A Future of Oppression in 1984 George Orwell’s 1984 is a book about an average man and his troubled life in the year 1984. The story takes place not in the 1984 that we know to have come and past, but in sort of communist ruled era that Orwell originally portrayed in 1949. The book centers upon Winston Smith, a simple man who works for the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history as seen fit by the government, or as it is called in the novel, the ‘Party.’ 1984 takes place in the city of London, which is now located in a country called ‘Oceania’. The residents of Oceania are divided into three main social/economic castes; the ‘Inner Party’ (upper class government officials), the ‘Outer Party’ (middle class government workers), and the ‘Proles’ (regular citizens.) The inner Party rules over Oceania in a shockingly dark and oppressive manner. The Party controls every aspect of life for the residents of Oceania, and they do so in some arguably inhumane ways.…
Orwell did not change anything about Totalitarianism when interpreting into the novel. He put on worshipping country leaders, strong dislike, and war hysterics. Children are brought up in families to work for the government as spies. They watch their elders both day and night (Voorhes 88). Big Brother is supposed to represent a soft element from a children’s story to society. Yet to the readers, he represents a political monster to add to Orwell’s science fiction novel, with horror elements mixed in. 1984 may have been inspired by the super-weapons of the cold war. The technology used in the cold war made a ‘social demand’. These technological advancements all served for the purpose to spread mass murder or even to at least intimidating sheer elimination. This can be seen throughout the novel, like when Syme disappeared (Deutscher 119-120). “ He lunged out a huge filthy pipe which was already half full of charred tobacco. With the tobacco ration at a hundred grams a week, it was seldom possible to fill a pipe to the top. Winston was smoking a Victory Cigarette which he held carefully horizontal. The new ration will not start until tomorrow and he had only four cigarettes left” (Orwell 58). During World War II, the government rations out good and often lowers the ration size so small due to overpopulation.…
Student x Mr. Peterson English 102 2 April 2014 George Orwell’s 1984 George Orwell writes his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four not as a story of fiction but as a warning about the dangers of totalitarian control. The concepts of free enterprise and individual freedom no longer exist in 1984, all of the power is split into three groups Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania. In his novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell uses certain literary devices, introduces new linguistic concepts and uses propaganda techniques to suppress freedom, controlling the people and forming a totalitarian society. Orwell introduces two new linguistic concepts in 1984; newspeak, and doublespeak. Newspeak is used by the Party to reduce and limit thought, and simplify the english language to the bare minimum. Doublespeak, on the other hand, which is commonly used by Party members to distort the actually meaning of words, and use the words against those who do not understand what they mean. George Orwell uses the propaganda tactics of “plain folks,” as well as the use of the Big Brother posters to achieve the idea of suppressing freedom. By utilizing propaganda techniques, introducing new language concepts and using literary devices, Orwell successfully warns us about the potential dangers of totalitarian control in our society today.…
1984: Government's Attempt to Control The Mind and Bodies of Its Citizens The novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is an American classic which…
Throughout the evolution of man, power and control have been idealized. When power is attained by manipulative dictators, citizens may initially view them as a means to satisfy their need for structure and direction. An author's grim prophecy of mankind in a totalitarian society is depicted in George Orwell's, 1984. Citizens in Oceania are governed by the Party Big Brother, which succeeds in controlling their actions and minds. The concept of oppression is taken to a new level, until there is no sense of humanity within the society.…
1984 Analytical Essay Final Draft In the novel 1984, George Orwell demonstrates to the people of the future how one governing body can manage to manipulate a whole country such as Oceania. Throughout our past we have seen totalitarian governments take absolute control over their countries. Some examples of leaders of countries that have demonstrated a totalitarian regime are Hitler and Stalin in World War II. Totalitarianism is a manipulative dictatorship that strives to limit the freedoms, abolish individuality, and brainwash its citizens (dictionary.com). In the totalitarian society of Oceania, people are controlled in every possible way. Rhetoric and language are constantly used by Big Brother, the figurehead leader, to maintain power over the society. Newspeak uses meaningless words to keep the thought of rebellion and freedom out of peoples’ minds. Doublethink encourages people to hold two contradictory ideas at once, accepting them both as truth. The Ministry of Truth is devoted to changing past history to conform with current government goals. The author leads us to recognize that all too often, instances of similar attempts at mind control by mass media occur in today's real world. (Johnson, Hayden)…
Mechanisms of Control In George Orwell's 1984, the strategies used by Oceania's "Party" to achieve total control over the population are similar to the ones emplaced by Joseph Stalin during his reign. Indeed, the tactics used by Oceania's "Party" truly depicts the brutal totalitarian society of Stalin's Russia. In making a connection between Stalin's Russia and Big Brothers' Oceania, each party implements a psychological and physical manipulation over society by controlling the information and the language with the help of technology.…
Nineteen Eighty-Four was written by a major contributor to anticommunist literature around the World War II period, and is one of the greatest stories of an anti-utopian society ever. Nineteen Eighty-Four was not written solely as an entertaining piece of literature or as a dream of what the future could be like, it was written as a warning of what could happen as a result of communism and totalitarianism. This was not necessarily a widely popular vision of the future at the time of publication, but it was certainly considered a possibility by many people. The popular vision of the future, if analyzed as from a character in the book's point of view, sometimes changes, depending on the character. The mass of people, the proletarians, have a single vision of what the future is. However, Winston, and others who have had the same experience as him, have a different view of the future after leaving the Ministry of Love. Their were many different visions of the future at the time when Nineteen Eighty-Four was written. Some people believed that the world superpowers would conquer the weak nations of the world and democracy would rule everything. Some believed that the world would stay as it was in 1948, as many individual nations, and somewhere in the future we would drive cars through the air and live on the moon. Others feared that communism, totalitarianism, and socialism would spread throughout the world, and that everyone would suffer under these undesirable economic and political structures. It was on this basis that Nineteen Eighty-Four was written. George Orwell's idea of a totalitarian society is frighteningly realistic, and could easily have been construed as a possibility of what the world might have been like in 1984. In the 19th century many different visions of the future have entertained our society, been marketed, and teased the minds of millions. Television shows such as the Jetsons and countless movies like Star Wars, Logan's Run, Back to the Future, and…
Rick Guo Period: 4 5/14/2013 Joseph Stalin And 1984 Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the 1920 until his death in 1953. He has done a lot of good things for his country but during his reign, he also has a lot of mistakes and these mistakes we also can see in the story called 1984. 1984 tells the story of a country’s authoritarian regime and the “big brother” in this country how to maintain his regime. I find a lot of common between the Stalinist regime and the regime from 1984. I put my point or view is divided into three parts, and now I will describe it one by one.…
In 1984, the society of Oceania was deprived of having emotion, rights and privacy. The country was able to be easily taken over by using…
Connecting the government in the novel and the world today, they are getting closer alike. Examples of this are government betrayal, hidden inspection, and control over the citizens, in an authoritarian state (Butler).After the public read 1984, society started to doublethink the state of Europe’s governments and the concept of Big Brother. For generations, readers took the novel as a message of caution and prognosis (Johnson 1546). In this society, the law enforcement has absolute power and use endless amounts of brutality are used and sub-themes of the society of the novel and Orwell’s other works. He despised men of power greed and followers of people of power. The police’s education is slightly different from the average citizens. Those…
Totalitarianism Destroys Humanity Totalitarianism is a form of government that is ruled by a leader who possesses absolute power and…
The Daunting Effects of Totalitarianism In the novel 1984, George Orwell utilizes diction and figurative language to portray how a totalitarian government dehumanizes the lives of its people and obliterate their thought. In the beginning of the novel, Winston helps the reader visualize an important Newspeak worker at the Fiction Department with “two blank discs instead of eyes” (53). The usage of “two blank discs” is to describe the person’s eyes as a bleak image of thoughtlessness. Instead of simply allowing the reader to visualize the actual characteristics of the person’s eyes, Orwell uses “two blank discs” to show that the person accepts the dictatorship. This is enforced by the government, by following all orders the government gives…
George Orwell's prediction in the novel 1984 could very well be a reality. Aspects of this totalitarian dystopia appear throughout the United States. It is a constant battle between the government and the people. In 1984 the government forgets that it should cater to the needs of the governed. Orwell was trying to warn everyone of the impending doom that faces the United States. He feels like the U.S is steadily increasing towards becoming a totalitarian government. I agree with Orwell in that his warnings outlined in 1984 are still relevant in today's society and appear quite often. Of course I don't believe a totalitarian government is about to take over our government in the U.S., however we all don't live free from the laws that keep our society functioning. We are all governed in some way, with our civil liberties bound at one point or another. Just like in Orwell's 1984, the United States is controlled by political parties that lead our country. The U.S has two major political parties, the Democrats and the republicans. Much like the U.S., Orwell’s 1984 also has two parties, the Inner party and the Outer party. In the United States, one party tends to come to power and gain control. This is also true in the Novel with the Inner Party controlling everything. The government outlined in the novel 1984 shows many similarities to the United States government.…
“1984” In George Orwell’s novel, “1984”, the people of Oceania have absolutely no freedom because of the powerful government. If the citizens even look like they are thinking something negative about the government or if it looks like they don’t agree with something they are immediately taken and never seen again. The message of this novel is that too much government will take away every ounce of freedom, which leads to families and any kind of relationships destroyed.…