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How Did George Orwell Become Totalitarian

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In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, Winston Smith is an individual living in London, England, also known as Airstrip One. In this dystopian society, Winston works destroying and rewriting history in order to control the public.This novel explores the world that Winston lives in, which is under totalitarian ruling. He has always hated the government, seeing firsthand the depths that the Party will go to in order to gain complete and unchallenged control, including starvation tactics, psychological torture, endless propaganda, and crushing individual freedoms. Orwell wrote this book as a social commentary on real world events happening during the time period that he lived in, and the gruesome story he wrote influenced many aspects of current …show more content…

Orwell considered himself an anarchist at first, then later turned to socialism. Some of his earlier works, such as an account on mining, required him to live among the poverty stricken. He may have chosen to portray the distant future as impoverished because of these experiences. He also experienced the Spanish Civil War firsthand when he fought against communists who were under orders from Stalin, which contributed to his fear of communism and other similar forms of government. Orwell was terrified for the future of the world and his worst nightmares come alive in this novel, including his fear that if one totalitarian government were to fall, it would cause wars between the other governments. The establishment of the three nations, Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, that are endlessly at war with no end in sight, is one interpretation of the chaos that the rise and fall of a government would cause. Orwell also stated that in writing this book, he showed that there was still hope left, and that if action was …show more content…

The world that Orwell grew up in was war-torn and increasingly destitute. The world that Winston Smith lives in was also shaped by battles and poverty. One of the tactics used in both real life under Joseph Stalin and in the novel, is that a government or its leader would rather execute an individual rather than have them vocally oppose their system. Stalin created death warrants, which would allow him to kill his own officials and citizens with a reasonable purpose, such as to silence them for speaking out about the horrible system that person was forced to live under. Under the guise of concern for public safety, Stalin also authorized beatings, public hangings, and illegal arrests of other rebellious citizens. In the novel, Smith is beaten by the Thought Police and taken into custody of the Ministry of Love for his relationship to Julia, and for defying government rules, such as having sex without the purpose of procreation, and being openly rebellious. While he is imprisoned in the Ministry of Love, O’Brien tries to break Smith’s spirit, leading him to believe that “they would have blown his brain to pieces before they could reclaim it”, meaning that the government would rather lose a potentially perfect citizen rather than have one rebellious citizen (Orwell, 308). There were also “great purges involving thousands of people” where criminals would be

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