The Book 1984 was written by George Orwell shortly after W.W.II. I think this book really shows us what would happen if the government gets too powerful. It was written long ago and set in the future, but I feel like the message is still very relevant today. This story takes place in an imaginary country called Oceania; it is one of the three large super states in the world of 1984. Oceania is a society similar to Hitler's Germany; with absolute power in the government and absolutely no individualism. Oceania is ruled by a totalitarian government, the leader of the government was Big Brother. Big brother monitors all the people by telescreens and the thought police. Telescreens watch every move that is made and there is no privacy. …show more content…
The language made communication far more difficult and really took away the chance for rebellion. Oceania was in constant war with the two other super states, Eastasia and Eurasia. All three super states were governed in the same strict ways. This made it impossible for Winston or others to flee from the horrible circumstances in which they lived. The story began by introducing the main character Winston Smith. Winston worked for the government, rewriting the history of Oceania to make Big Brother seem all-powerful. This showed the extreme measures Big Brother went to so that it would not be overthrown. Winston disagreed with the government, but kept his feelings hidden to escape persecution from the thought police. Since Winston was keeping his dissatisfaction from everyone, he was very paranoid. He judged everyone as if they were a spy waiting to catch him and take him to prison. Although odd, Winston symbolized the good left in a society where there was not much good. Winston fell in love with a woman he worked with named Julia. He and Julia shared the same beliefs and frustrations with the government. They both felt like they needed to rebel against the country's regulations. Winston wanted to outwardly rebel against the government. He wanted to make life better for future generations with freedoms and individuality. Julia knew that cooperating with the party outwardly and rebelling in
Other than Winston’s weak characteristic and his lack of planning, the main cause that contributes to Winston’s downfall is his indulgence. Winston lacks the ability to control himself from anything addictive in life. This personal flaw makes Winston lost in his cause to the destruction of “Big Brother”. In the novel, Winston constantly drinks and smokes to distract himself instead of focusing on a plan to take down “Big Brother”. Winston’s dream is to have a love affair: “Almost as swiftly as he had imagined it, she had torn her clothes off, and when she flung them aside it was with that same magnificent gesture by which a whole civilization seemed to be annihilated” (Book 2, Chapter 1). His illegal love affair with Julia does no good to his objective of bringing down “Big Brother”. The only result that the love affair accomplishes is Winston’s
Winston Smith, from the novel 1984, is a low status member of the Party who rules over the nation of Oceania. Winston is never alone, even in his
George Orwell's 1984 What look on humanity and human nature, if any, can be seen through this book, 1984?
In 1984 Winston is described as a major, protagonist, and dynamic character. Winston is the main character in the novel, Orwell creates an atmosphere where the reader is in Winston’s mind which helps the reader to better understand him and the world of Oceania in his eyes. In the
1984, Orwell’s last and perhaps greatest work, deals with drastically heavy themes that still terrify his audience after 65 years. George Orwell’s story exemplifies excessive power, repression, surveillance, and manipulation in his strange, troubling dystopia full of alarming secrets that point the finger at totalitarian governments and mankind as a whole. What is even more disquieting is that 1984, previously considered science fiction, has in so many ways become a recognizable reality.
In a world where totalitarian ruling is far from the ordinary, it's often that one fails to notice how they are being manipulated in the smallest of ways. In 1984 by George Orwell, he presents a warning to the reader, proclaiming how humans might lose their most “human” qualities. While it may seem ludicrous to many, similar aspects of the book are taking place in this world right now, and most might not even be aware of it. If people don’t pay close attention to ways the world is changing now and take action, slowly but steadily humans will evolve into creatures lacking character and individuality. When living in a democracy, it's common that one fails to even ponder whether a totalitarian government is even possible.
Going out on dates and getting to know a possible love interest is dangerous in the eyes of the government. So therefore, love is not allowed and marriage is arranged for you. Furthermore, Winston falls in love with Julia, another unorthodox member of society. Winston and Julia began their secret relationship through a note that Julia passed into Winston’s hand as he helped her back on her feet. “On it (the note) was written, in large unformed handwriting: I love you” (Orwell 108). Julia began this relationship by simply passing a note along and in so doing, causes an unorthodox relationship. Together, Winston and Julia snuck around to different areas surrounding the city and began falling deeply infatuated with each other. Following, Winston and Julia’s relationship is Winston who wants to join the Brotherhood. Winston even drags himself to see O’Brien, a so-called member of the Brotherhood. Winston is so emotionally unorthodox that he answered a series of questions without hesitation:
The leader of Oceania is referred to as Big Brother. Big Brother is an intimidating face of the Party who the citizens view as someone they can trust and respect. However if they disobey the rules set in place by Big Brother then they have a reason to fear him. The citizens of Oceania are not allowed to think freely, love or show emotions to other, and to speak freely. The main character Winston Smith fights back against the fascist state by keeping a diary in order to regain some of his freedoms.
Winston works in the Records Department in the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite history according to the demands of The Party. Winston worked with “Reality Conntrol” called Newspeak, it was the primary tool utilized by INGSOC and The Party to discourage free thinking. We are given a plethora of details about his work, occupational environment, and departments that comprise the Ministry. This is significant because we get a better understanding of the political system of Oceania society and how the enforcement of orthodoxy to an all-powerful leader, known as "Big Brother" is maintained.
Julia: Julia loves Winston and would only want to rebel if it is to her gain
Eric Arthur Blair’s 1984 was written as a semi-fictional dystopian prognosis of the impending political climate as he foresaw it. He is quoted in saying that “the story is intended as a warning against and a prediction of the natural conclusions of totalitarianism” (Owen) and further asserted nearer the time of its publication, that his “recent novel is not an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party but as a show-up of the perversions to which a centralised economy is liable and which have already partly been realised in Communism and Fascism” (Brown). ‘George Orwell’, as he is more popularly known, sets his novel in a futuristic, politically evolved world consisting of three major superpower states with identical ideological beliefs;
Nineteen Eighty-Four manifests the importance of the call to adventure by stressing the significance of the main protagonist, Winston Smith’s first rebellious act towards the novel’s antagonist, the totalitarian government known as INGSOC. Nineteen Eighty-Four written by George Orwell, takes the reader on a journey through the life of Winston Smith who begins to observe his surroundings through a new lens. Slowly realizing that the government has eyes everywhere, literally. Winston’s call to adventure is quite a peculiar one. The strangeness of his call to adventure sparks from the idea of individual thought and freedom. The book explains that the government has control over everything in this society even going as far as to say that INGSOC (the totalitarian government in question)
Both Winston and Julia have a desire for rebellion against the party. They both act and live in total opposition to the Party laws. Winston and Julia are not willing to submit themselves to a life of slavery and repression. Although they do falls in love with each other and agree to have a love affair something that was completely against the Party's ideals. One of the Party's rule was for people not to have sex so that they could concentrate only on the party. "We are enemies of the Party. We disbelieve in the principles of Ingsoc. We are thought-criminals. We are also adulterers. I tell you this because we want to put ourselves at your mercy. If you want us to incriminate ourselves in any other way, we are ready." (2.8.16) Both Winston and Julia were aware that if they were to be caught by the party they would be vaporized, but they are motivated enough to continue their rebellious acts. They are however really discreet about their true feelings in front of the society but behind closed doors, they live according to their true ideals. Winston and Julia are both rebels who do not care to
Throughout the novels, we see both authors presenting the consequences of a controlling regime, and the severe dystopia that came about due to the political and social oppression which was taking place across Europe and USA. Whilst both books were being written, Orwell and Dick were facing the threat of Communism taking over the world. In 1949, Orwell published Nineteen Eighty Four (1984), and the world was in turmoil, it was a war stricken society filled with death and disappointment. Orwell’s futuristic vision of society immediately tapped into the fear and uncertainty that was so prevalent at the time. Dick who wrote his book 14 years later than Orwell and Dick uses The Man In the High Castle (HC) as a foreshadowing of what could have happened, if the Nazis had of won the war. Both the authors present an obviously controlling society to the reader, which results in rebellion and exposing the flaws in the system. Both of these books ask the reader many different questions, not only about the endangerment of the future, but also, what it’s like to live in such a controlling society. The presence of spies and secret rebellions show the struggles the regimes come under; interestingly both Orwell and Dick show that as quickly as a regime can be created it can also be destroyed.
Picture a world where everyone was the same, diversity did not exist. People were forced to hide who they truly were and put on a mask to meet society’s norm. Any type of thought or emotion was considered treason and had dangerous consequences. This is the controlling and disturbed society that consumes George Orwell’s 1984. The citizens of Oceania were given no form of privacy and were forced to obey the government’s every command; this government was known as The Party and the head of the party was a mysterious force called Big Brother. The people of Oceania were monitored during all hours of the day by telescreens that were forced into their homes. The telescreens were monitored by the Thought Police to make sure the citizens did not commit thought crime; which is any form of thought against, disagreeing or threatening the party’s power. If someone is accused or proven guilty of such crime they were taken to the Ministry of Love where they were severely tortured, sometimes to death. In this dystopia any form of human emotion was forbidden (except the feeling of love towards Big Brother). In Orwell’s 1984, humanity is destroyed because of the Party’s obsession with political power.