Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984

“Newspeak was designed to. . .diminish the range of thought. . .by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum” explains George Orwell, the author of a dystopian fiction novel, 1984 (Orwell 300). Orwell designs a society in which a totalitarian government rules, depriving people of their thoughts. The story gives us a look into the life of the main character, Winston, who seems to face issues with reality control. Today, we will delve into the depths of this novel and explore Orwell’s views on the nature of language. In simple terms, Orwell suggests that language, if used in a certain way, has the ability to influence people and compel them to alter their thoughts. With this statement and supporting evidence, it can be concluded that the effective use of language can give individuals power to modify or reshape opinions that will allow for change in society.

The culture surrounding Winston is very confined. With the telescreens watching everyone and everything, it's hard for anyone to have free thought. An example of how Big Brother can tell if a person is not thinking the way they should be, is that they can tell by facial expressions. Orwell writes "To wear an improper expression... was... a punishable offense" (54) With restrictions like this, it is hard for characters to do what they please. This effects Winston by making him act a certain way so that he can avoid being caught. However, Winston does not seem to mind being caught for some time. When Winston is writing in his journal, he writes "theyll shoot me i dont care" (20). This is just a fragment of what Winston wrote in this entry. The fact that Orwell gave Winston the trait to write with improper grammar signifies how delirious Winston is when he writes this. (make sure you put a conclusion sentence)

Your world is not real. Kennedy was never assassinated, Michael jackson has actually always been white, and subway is certainly NOT always fresh. Stop thinking you are free, you’re not. Okay, I’m just kidding. But am I really? Because sometimes subway really just sucks. Questioning. With this, through his work ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, George Orwell has brought to my attention that I should be occasionally thinking for myself rather than constantly abiding by what I’m told is right. More specifically, ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ suggests the plentiful ways that people can be oppressed in a totalitarian society will result in the loss of humanity and failure to rebound from the government’s control. These forces inhibit and encourage individuals’ actions and is described in the novel by the abundant use of technology combined with psychological manipulation. Orwell also uses symbols and metaphor to explain consequences of totalitarianism on a deeper level.

The most important message I took from this book is that when your individuality is compromised, you lose all power over your life and life choices. In the novel, the party, which is the group running the government is able to brainwash the people so they don’t have their own unique thoughts, and will believe anything they say. To the people of London, the truth becomes what the party says. “In the end the party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.”(Orwell, 80) The people are brainwashed enough that if told that two plus two is five, which seems clearly untrue, they will believe it. The party is able to alter the past by changing legal documents, articles, and so on. They can basically change what happened in the past and make tons and tons of people believe it. Since they are so brainwashed to believe whatever the party says they lose their individuality. They are unable to create their own thoughts or carry out their own actions. This allows the party to have complete control over them. The party can place thoughts into their mind. Without their individuality, the people have no power over themselves, and they don’t even realize it. The reader can see this can know to always have their own thoughts to not just follow

Winston Smith is a typical example of vertebrae in the spine of any society. Hard working and keeps a rigid structure by absorbing impact, filling the spaces with his unknown desires. The bending of laws to avoid self-destruction in constant pressure from society and government. The idea of having every thought controlled, monitored and limited to what the elite deem as a necessary compromise to maintain peace and order in Oceania or any other Utopia in a general sense. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of their own choosing, to understand the concept is the true hell for Winston.

Granted the Party can warp laws and control knowledge, its greatest tool for taking away freedoms and controlling the public is its ability to revise history. This idea is displayed throughout the novel, and is fundamental to our understanding of how perfect the Party is. A prime example occurs when Winston is at his job at the Ministry of Truth, the manipulators of history and truth. He contemplates how he simply substitutes one lie for another in his daily work rewriting history, and explains, “And so it was with every class of recorded fact, great or small. Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain" (Orwell 36). This highlights the genius of the Party’s control; there is no history. As mentioned earlier, the Party controls all publications, and destroys all facts that are not helpful. Much of it is simply fake information that bolsters the Party. Thus, when Winston changes

Imagine a world where the government, also called The Party, controls everything the citizens do. The Party monitors their every move by the telescreens that are in every home. Thoughtcrime is the act of thinking something that goes against Big Brother or threatens the Party’s power. If one does commit thoughtcrime, then they Thought Police will capture them and give them consequence. There is no essence of humanity in this world. Everyone is stripped of their own thoughts and told what to do and what to believe. This is the world portrayed in novel

We have freedom, but are we free? You can have your phone at school/work, but you cannot use it unless specifically given permission to. This is a paradox. A paradox is “a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true” (Merriam-Webster). According to Liah Greenfield, a professor at Boston University and a three-time novelist with books in Political Science, totalitarian societies are democracies with either no cultural traditions or too much free thought. Greenfield goes on to argue we have always had democracy, totalitarian, and nationalism, we just did not have names for them. In fact, we did not have the term “totalitarian society” until one of Winston Churchill’s speeches of Mussolini in 1946. She next brings up that totalitarians are nearly always permeating throughout cultural centers. Finally, she states, the university scene is the seed for totalitarian thoughts. She even mentions that they are like Minitrues, from George Orwell’s 1984. College students change statements or take statements out of context to use to their own benefit. The only difference is that universities do not have a head figure like Big Brother. Greenfield has solid thoughts, but she never gives facts to prove totalitarians are everywhere. She thinks totalitarians are reactions to modernity and too much free thought. George Orwell uses Newspeak, thoughtcrime, and telescreen in 1984 as well o show not giving the people of Oceania a voice will prevent

The Thought Police would get him just the same. He had committed…even if he had never set pen to paper” (Orwell 21). It is explained that the Thought Police does not require any evidence to prove one guilty of thoughtcrime as a mere expression would allow for punishment. Policing in Oceania is a prime example of how totalitarianism is a major role in how individualism is frown upon. This limit in self-expression stops people from being hopeful and Winston’s diary not only expresses his desire to be free, but also dehumanizes him as it limits him from speaking his mind. In addition to the lack of self-expression inducing diminished hope for individuality is the lack of personal freedom and consciousness.

George Orwell’s key objective throughout his novel, 1984, was to convey to his readers the imminent threat of the severe danger that totalitarianism could mean for the world. Orwell takes great measures to display the horrifying effects that come along with complete and dominant control that actually comes along with totalitarian government. In Orwell’s novel, personal liberties and individual freedoms that are protected and granted to many Americans today, are taken away and ripped from the citizen’s lives. The government takes away freedom and rights from the people so that the ruling class (which makes up the government), while reign with complete supremacy and possess all power.

With a dictatorship many freedoms that humanity may possess now would not be in our grasp. In 1984 they there were little to none. “Crimethink” or “thoughtcrime” are our unlawful thoughts, essentially any ideas that could go against English Socialism, “ingsoc.” Big Brother appears on Oceania’s televisions multiple times a day to show the brainwashing-esque messages, people vanish to unpersons, vaporized out of thin air, and the clock strikes thirteen. The main character, Winston Smith, leads the story and shows the audience how extreme this absolute totalitarian control affects the people of Oceania. Newspeak and doublethink, politically correct words created by Big Brother, also

History has shown that communism is not an effective way to rule society. This is apparent in the novel 1984 and with the reign of the Nazi era. In the book 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith is a average person living in Oceania, Airstrip One, England. Winston wants a better life, he wants a life of freedom and tries to fight against Big Brother and the corruption of the society it has built. Like Adolf Hitler and the Nazi’s, The Party wants supreme government with full power over people and will manipulate its people beliefs by dividing the social classes, using propaganda, and terror to force people to conform.

George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen eighty-four explores the awful effects of a totalitarian regime on the citizens of Oceania as the oligarchy maintains conformity in society by instilling fear into people by constantly observing their every move. In this world, relationships have become meaningless bonds formed with little trust and no loyalty to one another, only loyalty to the Party and Big Brother. Oceanic society rests ultimately on the belief that Big Brother is omnipotent and the Party is infallible due to their success in exerting their despotic rule.

Before the concept of government existed mankind still attempted to gain dominance over one another. Once the concept was developed governments remained consistent in their attempts to gain control of their people and world domination. Adolf Hitler and other dictators were prime examples of totalitarianism “attempting to control every aspect of its subjects, viewing any sign of independence as treasonous centralized party” ( Quinn 1). Along came “historical catastrophes which would lead them to create a false utopia vision of the just society” (Quinn 2). George Orwell noticed this tug of war for control and wrote about it in his novel. The novel’s protagonist, Winston Smith, would struggle to retain his

George Orwell’s 1984, widely known for its chilling descriptions of the dystopian society of Oceania, warns of a world in which individuality is virtually destroyed as one oppressive government controls all aspects of life. Decades after the novel’s publication in 1949, various nations today draw unsettling parallels with the characteristics of the government described in 1984. North Korea is one such example, particularly seen as a controversial topic in global debate. Although North Korea and Oceania in 1984 both possess totalitarian governments that attempt to control and restrict individualism, the means in which each government originated and gained authority differ.