defining roles in shaping humanity throughout the twentieth century. Philosophical optimism of a bright future held by humanity in general was taken advantage of by the promise of a better life through sacrifice of individuality to the state. In the books Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 clear opposition to these subtle entrapments was voiced in similarly convincing ways. They first all established, to varying degrees of balance, the atmosphere and seductiveness of the “utopia” and the fear of the consequences of acting in the non-prescribed way through character development. A single character is alienated because of their inability to conform – often in protest to the forced conditions of happiness and well being. Their struggle is to hide this fact from the state’s relentless supervision of (supposedly) everything. This leads them to eventually come into conflict with some hand of the state which serves as the authors voice presenting the reader with the ‘absurdity’ of the principles on which the society is based. The similar fear of the state’s abuse of power and technology at the expense of human individuality present within these novels speaks to the relevance of these novels within their historical context and their usefulness for awakening people to the horrendous consequences of their ignorance.
The Party and its leader Big Brother play the role of authority in 1984. The Party is always watching the citizens of the Republic of Oceania. This is exemplified in the fact that the government has telescreens through which they can watch you wherever you are set up almost everywhere. Even in the countryside where there are no telescreens, the Party can monitor its citizens through hidden microphones disguised as flowers. The Thought Police are capable of spying on your thoughts at anytime, and can arrest or even kill you on a whim. Not only does the Thought Police find and hunt down felons, but it also scares others into being good citizens. The Party strives to eliminate more and more words from people’s vocabularies. Thus, the Party can destroy any possibilities of revolutions and conspiracies against itself. Its ultimate goal is to reduce the language to only one word, eliminating thought of any kind. The Party makes people believe that it is good and right in its actions through the Ministry of Truth and through the slogans printed on the Ministry of Truth:...
The author of the novel 1984 utilizes the element of conflict to portray the evils of psychological manipulation amongst characters. Throughout the novel, the author George Orwell uses the conflicts between The Party and the people which this particular variety of government controls. An example of this would be the external conflict between Big Brother and Winston because he likes to express himself in his diary and have human interaction. However, for people in this society this is not possible since, “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell 3) constantly. Despite the fact that expression is not allowed it is only human nature to have an interest towards those topics, creating Winston’s grievances with The Party. The constant overviewing from
“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity” (Nelson Mandela). Throughout the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, there is a severe lack of humanity. During the course of the novel, the level of humanity is tested through the challenges Winston and Julia face in their war against the Party. In 1984, humanity has been impacted by the Party’s control over its members, its lack of control over its members, and its war against love.
In 1984, free thought is revolt. Physical actions of rebellion never occurred in the world created by George Orwell. Due to the lack of freedom of thought by Big Brother people turned to thought in order to escape the brutal world. Any thinking outside of the designed thought of the Party was a “thought crime” (13). Thought about uprising, or any thought of hatred directed towards the Party was a crime. All thought was an act of rebellion. Winston commits many thought crimes throughout the book, and in the end, the Thought Police arrest him. Not only did he rebel in thought, but attempted to make a physical revolt by joining “the brotherhood” (171). Physical relationships and love also rebel against the party. They dislike any human relationships that are not for the benefit of the Party, like Winston and Julia’s relationship. Attempting to hide their relationship, the two must sneak around telescreens to continue their connection. Winston protested in his own way against the Party, but in the end he failed by falling in love with Big Brother (298).
“We believe in ordinary acts of bravery in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another,” said a dauntless manifesto from the movie Divergent. I will be comparing dystopian characteristics present in 1984 by George Orwell to the movie Divergent based on the book by Veronica Roth to determine which subject most accurately represents Dystopia. A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through control. Dystopias, though an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.
Imagine living in a world where one’s whole life had been planned out for them by the Government; a life in which there were no surprises simply because everyday consisted of the same thing. 1984 written by George Orwell can be an archetype for this kind of world. Living in a totalitarian society, Winston Smith is a low ranked member of the ruling party in London. Winston is constantly watched by the party and had little to no privacy whatsoever. Everywhere he goes, Winston sees face of the party’s leader, called Big Brother. Winston goes through the same motions everyday, secretly hating the party and hoping that there are people around him that aren’t ignorant, but feel the same way as him. If people are ignorant and blindly follow what the
In George Orwell’s 1984, the ruling body, known as the Inner party, gains complete control over the people in their country. In all the homes, apartments, business offices, and town squares, there are telescreens. The telescreens give the ruling body the ability to invade the people’s privacy, and create fear into their lives. The ruling body of 1984 is afraid of unionization between the people and their ideas. They believed that if people got together and talked about their ideas about the parties, they would realize that their way of life had not always been like this, ruled by the Inner Party. The Inner Party controls everything that the people in their society does, thinks, says, and acts. Winston Smith, the main character of this novel, begins to realize that he has thoughts from his past and that the...
Authors often use their works as a way to express their own opinions and ideologies. However, it is the skill of the author that determines whether these ideas are combined with the plot seamlessly, making a creative transition of ideas from the author’s mind, to the reader’s. There is no doubt that George Orwell is a masterful writer, and one of his most popular works, 1984, clearly expresses his negative views of the Totalitarian government. A common theme in the dystopian society in 1984 is betrayal: The Party is very intolerant towards any form of disloyalty, and anyone who plots against them or Big Brother will eventually either betray their own mind and accept Big Brother as their leader, or be betrayed and revealed to The Party by one of their so-called comrades. Overall, Orwell is using this constant theme of betrayal to show how alone and alienated the protagonist (Winston Smith) is in his quest against Totalitarianism, thus showing how flawed and hopeless the political system is.
A Utopia is an imaginary place where human ideals are established; an idea of a place that is free from all of the human complications such as pain and suffering. Utopia writing has been around for thousands of years and can be found in almost all different cultures. Opposite of a Utopia, is a Dystopia, a fictional world where everything is unpleasant or dismal. Although the social pressures in which these utopias and dystopias were created from different pressures, all of these stories share the common theme of escapism and “what ifs?” The purpose of this paper will be to compare and contrast the novel Utopia, written by Thomas more with the dystopian novel Brave New world, written by Adlouls Huxley. I will also share my opinions about these
The novel 1984 by George Orwell presents the readers an image of a totalitarian society that explores a world of control, power, and corruption. The main idea of government control presents itself in the novel by protecting and listening to the people of Oceania. However, Orwell suggests giving too much power to the government is a mistake because eventually the decisions they make will not be about the people anymore but rather themselves. In 1984, the power and corruption the party has is overwhelming for the people. There are no ways around the beliefs of the Party, the party attempts to control and eventually destroy any mental or physical resistance against their beliefs. The agenda for the party is to obtain mind control over its people and force them to adore their leader. The methods the Party uses to achieve its goal are: the use of constant propaganda and surveillance, the rewriting of history, and Room 101.
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.
Literature is a mirror of life. In order to reflect their views on the problems in society, many authors of fiction, including Sir Thomas More of Utopia and George Orwell of Nineteen Eighty-Four, use parallels in character, setting, government, and society to link their works to the real world.
In 1984 many government issues take place, for instance propaganda, secret police, brainwashing, and a wide manner of other devices to oppress their populations. The idea is to illustrate the dangers of totalitarian government whether it be Communist, Fascist, or otherwise. Totalitarianism is an imposing form of government which the political authority exercises control over all aspects of life such as their sex life, and health in general. “If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them” (George Orwell, 1984). Also psychological manipulation and mind control are a big controversy in 1984. Psychological manipulation is a social influence that moves towards the behavior of others through deceptive, or even abusive tactics. “And so it was with every class of recorded fact, great or small. Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain” (book 1, chapter 4). The author, Orwell wants the readers to think that the government monitors and controls everything that the humans do, and that basically everything that people do are against the law.
The novel 1984 is a futuristic portrayal of the world in the year 1984. The main characters Winston and Julia fall in love with each other but are caught and purified of all their wrong doings. In the end they betray each other because of the pressure of the party. The party is a group that controls society in these ways: Manipulation of Reality, Invasion of Privacy, and Desensitization.