ipl-logo

Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984 By George Orwell

858 Words4 Pages

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. These are the principles citizens of Oceania, in the novel 1984, by George Orwell, are forced to believe in. With the addition of literary devices, such as foreshadowing and diction, totalitarianism is exposed through the Party’s beliefs along with their love towards Big Brother. Warnings or foreshadowing of future events lead one to acknowledge the Party’s authority and regulations of every aspect of citizens’ lives. In the novel,Winston looks at a portrait of “Big Brother” and feels the power it contains, forcing him to say “[i]n the end the Party would announce that two plus two made five, and you would have to believe it,”then before the end of his rehabilitation with O’Brien in room …show more content…

When Syme is describing the purpose of newspeak to Winston and how a word contains an opposite in itself such as having “a word like ‘good,’ what need is there for a word like ‘bad’? ‘Ungood’ will do just as well-better, because it's an exact opposite, which the other is not” (Orwell 51).Orwell creates this word choice to correspond with the strict, society created in the novel. Positive diction is used to give the Party control over the citizen’s ability of free thought, which would make thoughtcrime impossible. Society narrows the people’s mindset. When Winston begins writing in his diary, he knows it can get him in trouble and writes “they'll shoot me I don't care down with Big Brother they always shoot you in the back of the neck I don't care down with Big Brother ”(Orwell 19).Orwell limited Winston’s vocabulary to show how the Party has their people thinking about the consequences when doing something they are not supposed to be doing. Citizens are controlled by the Party and know they must obey the rules. Religion is compared to the Party’s ideas. While O’Brien interrogates Winston, he says “‘we are the priests of power,’ ‘God is power. But at the present power is only a word so far as you are concerned. It is time for you to gather some idea of what power means. The first thing you must realize is that power is collective’” (Orwell 264).Religious concepts used by Orwell imply that Big Brother is compared to God, by being a large masculine face who is always watching over the people. Seeking to be powerful and control the minds of its people, the Party sees itself as a religion. Through sounding improving, controlling one’s mind, and seeking power, the Party has centralized control over its

Show More
Related

  • What Does Winston Smith Mean In 1984

    426 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the entirety of this passage from George Orwell’s, 1984, Winston Smith is portrayed as a rather paranoid person. While searching for quotes to support this claim, many are found and can be used for this argument. For example, in paragraph 5, sentence 2, it states how any sound that Winston makes is being picked up, recorded, watched, and monitored by the “thought police.” Winston is constantly looking behind his back, scrutinizing the “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” posters, and laying as low as he possibly can. Instead of just accepting the fact that the thought police are everywhere, all the time, as most of society seems to have, Winston is questioning the community in which he lives in.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Autonomy In 1984 By George Orwell

    342 Words  | 2 Pages

    Winston’s explanation of the Party and these beliefs illustrates the corruption they experience for they are unable to think for themselves and are forced to accept whatever they are told to believe. Orwell uses diction to convey a theme of totalitarianism

    Read More

  • How Does George Orwell Lose Power In 1984

    880 Words  | 4 Pages

    We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.” (253) Through this quote, Orwell reveals the true intention of the Party: total dominance of the body and mind. Even in the midst of torture, Winston realizes his love for Big Brother. Through the repression of the mind, the Party succeeded in creating an army of mindless

    Read More

  • Abuse Of Power In 1984 By George Orwell

    603 Words  | 3 Pages

    Corrupted Cites, Poisonous Power, and Tortuous Times In George Orwell’s 1984, the Party and the all-seeing Big Brother are notorious for heavily monitoring the general populace and using unorthodox methods of manipulation, fear and torture to maintain control. Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party, is privy to the ways of Big Brother and the technique used to control the past, and he rebels in many more ways than one. In the end, he comes to know the true meaning of torture and learns that paranoia and corruption are the harsh results of poisonous power. By Chapter Four of Book 1, Winston is knee deep in a relationship that would not be approved of by his superiors.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Fear In 1984 And The Time Machine By H. G. Wells

    2740 Words  | 11 Pages

    (Orwell 108). Winston thought for sure that the Party was monitoring him and that he would get caught and taken away. Winston was always worried about being punished for thought crime. Mr. Parsons, whose children were spies and informed on their father, was taken away because of what he had said about The Party, “Down with big brother!’ Yes, I said that”’

    Read More

  • Who Is George Orwell's A Totalitarian System?

    1001 Words  | 5 Pages

    Even when appraised as the inferior social group, the proles are still watched for signs of rebellion as, “Every citizen, or at least every citizen important enough to be worth watching, could be kept for twenty-four hours a day under the eyes of the police and in the sound of official propaganda, with all other channels of communication closed” (206). Furthermore Oceania as a country, has adopted a totalitarian society order to restrict the population to surrender their mind, body and soul to the Big Brother to achieve the sense of equality among all social groups. “The possibility of enforcing not only complete obedience to the will of the State, but complete uniformity of opinion on all subjects, now existed for the first time” (206). By imposing their decisions upon the majority of the population, the Party establishes the point that only they can control or dispose of any object or person. Moreover, Orwell expresses that a totalitarian government will put an end to individuality and emphasize the importance of unity among all citizens through the use of indirect manipulation and propaganda.

    Read More

  • 1984 Totalitarian Government

    696 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore, my essay will be intriguing to the reader. Tentative Thesis Statement: The Party or, Big Brother, plays an important role in the novel 1984 by George Orwell, although this government invades the individual rights of its citizens, the people of Oceania are better off with this government because in the absence of a government, the citizens would be subject to anarchy, including increased violence and crime, financial struggles, and power-hungry people.

    Read More

  • Winston Smith In George Orwell's 1984

    561 Words  | 3 Pages

    Winston Smith, in George Orwell’s 1984, struggles to free himself from the power of the Party, and Big Brother. Throughout the novel, Winston deals with the reality of living under a totalitarian government, and his building hatred of those in power reveals his inner struggle to gain his freedom. The author uses this inner struggle to demonstrate the horrors of living in such a world, where a person is constantly watched and even rebellious thought is an unforgiveable crime. Orwell gives his readers a frightening glimpse at the future, and uses the rebellious acts of Winston Smith to illustrate how oppressive and dehumanizing a totalitarian society can be.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Conformity In 1984 By George Orwell

    1693 Words  | 7 Pages

    In the novel “1984” by George Orwell, nonconformity throughout a society is presented through the point of view of its main character, Winston. In Oceania, the society is heavily ran by their government. “Big Brother” is a closed party which always watches the people of Oceania as a way to keep control. They work to keep the people in check and fear them in order for them to be more easily manipulated. Creativity and any form of individuality is practically forbidden due to the government’s fear of being overthrown.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Control In 1984 By George Orwell

    968 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the world of Oceania there are many control mechanisms that are used to keep the members of the society with the most power.. Winston Smith, the main character in George Orwell's 1948 novel “1984” demonstrates plenty of the ways Oceania controls. Prime examples of this would be their usage of propaganda, surveillance, and language control. The ways the party controls their society varies.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between 1984 And Fahrenheit 451

    860 Words  | 4 Pages

    As a result of Winston’s neglect of the rules, he was able to maintain his own perspective, as he attempted to defeat Big Brother’s ‘sinister plan’. “You’re a flaw in the pattern, Winston. You are a stain that must be wiped out….when finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will,” stated O’Brien (page 255). In the book, free will depicted the Ministry’s truthful judgments of the state of mind, which happened to correspond to Winston’s freedom of beliefs. When O’Brien was torturing Winston, he revealed Big Brother’s notions of simply destroying the rebelling mind of any person who had dared to testify against The Party’s core values.

    Read More

  • Comparing 1984 And The V For Vendetta And 1984

    1481 Words  | 6 Pages

    At the beginning of the novel, Winston made it prominent that he dissented Big Brother and his party’s idea. He wrote in his diary, in Book 1 Chapter 1, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER…” (Orwell 18). This shows that Winston dissented his country’s government and was willing to rebel for he knew deep inside that

    Read More

  • Fear In George Orwell's 1984

    1102 Words  | 5 Pages

    Fear is a psychological and physiological response to distressing or dangerous circumstances. Fears are often rational – the fear of death, for example, or of harm to oneself of those one cares about. Some fears are more irrational, such as phobias of certain animals or things not causing immediate danger. In any case, fear is a powerful response and causes someone to be weaker and more submissive. 1984 by George Orwell illustrates how fear, a natural human experience, can be used as a means for a person’s submission to authority, In the novel, Winston Smith, the protagonist, is a working-class citizen in a futuristic, dystopian London.

    Read More

  • Fear In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

    1219 Words  | 5 Pages

    Shaped by Fear : How George Orwell Used Fear in Prophesizing the Future “War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength,” (Orwell 6). George Orwell the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, heavily influenced by the events of World War Two used these slogans in predicting what the world could become. Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel set in a dystopian society however, it is rooted in much of world history during the 1900’s. By examining this history one becomes aware that George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four portrays the effects generated by the fear of World War Two and prophesizes what the world could be like if that fear is perpetuated.

    Read More

  • Winston's Power In 1984 By George Orwell

    546 Words  | 3 Pages

    Big Brother is powerful, its power lie power alone can control the nation and it can spread to other nation if the party want to take over the world. You will need a philosopher or enlightment thinker to stop the Big Brother. Some people might think like that but in time the power itself will ruin the party. The use like power to control everything under their command. They also know that people will resist one day to take down BigBrother so that why they are doing anything to manipulate

    Read More

More about Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984 By George Orwell

Open Document