preview

1984 Dystopian Society Essay

Good Essays

Freedom is a privilege that most people never get. In countries where a dictator controls the government, the citizens have very little freedom to express their own opinions. This is because dictators create societies that they feel are supreme. In order to have an almighty society, each person has to think and behave the same. George Orwell created a dystopian society, Oceania, where the government was controlled by Big Brother. Winston Smith, the main character, slowly realized that the Party, or the government, was manipulating their society to make the Party immortal. Winston presumably wanted to stand up for his beliefs, without facing any consequences for going against the Party. By writing 1984, Orwell warns people of the dangers …show more content…

In Oceania, one of the Party’s rules is that people are not allowed to think thoughts that go against the Party’s ideas. There is a word in the Oceanian language Newspeak, called thoughtcrime, which is when a person is found thinking thoughts different from what the Party considers acceptable. Anyone who is found guilty of thoughtcrime is sent to their death. “More commonly, people who had incurred the displeasure of the Party simply disappeared and were never heard of again” (Orwell 43). Similarly, the people during World War II who disagreed with the Nazi Party would be eliminated. Whether or not they truly committed a crime, anyone who was deemed a threat would be killed. “As part of the plan for conquest, Hitler ordered his troops to kill all Soviet prisoners of war as they found them. In the first invasion into Soviet territory alone, German troops executed an estimated one million Soviet prisoners of war and civilians.” (Witherbee). In order to make their parties stronger, Oceania and Germany eliminated people who would oppose their ideas. By ranking the population of Oceania and eliminating people who opposed Big Brother and the Party, Orwell reflects 1984’s historical period by comparing his dystopian society to Germany around the time of World War II. Contemporary society compares to Orwell’s idea of society in multiple ways. For example, people are capable of looking at security camera footage

Get Access