1984

George Orwell 's 1984 is an exemplary work of dystopia. Although written in 1940s, 1984 is a vivid depiction of China during the Cultural Revolution and Soviet Union during the Elimination of Counterrevolutionaries. Dystopia came into being after the World War Ⅱ, when the world was at a loss about its future. Although the world was purged of fascism, personality cult and communist dictatorship arose to take its place.Dystopia is characterized by an authoritarian and totalitarian regime that oppresses individual freedom and development; scientific development and general education is cast aside; the whole society is embedded in constant warfare and violence, and scientific research is done only for military use and for controlling the masses ' mentality; the society is dominated by general poverty and egalitarianism. In 1984, the Party controls everything, and all party members are the tools utilized by the Party nourish its power and consolidate its sovereign. Knowledge of the outside world is blocked from the population in Oceania. Almost everything the party members do is under the surveillance of those omnipresent telescreens, and thus the party members have to learn to control every muscle on the face so as to avoid the suspicion of Thought Police, and they have to accept and advocate whatever policy the Party promulgates. In this sense, only the paroles have a little freedom to think and live the way they like, which is derived from their ignorance which embodies the Party 's slogan “Ignorance is strength".

The most compelling part of 1984 for me is The Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism, which demonstrates the truth of dystopia. In fact, for most ordinary people that knows little about politics, what they really care is only their daily life, i.e., whether they can earn enough money to feed their family, and they care little about who comes to office in the government or what regime the ruler takes. Therefore, these people are most apt to be