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George Orwell's 1984 Relevant

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Valerie Nea Ms. Chang Honors English August 17, 2016 In what way is George Orwell’s 1984 relevant (or irrelevant) for today’s world? George Orwell 's novel “1984” describes a dystopian future set 38 years from its time of writing (1946). Orwell created his vision of the future not by inventing a new world, but by showing already existing conditions. The novel’s protagonist, Winston Smith, struggles to live in the mega-nation Oceania, one of three superstates into which the world has become divided. Oceania is governed by “The Party”, represented by the tyrant Big Brother, whose image appears everywhere along with the warning “Big Brother is Watching You Winston must suppress his feelings and thoughts about the corrupt governing system, because …show more content…

Oceania prohibits its people from speaking or thinking about anything resembling rebellion against Big Brother. No one is allowed to disagree with the Party. I think one of the most inventive things in the book is the corruption of language called “doublespeak”, which means “...the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and believing both of them.” Doublespeak is represented by the Party’s slogan that appears everywhere: “War is peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is strength.” The citizens of Oceania cannot rebel against something they cannot even define, or try to replace their government with another one that their language cannot define. Even if they decided that they hated how they are being controlled, the people of Oceania are unable to act because they would be committing a crime by doing so. But in our world today, just the opposite is true. We are encouraged to speak our mind, to express who we are, what we want, and what changes we think are necessary. In our world, protest is good, and change is positive. In our democratic society we are not forced into following tyrants or parties, because we use our voices to argue, discuss, elect and protest. In conclusion, George Orwell’s 1984 is not relevant to our world today because of the contrast between the two worlds. The world of “1984” is exemplified by O’Brien’s chilling statement to Winston: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face – forever!” In our world, the world of 2016, we are free to express ourselves, to argue, to disagree, to protest. In our world, the Party does not control us. We are the

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