Similarities Between 1984 And North Korea

1984 demonstrates a dystopian society in Oceania by presenting a relentless dictator, Big Brother, who uses his power to control the minds of his people and to ensure that his power never exhausts. Aspects of 1984 are evidently established in components of society in North Korea. With both of these society’s under a dictator’s rule, there are many similarities that are distinguished between the two. Orwell’s 1984 becomes parallel to the world of dystopia in North Korea by illustrating a nation that remains isolated under an almighty ruler.

In general, the ability to think freely, have a variety of emotions, and express ourselves makes us human. In both “1984,” and often in our own society, these aspects of humanity are destroyed.

1984 is a reality to millions of people not to the western world like George Orwell thought, but to the people of North Korea. The country is a place where privacy is unheard of but the terror of labor camps are all too real.

Imagine a government with full control; you don't have freedom of speech and are fearful for your life. In the novel 1984 and present day North Korea, it's a reality. The overuse of power has faced significant problems for thousands of years which lead to a abusive government, strict society, and isolated communities. In 1984 by George Orwell, Winston goes against Oceania's dystopian government by pursuing his relationship with Julia and writing a journal about his own thoughts. The government takes action by capturing Winston and Julia to torture them. Present day North Korea share many of the same structural complications, such as strict laws and regulations. Both texts have similar societal problems due to the abundance of

George Orwell’s 1984 was written as a “political satire of a totalitarian state” (Fitzpatrick), but is now more relevant and truthful than ever before. Frightening parallels can be drawn between 1984 and places like North Korea, and even the United States. These include such things as the use of propaganda, places of imprisonment and torture, and around the clock surveillance. All of which are used to gain and hold onto power over people.

When a reader engages and indulges into a piece of writing that involves a love story, they wish and hope for it to be a “happily ever after.” Unfortunately, it is not always the case. Such as, in Romeo and Juliet ending with the death of the two lovers, or the Titanic ending in the death of the beloved Jack. In the Novel, 1984, by George Orwell, there is a similar tragic ending to a love story.

In the novel of 1984, the absolute obedience of the citizens is a mandatory act for a functional communist government. Controlling the citizens mind allows “ The Party” or Government to have more power by taking yours away. In the novel 1984 Syme says “Don’t you see the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought, in the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible” (pg. 46) and little things like controlling the language can help control the people. In North Korea, their leader Kim Jong Un makes sure no questions his government and rules. It is also said that Kim Jong Un executes anyone who oppose a threat to his government which is can also refer to “Vaporizing” in 1984. He also imprisons those who he is suspicious

Government enforcement in 1984 and North Korea causes citizens to be scared. The bombardment of laws in North Korea spirals from the power hungry Kim Il Song, not allowing citizens to communicate freely.

Societies in which individuals bear underdeveloped emotions is evident in both novels. Psychological manipulation from authority yields a world consumed of dull mechanization rather than of people with sincere passions and concerns. The protagonist of 1984 claims that “to dissemble your feelings...to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive reaction...” (Orwell 17). In both pieces of literature, the internal staleness within individuals is directly associated with their government, who utilizes it as a way to remain more powerful than the citizens it controls. The fact that Bernard Marx wishes to experience “what passion is” and yearns to “feel something strongly” allows the conclusion to be drawn that members of the World State

The Secret State of North Korea offered a great look into what basic things North Koreans are lacking. Even within the realm of Communism. Lack of freedoms, lack of food, lack of community, lack of trust, lack of a social society, lack of programs for children, lack of equality, and a lack of information. When Kim Il-Sung created North Korea, the government was based on Marxism and Leninism, called “Juche.” Just as the Soviets, the North Koreans followed suite with massive inequality between the government officials and the common people. The documentary showed its viewers what the government is omnipresent in the everyday lives of its people, so much so that recordings of daily life are illegal, and “random” searches take place commonly.

In his article on “Forced Labor”, Scott Johnson informs to the readers the terrifying truth about labor camps that reveals an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 families are kept as prisoners in these camps scattered in North korea, and there is only so much food to feed the people. With the intentions of punishing citizens of North Korean for what he thinks is necessary to stop protests against him, citizens of North Korean people have been rising up and choosing whether they want to expel Kim Jong Un from his throne, or be expelled by him.

Following the fall of the U.S.S.R., North Korea has almost directly become the empire of repression that George Orwell illustrated in Nineteen Eighty Four. Although North Korea is lacking in a technological sense compared to “The Party”, they have some very similar tactics such as the invasion of privacy, the creation of class systems and the use of propaganda to hold their oppressive power in place.

The book 1984 by George Orwell tells of the dreary existence of Winston Smith, a man living in a communist dystopia. The government spies on its citizens in every room, and forces them to love its leader, Big Brother. Throughout the book Winston attempts to resist his government by joining a rebel organization, but the task proves impossible as the government is too overbearing. Winston’s failure to join a rebel organization demonstrates the difficulties in changing the society that he lived in. The totalitarian society in 1984 deprived citizens of virtually all power so that no group, let alone single person, could extend its parameters, and nothing about the society could be changed at all.

More recently, Kim Jong-un and the Worker’s Party of Korea continues a family history of dictatorship in North Korea by enforcing the Juche ideology of Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, in North Korea. These are only a few of hundreds who oppressed and controlled entire countries for the sake of power. George Orwell explores the inner mechanisms of a totalitarian government in his novel, 1984, and the methods the novel’s government, the Party, uses to control the citizen’s in the country Oceania. The Party uses a variety of techniques to encourage and enforce the beliefs of their only ideology, Ingsoc. They mentally condition their subjects by the manipulation of information and history. A lack of concrete evidence from the past against the Party creates a population that is more than happy to believe any information the Party feeds

To summarize this you can say that in one way the movie Nineteen Eighty-Four has come true. You can say that North Korea is the new London in Nineteen Eighty-Four. The way they are correcting newspaper so it work for their advantage. And that North Korea is sending out propaganda just the way that Big Brother did is terrifying. They both know how to unite their people.