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Is 1984 Still Relevant Today

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The novel depicting a negative utopia, 1984, was written in relation to the events happening in the year 1948. The Second World War and the Holocaust were major events that this audience could relate to 1984. While readers of the novel today feel that it holds little relevance to the world in the 21st century, it contains many elements that compare to 2015. 1984 shows relevance today in 2015 through the telescreens, the news, and by the rationing systems. Although 1984 had a lot of relations to the year 1948, it still has a large impact on events happening in today’s world. 1984 first shows its relevance to today’s times with the telescreens. When Winston is in the Minitrue, the telescreens are described as that they, “received and transmitted …show more content…

The telescreens in the novel are everywhere and they can see everything that people do. This relates to today’s times because of all the technology that has emerged. Phones, for examples, can now tell a person where they have been and how long they were there. This connects back to 1984 with the fact that now; people are basically carrying around telescreens in their pockets. The telescreens in 1984 watched over the proles and members of both inner and outer party, just like cell phones track everyone with a smartphone. Another instance in the novel that relates to today’s world is the telescreen waking you up in the morning. When Winston wakes up one morning and the instructress yells commands to help wake him up, she shouts, “And now let’s see which of us can touch our toes!” (Orwell 33). The relation here is that there are phone applications today that will set off an …show more content…

The news in Oceania is a main factor of changing the past and filling the viewers minds with what might be false propaganda. When Winston is recollecting on the Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford experience, Winston remembers, “ They were executed,” and that even though he thought he knew their fate, he came upon a piece of paper five years later that illustrated, “the delegates at some Party function in New York. Prominent in the middle of the group were Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford:” (Orwell 67). This occurs in the 21st century when there are groups that come up with “conspiracy theories.” September 11th 2001 is one event in which this occurs. Terrorists attacked the twin towers in New York and Americans were devastated and sometime after this event, there were groups that claimed the government was behind 9/11 and that explosions were heard at the bottom of the towers, rather than the top. This relates to 1984 in that one thing was concluded originally and some years later, another thing was discovered and believed by some. A conversation between Winston and Julia brings up another connection between 1984 and today’s times. The war throughout the novel changes between Eurasia, East Asia, and Oceania but the news may control, or even make up the war. This statement is strengthened when Orwell exclaims that Julia has an opinion that “the war was not happening”

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