1984 Totalitarianism

To maintain absolute power over society, authority will exert their powers in an oppressive manner to enforce conformity and control over individuals within the population. Written in 1949, “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell is a dystopian novel that follows the life and experiences of protagonist, Winston Smith, in the cruel and dangerous totalitarian superstate of Oceania. The English Socialist Party’s (INGSOC, the government) extensive control over individuals is established in the opening scene through symbolism and personification, “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” ‘Big Brother,’ an embodiment of the government, evidently abuses its power with omnipresent surveillance to perpetuate fear; thus, it reflects a dictatorial regime and the

Picture a world where a small group of people knows exactly what people are doing and when they are doing it, and if one makes one wrong move they are erased off of the face of the planet. This is what it is like to live in George Orwell’s 1984. Orwell tells a story about what he thought the world would be like in forty years. He predicted the world to be a world of totalitarian rule in which there are only three super countries. One of those countries was called Oceania, where the main character, Winston, lives. Winston is a outer party member that works in the ministry of truth where he rewrites the past. Winston realizes what he does ‘for a living’ is wrong and starts writing his thoughts in a diary, which is a

Totalitarianism is a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state, according to Google. George Orwell aims to establish this type of government in his novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston Smith attempts to conform to the strict everyday society, but also seeks to find justice within the corrupted Inner Party. As he does so he struggles to find the humanity within the system and his investigations lead him down a dangerous path. Throughout the novel Winston’s mind is pulled in conflicting directions between following the government’s strict laws and acting towards the rebellion.

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

Orwell’s warning of the dangers of totalitarian regimes to his contextual readers and future audiences is portrayed through his novel, 1984, because “Big Brother is Watching You”, exerting total control over the masses. The masses are effectively controlled by the thought police, telescreens and children who are “against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations”.... Orwell writes about the potential dangers that are inherent when power and technology are abused, resulting in mindless citizens and “a world of fear and hatred and torment”, which Winston perfectly captures with his metaphorical epiphany; “we are the dead”. Like the dead, society will become opiated, lacking individual thought, a highly valued asset of

Every word and movement is monitored through the telescreens and there are “ always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake , working or eating , indoors or outdoors , in the bath or in bed- no escape.” ( Orwell 29). The Thought police are the people who monitor the telescreens . “ Thought police plugged in on any individual wire…-in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard” (Orwell 7). To further demonstrate the manipulation of the human mind , the concept of “ doublethink,” is widely used to eliminate individual thinking and the citizens are forced to accept two contradictory ideas in their mind. The perfect example of double think would be "War is Peace," "Freedom is Slavery," "Ignorance is Strength." ( Orwell 6). All these show that the government have complete control of the citizens mind , hence having the ultimate power to manipulate the society.

The Thought Police seek to restraint the logic of its citizens by placing telescreens in all public places and in the homes of the people. As Winston explains, “The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely” (Orwell 3). Few authorial figures receive the ability to turn off the telescreen, however, there will never go a second without being watched. Although this will not completely stop the individual thoughts of each person, it will efficiently regulate the language each person actions, which are often shown to reflect their personality. The telescreens act to influence the mind of an individual by spreading false information and propaganda throughout the day that civilians will intently listen to and take seriously. Mindlessly, civilians unquestionably believe what the authorial figures in their city believe, easily forgetting the past. If a citizen disbelieved in what was being told or presented signs of weakness, they’d immediately be investigated. As Winston explains, “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing can give you away” (Orwell, 62). While being watched, complying with the law is the only way to survive in a totalitarian

Taking place forty years ahead of the time it was written, 1984 was written with the purpose of revealing the dangers of a totalitarian society. Despite the large time frame from when 1984 was written to the year the Cultural Revolution took place in China, and also to the year 1984 was set in, this novel accurately depicts a totalitarian government during the 1900s. In 1966, the Communist Party leader, Mao Zedong launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in fear of losing power to the Communist party to his adversary, Liu Shaoqi. Similar to the government policies in Oceania, the Communist Party corrupts the minds of the children in order to enlist them as loyalists to the Party. They also harassed and denounced party bureaucrats,

Rough Draft 1984, a book written by George Orwell, is a dystopian novel about a totalitarian government that oppresses its people and controls all aspects of their lives. The book goes into grave detail about what it would be like if the world was ran by a totalitarian government. 1984 was published on june 8, 1949 and was a presentation of how the world would be in the future more specifically in 1984. 1984 uses many prime examples of today society and how the government works today and some countries that still use communism in today modern government.

In history, many people have tried to see what the future will bring. George Orwell, author of 1984, is no different. Orwell believed that a totalitarian form of government was close if the American citizens were not aware of the dangers it holds. Throughout 1984, Orwell warns the readers of a horrible thing under a totalitarian government. Orwell’s message about totalitarian government is clearly stated as “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”.

A dystopia is an imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror. Referring to the definition, totalitarianism throughout 1984 demonstrates all elements of a dystopia. Big Brother instills fear in the minds of Oceanians to access all power and build their version of a utopia. Orwell faults the world of 1984 to show the protagonist, Winston Smith, is able to overcome all fears the Party instills in him and to find it in himself to rebel against the totalitarian government. Winston criticizes his society for being so driven by party ideology which encourages them to go through mental processes that confuse them with what is reality as to the Party’s version of reality (Becnel 74). The protagonist proves himself to be a misfit in the society of 1984 by not conforming to the party’s ideas as others would, diminishing the idea of individuality. George Orwell portrays a dystopian society through a rebellious protagonist’s hatred of totalitarianism to illustrate the idea of nonconformity in 1984.

In “1984”, Winston is a normal staff working for the “big brother” and his job is to change the history in order to change people’s mind. For example, if the government says there will be two chocolates per a person instead of three chocolates. Then all the news and old news need to change to two chocolates per a person, like three chocolates per a person was never happend. Also, in this novel Winston gets catched by being with Julia, after they caught him they tortured him and make him admit that 2+2=5 not 4. “He wrote first in large clumsy capitals ‘FREEDOM IS SLAVERY’ Then almost without a pause he wrote beneath it: ‘TWO AND TWO MAKE FIVE’. He wrote ‘GOD IS POWER.’ He accepted everything.”(pg. 277) He tried to fight against the party after he got a book that’s against totalitarian but after all the torture and brainwash he starts to feel he could not fight the party any longer. So that shows how Big Brother

1984 was written with the purpose to warn citizens of the serious danger totalitarianism could pose to society. A totalitarian government controls almost every aspect of life. Totalitarian society is usually ruled by a dictator, and there is little to no freedom. George Orwell became concerned by the role that technology had in enabling the government to monitor and control their citizens. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past” explains the Party’s technique of using false history to influence its readers. The Party chooses exactly what to tell the public, regardless of what is accurate. The propaganda machine, which constantly corrects old material to reflect the Party's current position on

The novel 1984 George Orwell expresses the theme of totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is a style of government that tries to control every aspect of life. Winston Smith who is the main character in the book, was arrested and tortured by the members of the party. In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare showed the danger of having a totalitarian leader.

Totalitarian (adjective): a central government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and dictates control over all aspects of life.