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.
Social classes are always a societal struggle in one's nation, but a general rule is the higher you are in society the more control and power you possess. In the Nazi era, the Nazi party had the best houses, jobs preferential treatment so life was good. The ordinary life was good if you did not mind giving up some personal freedoms like free speech and censorship of literature, music, and other things. Hitler tried to unite people by creating a racially pure and classless society, and create a common enemy to blame for Germany’s downfall “In a state of ubiquitous anxiety, the once disjointed Germany unified under a government that provides comfort and security, a new state that would take control and help Germany become a rising hegemonic power. This newfound nationalism was built around a common enemy: the Jewish people” (Gostlaw 1) Hitler used the
Human history is full of hundred and millions of evil deeds, tragedies , wars and disasters. From the past decades the social and economic problems has a huge impact on human livings ,which are still existed in our world. Many novels and plays are being made on the social and economic aspects of life which are based on different literary lenses. The novel 1984 by George Orwell is all about the man named Hinston smith who lives in the society which is controlled by the political party leader named big brother. He decided to be a rebellion and to fight against the big brother and get out from this darkness eventually ended up dying at the end. the novel 1984 demonstrated the many fundamental themes as a perspective of Marxist theory. The
The main character in George Orwell’s 1948 novel, 1984, Winston Smith can be seen as many things. To some, he may be a hero, but to others he is a coward and a fool. Throughout the novel, Winston’s characteristics are explored, and readers are shown the reasoning behind Winston’s twisted mind. It is evident that although Winston thinks he had control over his own mind and body, this is an imagined factor. The world of 1984 is one of a totalitarian society, where no one can be trusted, and no one is safe, Winston being the primary example of one who trusted thoughtlessly.
1984 is a cautionary tale that follows Winston through the cruel world he lives in. To give a bit of background, the novel was published on June 8th, 1949, only about two years into the start of the cold war. The “horror” of communism was rampant during this time, and George Orwell wanted to show what could happen if a government had so much control over the people of their country. He wanted people to understand that governments should not be able to dehumanize people, otherwise the people living there aren’t technically human. Orwell wanted people to know how to stay human, they just have to have a personality, and to hold onto your own opinions. According to George Orwell, it doesn’t take a lot to be human, but the few things it does take are so important, that if we were to let them go, our worlds would fall apart. George Orwell wants his readers to understand and hold on to the things that are important to us, the ones we love, the things we do, the people we are, because those are the things that truly make us
In the novel 1984, George Orwell relates the tension between outward conformity and inward questioning by allowing the reader to see inside of the mind of Winston Smith. Orwell uses Winston’s rebellious thoughts to counteract his actions in order to show the reader how a dystopian society can control the citizens. Although Winston is in an obvious state of disbelief in the society, his actions still oppose his thoughts because of his fear of the government. Winston’s outward conformity and inward questioning relate to the meaning of the novel by showing Winston’s fight to truth being ended by the dystopian society’s government.
During Joseph Stalin’s regime of the Soviet Union, 1984, the Classic Dystopian novel by George Orwell, was burned and banned, because the book shone a negative light on communism. The book, 1984, follows the life of Winston Smith, who lives in a country called Oceania. Oceania is a totalitarian society, ruled by a government known as The Party, whose leader is called Big Brother. In Oceania, every movement and sound every person makes is constantly surveillanced, and one wrong facial expression, statement, or action can cause the ‘Thought Police’ to take the person away to never be seen again. A small percentage of the population questions The Party’s dictatorship, and the novel follows Winston’s struggles to keep his hatred of The Party
“1984” is an imaginary novel wrote by George Orwell in 1949. The novel takes place in a fictional country called Oceania. In 1984, the society is a mess in the control of the “big brother”, people are leveled by three three classes: the upper class party, the middle outer class party, and the lower class proles. But the lower class make up 85 per cent of the people in Oceania. Winston is a outer class party member working for the “big brother”. This novel uses Winston as an example to show how the “big brother” takes the control by mind, manipulation and technology.
<Interesting Intro> 1984 takes place in a society where the government controls everything and everyone, including ones thoughts. Some characters battle with the outward conformity, where they are supposed to act and think like a party member, and with the inward questioning that makes them rebel against the party. The author, George Orwell, witnessed totalitarian societies with his own eyes. Because of this, Orwell sends a message through the book by trying to show how totalitarian societies are bad. Orwell uses Winston as a symbol that shows how totalitarian societies are not beneficial to the people and can make them live double lives.
The novel “1984” by George Orwell exemplifies the issues of a government with overwhelming control of the people. This government controls the reality of all of their citizens by rewriting the past, instilling fear, and through manipulation. This is an astounding story because of the realistic qualities that are present throughout the text about an extreme regulatory government and its effects. This society is overwhelming consumed with the constructed reality that was taught to them by Big Brother. George Orwell brings significant aspects to the novel like the complexity of relationships during a rebellion and The Party’s obsession with power. The main character Winston struggles throughout the story trying to stay human through literature, self-expression and his individuality. The party uses human’s tendencies, weaknesses, and strengths in order to dehumanize their citizens to gain control over them.
George Orwell’s 1984 is a prime example of a deep dystopia with a totalitarian government. Totalitarian governments have full and total control. The Inner Party, which is the main form of government in Oceania, has total control over its people’s thoughts and actions. They use many forms of abuse in order to control them. The Inner Party controls the government and is the upper class. The middle class is called the Outer Party. These people are given jobs from the government and are more educated than the Proles, which make up the lower class. The Outer Party is in charge of executing the Inner Party’s policies, but they have no say in them. The government uses many forms of manipulation to control their people. The members of Oceania’s society do not misbehave out of fear of punishment. People who betray the government vanish. They disappear and there is no evidence that they even existed. The government also uses the threat of abuse to keep its people in line. People of Oceania know they can be tortured or killed for even the slightest misdemeanor. The middle class is led to believe that they are living a high quality life through a method of false prosperity. The government fools people by changing history so the only form of truth the people think they have is their own memory. Many people discard their own memories and believe whatever the Party tells them is truth. Winston Smith is the character in which the book is centered around. He has doubts
Marxist Theory focuses on the idea that whoever controls the means of production in a
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.
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
The doctrines in the novel are presented formally, but Winston and Julia’s evasion of them makes them seem less formal. At various periods throughout the novel, Winston goes through monologues with himself to see whether or not he should accept a mandate or not. This shows the core of Winston’s personality. He is very speculative about society, and wants love more than anything. “ Life, if you looked around you, bore no resemblance not only to the lies that streamed out if the telescreens, but even to the ideal that the Party was trying to achieve.”(73) Orwell’s use of “you “ and the persuasion he plunges urges one to follow contribute to the fact that this work is informal. Out of the three books I read, I found 1984 the most enjoyable because it was the most realistic and most applicable. It made me question totalitarianism, capitalism, the meaning hidden behind a government. One realizes that the government, (The Party) can have complete control because they can hide in a cloud of lies and deceit that they themselves procured. In today’s world, laws are viewed as more guidelines than rules, because some laws are mistaken or ignored. Jaywalking is against the law, but it is rampant everywhere. In this novel, laws serve as rules, so there is no escape from them, no loopholes that one can find. Also Orwell had withdrawn the appellate system in his novel, so that no opinions can be justified and what the Party says is always right and one should follow them without any questions. Also, 1984 showed insight that though capitalism is an effective system, it is flawed. The vivid descriptions of war-torn neighborhoods and the separation from the rich and the poor were the very reason that the revolution occurred in the first place. Orwell’s contrasting style subtly warns of awareness, and living in a more balanced
The dystopian novel 1984, written by George Orwell, depicts the life of Winston Smith as he lived it in the year nineteen eighty four. Winston is a low-ranking member of an entity called the Party, the governing body of the city of London. The Party is represented by a single figure known as Big Brother, an all-knowing and an omnipresent factor in the lives of those that follow the Party. Although no one knows who he truly is, Big Brother still holds tremendous weight in the lives of Party members. The structure of the government in the novel mirrors the principles of Marxism, an economic system that focuses on the means of production and class struggle within a given society (Jakse ).In 1984, George Orwell uses key principles of Marxism to convey the Party’s ability to naturalize its dominance over the inhabitants of Oceania.
Hopelessness, deep and gaping ever lasting hopelessness. If the course of humanity fails to change, to this everyone will succumb. That is the message that George Orwell has left for the future, and it would be in humanity's best interest to heed. Winston Smith of 1984 lived in a world that had been consumed by the everlasting abyss of injustice. Eventually this world became too much for our hopeful protagonist and thus, like the future that is bound to a horrific fate, he succumbed. “It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it” (Orwell 248). No one in this world is any different than Winston, they will follow his path like all of those before them, following the five stages of Kübler-Ross. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance make up the cycle that every feeble life will follow and that Winston grew to know all too well.