In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the Outer Party is silenced in order to evoke a sense of patriotism for Big Brother that is necessary for him to remain in power. This goal is achieved with anti-individualism, architecture, and historical revisionism. Orwell attempts to convey that everything outside of the Inner Party’s control must be stopped by creating an omnipresence of the government described by Orwell as “always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you” (Orwell, 26).
In 1984, George Orwell depicts a dystopian society pervaded by government control and the obsolescence of human emotion and society. Winston is forced to confront the reality of a totalitarian rule where the residents of Oceania are manipulated to ensure absolute government control and servitude of the people. The theme of totalitarianism and dystopia is employed in 1984 to grant absolute power to the government and ensure the deference of the people through the proliferation of propaganda, the repudiation of privacy and freedom, and the eradication of human thought and values.
Imagine being followed everywhere by a government agent. They’re watching your every move, and they’ll report you if you even make a wrong facial movement. This is essentially the case in George Orwell’s novel, 1984. Run by an English socialist government called the Party, the people’s every move is watched through telescreens. Citizens are not individual, but rather an extension of the Party. When they aren’t living up to Party standards, like the main character Winston, they are arrested and tortured in order to be controlled. People’s lives are controlled in as many ways as possible. The Party controls its people mainly through direct government interference, propaganda, and thought control.
Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.
George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four depicts a dystopian totalitarian society and explores the interlinking concepts of time, memory and history through the examination of the ability to manipulate by censoring information and via propaganda. It also examines the power of memory and history in influencing and controlling people’s lives. This essay will explore these themes through the disillusioned protagonist Winston and his life under dictator rule. In the novel the Party controls every aspect of their citizen’s lives. They tell them what to think, how to behave and who to love all through the help of the Ministries of Truth, Peace and Love. The Party manipulate history and alter the truth so much so that Winston loses track of time and is unable to accurately recall past events or rationalize his own history. This constant manipulation also results in a loss of faith in his own memory and the unreliability of his own thoughts. Eventually culminating in Winston becoming brainwashed and wholly devoted to the Party.
In 1984, George Orwell displays a futuristic vision of society where the government has absolute control over the citizens. Orwell’s protagonist Winston Smith leans towards the idea of hope for humanity. George Orwell writes about what must be done in order for humanity to live on while living in a totalitarian regime. Therefore, Orwell’s vision of hope for humanity lies within the actions of the proles.
Tiananmen Square is a city located in Beijing, named after the Tiananmen located to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. In 1989, there was a “massacre” of mostly college students from the government, due to protests attempting to overrun the one-party system and make it a democracy. The government claims nothing happened and wants to keep it like that. The book “1984” written by George Orwell in 1949, is a book representing the ideas of a totalitarian government coincidentally relating to some of WWII era’s axis governments. In the article “No One Died in Tiananmen Square” by William Lutz, Lutz argues that people actually died in Tiananmen Square through the use of repetition, through examples of government manipulation, and communist governments, much like how it is seen in “1984”
In George Orwell’s novel 1984, A theme of violation of human rights is thoroughly present, from violation of privacy, violation of the freedom of speech and religion, and the loss of humanity in general from the ever present form of Big Brother. As the villain of the novel, Big Brother- who represents the government -has absolute control over the citizens’ lives. While 1984 effectively conveys the dangers of a totalitarian government, Orwell’s predicted society is not present in today’s world. Comparatively speaking, the United States of America has more rights and freedoms than Orwell’s Oceania, but in some cases the rights of the citizens must be violated for safety reasons and other justifiable causes.
One of the themes of 1984 by George Orwell is how it represents living in a dictatorship. There are many troubles that come with living in a dictatorship. In the book, everyone is ruled by a dictator called Big Brother. No one knows if he is real or not, but he makes all of the rules. An example from the book about dictatorship is, “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull. (27)” This shows dictatorship because a dictator wants complete control of its people, just like Big Brother wants control of his people. This says that Big Brother and the party have almost full control over their people, but they still have their brains that are there own. In a dictatorship, no one has freedom except for the dictator himself. This is also true in 1984 because one of the main slogans of
The novel, 1984, is a dystopian story of corruption and describes the dangers of a totalitarian government. The story highlights Julia and Winston’s journey to bring down the party and Big Brother. It is clear that the novel, published just four years after World War II ended, was designed to inflict fear. Orwell’s vision of the tyrannical style of government demonstrated in 1984, serves to enforce the notion that power and manipulation are treacherous. Throughout the novel, Orwell uses unique diction, and sense of fear in order to appeal to pathos and logos and represent his idea of an authoritarian society.
In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, Orwell conveys the theme of conformity though his diction, and through his depiction of the “fixing process” employed by the government. After every governmental message in the novel, Big Brother, the leader of Oceania, states the country’s slogan of “War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength.” (Orwell, 16). Orwell’s diction in this slogan is used to essentially list the characteristics of a conformed society, showing that they do not have free thought, are ignorant towards governmental flaws, and believe that what they are doing is for a good cause. As O’Brien is “fixing” Winston, he has Winston to believe that when he is holding up four fingers, “there are five fingers there.” (Orwell, 258). Orwell’s depiction of the “fixing process” shows the extent to which Oceania can conform it’s society, showing that the government can make people believe in concepts which hold no reality. Through his diction, and depiction of governmental “fixing processes,” George Orwell conveys the theme of conformity in his dystopian novel, 1984.
In 1949, a man predicted the domination of citizens by the totalitarian government and their custom of technologies to dictate the society. His name is George Orwell, a well-known British author, who wrote one of the most famous dystopian novels, 1984. The novel 1984 illustrates the totalitarian society and the life of Winston Smith, who works at the Ministry of truth and his humiliation by the party of the country, Oceania. George Orwell’s exaggeration and mockery of the totalitarian governments in the novel 1984 is now turning out to be one of the nightmare come true in our modern society.
Orwell’s novel 1984 follows many common characteristics of dystopia by the persuasion of propaganda, the brainwashing of citizens, and a uniform lifestyle is integrated to please Big Brother and the Party which highlights their power. The Party controls propaganda and expectations in Oceania to make the citizens think and act a certain way, which dehumanizes them. Because the Party and Big Brother are shown with a large amount of power, it signifies the dominance of their presence in Oceania. Stories like 1984 can reveal a pattern between it and other dystopian tales by their shared
The Tiananmen Square Massacre occurred after countless days of protests, mainly by college students, the Chinese government had become very frustrated when none of their efforts worked and they felt they needed to enforce their martial law. The Chinese government is a perfect example of how and why communism doesn 't work. Although they have changed greatly since the massacre they still have a long way to go in terms of opening up to the rest of the world and accepting the fact that the massacre was due to a fault of their own.
The novel of 1984 displays themes of totalitarianism. One example directly from the novel 1984 is this quote written by the author George Orwell; “Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The black mustachioed face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house-front immediately