1984, By George Orwell: Society Under A Totalitarian Government

During the 1930’s, the popularity of totalitarian governments were at an all-time high. With people like Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin, the idea of democracy itself was in danger. Fortunately, the rule of Hitler and Mussolini were shut down by the Allies, however, the communist regime persisted throughout the next couple decades. The novel 1984, by George Orwell, depicts society under a totalitarian government. The people of that society are forced to conform to society: act how the government, or Big Brother, wants you to act, be what Big Brother wants you to be, and hardest of all, think how Big Brother wants you to think. Although this is a fictional novel, even the most fictitious novels have some amount of truth to
However, they’re much more subtle as compared to how Orwell had described it. It is not surprising that the average American significantly relies on the internet for an abundance of things such as entertainment, education, work, etc. By obtaining a copy of someone’s internet data, one could theoretically access things such as bank funds and private information that they should never be allowed to look at. In 2012, Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA had secretly been collecting the data of every American, and could access it if necessary. Basically, even in today’s society, the government can track you, and have a record of the things you say, and the things you do just using data they’ve collected from emails or social
There is no individuality, no uniqueness in a sense, every one follows the people around them. “But still more it was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise… Of course he chanted with the rest: it was impossible to do otherwise. To dissemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive reaction” (11). By doing this, it made people think they believed something that they may not. Similarly, Hitler had his own rallies in which he convinced the people that Jews were the cause of all the problems. Even though one person might not have believed it, he saw the people around him all worshipping Hitler, and he just wanted to fit in. Clearly, in a totalitarian government, fitting in is not always the best idea, because the default characteristics will most likely be