Preview

Totalitarianism In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1300 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Totalitarianism In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four
In the novel 1984 the party also known as the government in the novel demands loyalty to Big Brother. Totalitarianism is a system of the government that is dictatorial. Totalitarianism requires complete loyalty to the government. The party seeks to control everything. The goal of the party is to control the citizens and manipulate information. They manipulate information by erasing, recreating, or modifying the truth in history. The citizens of Oceania are not allowed to keep written records of their lives, anything that pertains documents of their lives must be destroyed in a memory hole. The party also monitors the behavior of its citizens they are not allowed to love their families because all love should be for Big Brother. The power the party has is to control the present by altering the past. If the people do not cooperate they use the military to perform tactics to get the rebellious people to love Big Brother. In the novel 1984 the party (government) employs totalitarianism and general manipulation to control and have absolute power over its citizens.

Annotations
…show more content…
"The Dark Power of Destinya€ in George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four." Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 47.1 (2014): 179-94. Web. Martha explains that the dark and twisted ways of a certain era has a lot to do with Orwell’s writing. Orwell wanted to make political writing into art. It explains that totalitarianism is a form of government control. It explains that the effects of world war two is what caused him to write the novel 1984. Big brother is the dictator also could be called the government controls everything and is apart of the citizens daily life. That includes psychological needs, history, and information. They torture and manipulate people by keeping them underfed,scared, and noting letting them have knowledge of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Imagine living in a world where politics are everything and all forms of individuality and personal identities are shattered. A world where everybody is stripped of their rights to talk, act, think, or even form their own opinions, simply because they do not agree with the government’s beliefs. These aspects are just a few of the examples of things dictators would have control over in a totalitarianism form of government. Aggressive leaders such as Hitler and Joseph Stalin are examples of such dictators. They used their power for terror and murder, and their motive is simply to maximize their own personal power. George Orwell had witnessed World War II, the fall of Hitler and Stalin’s dictatorships, and the fatal outcomes that have come from these governments. To warn future generations of the harsh effects of totalitarianism governments, he wrote the book Nineteen Eighty-Four. Published in 1946, Nineteen Eighty-Four describes life in a totalitarianism form of government, following the main character, Winston Smith, as he takes risks in discovering how he believes life should truly be. Literary critic Irving Howe states, “Were it possible, in the world of 1984, to show human character in anything resembling genuine freedom...it would not be the world of 1984” (62). In Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the government uses its power to suppress individuality among the people.…

    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 is about totalitarianism, a totalitarian government is one tries to control every aspect of life. It tries to control how people spend every minute of their time, even in private, who they associate…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Orwell’s 1984 cleverly illustrates the dangers of totalitarianism. The story’s central character, Winston Smith, is faced with several challenges set forth by the ruling government, referred to as the Party. In Orwell’s depiction of a totalitarian state, no individual is capable of having the courage and bravery to face danger. In other words, there is no room for a hero.…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Discuss how the citizens of Oceania are controlled and manipulated by the Party in Nineteen Eighty-Four’…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cellphones and technology have become a major part of todays’ society. A totalitarian government is centralized and has total control over its people. On the other hand a democratic government makes major decisions through majority vote. In George Orwell’s novel 1984, Winston’s perspective depicts his life living in Oceania under a totalitarian. In this age of cell phones and mobile devices equipped with recording capabilities, when anyone says or does could wind up on the “internet” within minutes, showing similar tactics as Big Brother, but not entirely. Oceania’s totalitarian government is different from contemporary Canada by eliminating independent rights, creating psychological control and allowing no freedom of any sort.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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.…

    • 1818 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the year of 1949, George Orwell saw a possible future from his reflection of the totalitarian regimes of World War II and experience in Spain as well as Russia, especially with Stalin. This would culminate into the novel known as 1984, in which the Party and their leader – Big Brother – have complete control of the nation known as Oceania, where everyone is under constant surveillance by the Thought Police. The story is set in London which has decayed just as much as the people’s souls and minds, shown as a “negative utopia”.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Orwell, author of 1984, warned that governments, left unchecked, would rule their civilizations using techniques like those presented within his book. The reigning leader in Orwell’s novel, Big Brother parallels a dictator whose decision of having ultimate control forces every citizen to either love him or fear him enough to follow the…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 Essay on Power

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Orwell wrote 1984 almost forty years before the actual year of 1984, in response to Russian totalitarian government. In the novel, Oceania controls everything: what people eat, where they live, who they marry, and their thoughts. Posters saying “Big Brother is watching you” and telescreens allow government to keep a close eye on society while pressuring people to always love Big Brother and the Party. The government is apathetic towards people’s happiness and lack of privacy; having full control over people and society is the government’s only concern. Orwell symbolizes Russian government and control through Oceania. He communicates his views on totalitarian governments by creating dreadful living conditions and rebellious characters within his novels. A government with excessive power will destroy blitheness; as time passes, creating change in a powerful government is impossible. The novel is the story of an ordinary man, Winston, and his attempt to rebel and promote change against the Oceania. By the end of the novel, he failed in his rebellious attempt after being beaten, tortured, and starved in the Ministry of Love. Oceania convinced society that the government was perfect by controlling their beliefs.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 - George Orwell

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages

    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.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Totalitarianism as explained by Merriam Webster dictionary is a political centralized system ran by an autocratic authority in which its citizens are subject to total and absolute state of authority. The system has no recognition of limits to its authority to regulate every aspect of citizen’s public and personal life (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2015).…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    George Orwell 1984

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages

    George Orwell’s classic novel ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ paints a bleak picture of a futuristic society controlled by a totalitarian government. 1984 is a novel about using power to control society. George Orwell's novel was published in 1948 and this is significant because World War II had recently ended and the Nazi dictatorship of Adolph Hitler in Germany had been defeated. This was not an end to dictatorship around the world; however, because Joseph Stalin controlled Russia in much the same way that Hitler had controlled Germany and Mao Zedong was in charge of China. Propaganda, fear, murder and thought control were methods that Hitler, Stalin and Mao used to gain power and to control their countries. In 1984, many similarities exist between the novel and Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia and Mao's China. Big Brother could easily represent Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Overall, the main methods of control in 1984 were control of education and information and over bearing system of rules.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    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)…

    • 796 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    George Orwell’s 1984 depicts a culture of terror, suspicion, and hatred which forces all human bonds to no longer exist and isolation to remain a way of life. Although the overall situation in Oceania seems outrageous and impossible, many of the inventions and beliefs put forth by the novel have existed during Joseph Stalin’s rule in the 20th century. 1984 presents a totalitarian dystopian world where there is no freedom and citizens are being brainwashed constantly. While writing the novel shortly after World War Two, George Orwell was influenced and inspired by regimes such as Hitler’s Nazi-Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. Many features of Big Brother and Oceania mimic those of Stalin and the USSR. Through propaganda and media control, citizens glorify their leaders as their heroes and saviours. With the ability to manipulate the past, present, and future, this allows leaders to change history thus controlling their citizens’ ways of thought. Both Big Brother and Stalin carefully keep tight surveillance of citizens in order to monitor and keep track of all activities during all times. Through Orwell’s depiction of Big Brother, and the demonstration of Stalin’s rule, the two show us the horrors of totalitarianism and the control of information and history.…

    • 1678 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics