War, torture, and constant fear, all of these are key elements in the distopia George Orwell creates in the novel, 1984. In this book, Orwell creates a society which is based solely on hate and controlled by those who seek only power. Orwell, however, is not the only author to ponder the possibility of an extreme, futuristic society. In particular, The Giver, by Louis Lowry relates a great deal to the themes found in 1984. Unlike 1984, Lowry's novel focuses on the idea of a utopia as opposed to Orwell's distopia. What is the most interesting is how though the fundamental idea of the novels are opposites, the methods by which each society is maintained are surprisingly similar. When one analyses The Giver versus 1984, it becomes clear that …show more content…
The party also controls love between men and women. For example, the party must give approval for marriages and never lets a compatible couple wed. Similarly, the Party highly discourages sex through the Junior Anti-Sex League and permitting sex for procreation only, never pleasure. This is well described when Winston recalls his relationship with Katherine, "As soon as he touched her she seemed to wince and stiffen... She would lie there with shut eyes, neither resisting nor cooperating, but submitting."(58). This shows how the party successfully morphed the act of sex into dirty and painful, there by taking control of yet another aspect of love. The other key way in which the Party maintains the society is through control of the past. The Party holds the slogan "Who control the past control the future; who controls the present controls the past."(204), which means that if the citizens of the Party have no previous events to base feelings on, they will never oppose the Party because they have never known anything else. The Party even keeps members in the dark about recent events by teaching people to hold two contradictory ideas simultaneously as truth. Such an idea is named doublethink. An example of the concept put into action, is the Party vaporizing enemies and convincing citizens that the person who they had just had recent contact with never really existed. This is exactly what happened to Withers as
George Orwell’s 1984 is more than just a novel, it is a warning to a potential dystopian society of the future. Written in 1949, Orwell envisioned a totalitarian government under the figurehead Big Brother. In this totalitarian society, every thought and action is carefully examined for any sign of rebellion against the ruling party. Emotion has been abolished and love is nonexistent; an entire new language is being drafted to reduce human thought to the bare minimum. In a society such as the one portrayed in 1984, one is hardly human. In George Orwell’s 1984, the party uses fear, oppression, and propaganda to strip the people of their humanity.
I am going to start by examining the genre of the novel. 1984 is one of the most popular novels of George Orwell’s work. When defining the genre, we can state that it is a dystopian, or negative utopian novel, since the writer aims to portray the worst human society imaginable to persuade readers to avoid any path that may lead towards it, while a novel of utopia does the exact opposite.
The novels The Giver by Lois Lowry and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, both have similarities and differences when it comes to their plot and themes. It might seem that the fundamental idea of the novels are opposites, but the strategies by which each society is kept up are surprisingly comparative.
1984 examines a future under the rule of a totalitarian society. One of the unique notes about Orwell's 1984, is the views that Orwell presents on humanity, and human nature. Orwell presents humanity as divided into two sides- the dominant, and the submissive, with few quickly-eradicated anomalies in between. Human nature, however, is universal, and all humans
In the novel 1984, George Orwell sets up a dystopia that reveals basic human qualities occur even when the people are brainwashed out of the,. This story takes place in an alternate society where life is radically different than what the world is today. The government has an extreme control on its people, brain washing them and suppressing every aspect of human connection. The citizens are taught to think that all information from the government is true even when it is blatantly obvious it isn’t. This novel allows the reader to witness the genesis of a primal love through the action of rebellion. Winston and Julia fall in love with each other as the book continues.
“1984 expresses man’s fears of isolation and disintegration, cruelty and dehumanisation…Orwell’s repetition of obsessive ideas is an apocalyptic lamentation for the fate of modern man. His expression of the political experience of an entire generation gives 1984 a veritably mythic power
Upon being introduced to the dystopian world portrayed in the novel, the audience learns that Winston has a complicated viewpoint on love and relationships because of the party’s strict regulations. When Winston reminisces about his wife Katharine, an orthodox party member, he confirms that she was very against sex just like any other party member. He acknowledges that they never loved each other and were simply married “to beget children for the service of the Party” (65). Under the control of the Party, sex is turned into something that is seen “as a slightly disgusting minor operation” (65). The passion and love usually associated with sexual intercourse are reduced to the human sexual instinct because the Party monitors it so closely. Because
In George Orwell’s 1984, society greatly impacts the decisions of the hero. This dystopian novel focuses on the
In the novel 1984, Orwell produced a social critique on totalitarianism and a future dystopia that made the world pause and think about our past, present and future. When reading this novel we all must take the time to think of the possibility that Orwell's world could come to pass. Orwell presents the concepts of power, marginalization, and resistance through physical, psychological, sexual and political control of the people of Oceania. The reader experiences the emotional ride through the eyes of Winston Smith, who was born into the oppressive life under the rule of Ingsoc. Readers are encouraged through Winston to adopt a negative opinion on the idea of communist rule and the inherent dangers of totalitarianism. The psychological
In his book 1984, George Orwell creates a fictional world with a strict and secretive form of government which seeks to control its citizens. Some of the situations he includes in his book are reminiscent of things learned in a high school history classroom. Other characteristics of his secret government include purely wicked and new ideas. Orwell explores various kinds of betrayal, including self-betrayal to heighten the mood of loneliness and alienation in 1984. Through his writing, he supplies readers with an imaginative world that some may fear could become a reality someday.
The Party exists. Big Brother is the embodiment of the Party” (Orwell 214). Monitoring people’s unapproved actions, the Party gains power, therefor, Surveillance frightened citizens follow their duties. To Winston, it shaped perspective of himself and the world.
In a world where manipulation is required, thought is crime, and love is forbidden, it is questioned how much of a person is left once his or her life is stripped of such basic freedoms. This is the question a reader asks as he or she is immersed into the world George Orwell created in his classic novel, 1984. As Winston Smith, the main character in Orwell’s novel, navigates through the cruel and oppressive society of Oceania, readers are allowed to see how the oppressiveness of the world in which he lives affects the lives of not only Winston but also the society as a whole. However, as time passes, Winston becomes a character that starts to inwardly question the world around him while being forced to outwardly conform for his own safety. Throughout the novel, a reader can begin to compare the feelings and thoughts of Winston to the mass majority of the population that continues to blindly conform to the government of Oceania. In this contrast, one can begin to understand how the relationship between outward conformity and inward inquisition contributes to the theme of oppression and the meaning of the work as a whole by showing the oppression that Winston feels through his inner thoughts.
However, because the Party is able to control the emotions of the public through events like the Two Minutes Hate and public executions, people are filled only with three blind feelings: hate, anger, and fear. When Winston meets Julia, he unlocks a whole new set of emotions such as happiness, curiosity, and love. At this point in the story, he becomes more human than those who allow themselves to be programmed by the Party. Orthodoxal members of Oceania aren’t able to feel the same way Winston does, since the Party destroys humanity by ridiculing love and approving only of marriages that are based on practicality. Humanity is destroyed in our society in a similar way, when people ridicule feelings such as depression and emptiness, and dismiss those who look for emotional help as attention-seeking. Without acceptance of all emotions, members of society cannot connect in a human
1984 is a typical dystopian novel in which Orwell explores the many issues present during the time in which he wrote this book. He successfully creates a world in which technology is vastly more sophisticated than it was during the time in which this book was written and in which fear is used as a tool to control individuals who do not conform to the social norms. The horrible and dangerous futuristic world controlled repressively by the government and the thought police is portrayed wonderfully by Orwell who is able to create the perfect dystopian realm.
Readers of George Orwell have long appreciated the significance of his representation of a futuristic dystopian world. ‘Big brother is watching you,’ ‘Thought police,’ ‘Ministry of love,’ ‘Hate week,’ are expressions that Orwell used to represent his preoccupation with the totalitarian regimes of 20th century. More than one out of four Americans said they have red his dystopia and use his expressions in their language. Many critics claim that the novel opened up new prospects of political awareness. ‘1984’ is a political fiction in which the government eliminates all forms of political opposition, be it real or imaginary. The atmosphere of the novel is completely depressing because there is no hope for change. The government dominates people morally and forces them to live in constant fear. His terrifying vision of a future in which all aspects of society are controlled by a tyrannical system attracted the