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Similarities Between 1984 And Karl Marx

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Failure to Disprove: Big Brother vs. Marxism The proletariat is the lowest of the low, confined to a life of merciless hard work where all they can do is envy what they believe to be is the dominant lifestyle. The 1984 society confines its citizens to a preordained position as proletarian, a dominant class member, or somewhere in between. Amongst the proletarians, there is Winston Smith, a man who was imprisoned, tortured and psychologically broken for essentially doing nothing. Karl Marx believed that Capitalism is an essential stepping-stone in a societies turn towards Communism. He believes that Capitalism is flawed and a socialist movement will eventually occur, sending the government spiraling towards its final state, Communism. Orwell’s …show more content…

In 1984, George Orwell shows a Capitalist society that was pressured by fear of turning into a Communist state to take a radical course of action, just barely clinging to the few fundamental views it once had. Doublethink is a major contributor to Big Brother’s success as a party. It coincides with the Thought Police, by making every member of every class consciously think about what the say and how they phrase it. This constantly keeps everyone at bay and allows the Thought Police to weed out those who seem to be forcing themselves into society and those who are just barely putting in enough effort to get by. Doublethink is speaking in terms of equality, so that everything is contradictory to itself to even everything out. The party slogans are perfect examples of how Doublethink is an active part of society, “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (page 6). These slogans are not only contradictory, but they “equalize” one another and in a very simplified manner, explain to all members of society what they stand for. Big Brother looks to find peace through war, there is a constant talk of a war outside of their society and that Big Brother is the only force protecting their lives. This instills a fear within all citizens and causes them to let Big Brother do as he pleases, so long as they still have their lives. …show more content…

In every realistic situation in a Communist state, there will always be people who run the government and have more wealth than others leaving a pure form of Communism impossible to obtain. In 1984 a Communist culture is shown and represents a society that isn’t structured to look exactly like Communism. Overall the people of the state do not have a good life and the Thought Police are always on standby to break down rebellions little by little and take out rebels one at a time. The Thought Police function in this manner so that there isn’t a possibility of there ever being enough people to start a rebellion. By doing so, Big Brother is able to instill a fear amongst the people of the state, a fear of the unknown. The people, particularly the proletarians, are kept in line by being placed into a constant state of apprehension, fearful of not knowing what may happen to them. The party slogans and the actions of the Thought Police are used as governmental props to provide a false sense of security to the people of the state. The security provided leaves people in a position of confusion, where they don’t know if they are threatened by the Thought Police or comforted by their actions. This leaves them unsure of what course of action to take, forcing them into a docile and submissive position. Rebels within the 1984 society stand out

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