The Permanency of Death

They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness. Greased they 'd say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping. It wasn 't cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors. When someone died, it wasn 't quite dying, because in a curious way, it seemed scripted, and because they had their lines mostly memorized, irony mixed with tragedy, and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself. "

At the end of 1984, Winston is a shell of his former self.The Party has succeeded in stripping him of his individuality and natural rights in order to dehumanize and control him. After he was tortured in the Ministry of Love, Winston is released but all his hopes and ideas are in the hands of The Party. He is no longer the man he was in the beginning. As he sits 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

George Orwell’s 1984 is more than just a novel, it is a warning to a potential dystopian society of the future. Written in 1949, Orwell envisioned a totalitarian government under the figurehead Big Brother. In this totalitarian society, every thought and action is carefully examined for any sign of rebellion against the ruling party. Emotion has been abolished and love is nonexistent; an entire new language is being drafted to reduce human thought to the bare minimum. In a society such as the one portrayed in 1984, one is hardly human. In George Orwell’s 1984, the party uses fear, oppression, and propaganda to strip the people of their humanity.

1984 examines a future under the rule of a totalitarian society. One of the unique notes about Orwell's 1984, is the views that Orwell presents on humanity, and human nature. Orwell presents humanity as divided into two sides- the dominant, and the submissive, with few quickly-eradicated anomalies in between. Human nature, however, is universal, and all humans

George Orwell focuses his belief of the “[disbelief] in the existence of the objective truth because all the facts have to fit in with the words and prophecies of some infallible fuhrer”. He envisions the decay of future society and implements his ideas through his creation of “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. Indications of a psychological fear are examined initially through the progression and change of the human mind, which is built upon the oppression of the Party. Through the construction of a world with no freedom and individuality, the human mind adapts the change of truth and pay utter submission from the Party, to escape the presence of their ultimate weakness. With those who are rebellious of the rules of the Party gradually brings out the ugly nature of humanity. Through the fragility of the human mind, it reinforces Orwell’s idea of a corrupted society, as there no longer remains a variety of human emotions for the next generation to pass onwards. Thus conclusively portraying the defeat of human mind unable to withstand the physical and mental tortures from the Party.

“1984 expresses man’s fears of isolation and disintegration, cruelty and dehumanisation…Orwell’s repetition of obsessive ideas is an apocalyptic lamentation for the fate of modern man. His expression of the political experience of an entire generation gives 1984 a veritably mythic power

The pursuit of freedom and the longing for a better life and “knowledge give people power, and truth will set people free” are the common understanding of the human nature. In novel, the Oceania’s Party controlled life in a constant state of propaganda-induced fear through the four ministries of Peace, Love, Plenty, and Truth. Winston’s job at the Ministry of Truth involves revisions of historical documents and rewrites of news stories to reflect the Party’s infallibility. Because the Party was afraid of historical knowledge will form power that justify or encourage the present and the future. If history was idyllic, then people will act to re-create it; if the present was nightmarish, then people will be to subvert the present in order to create a good future. The fact of the matter, the Party, which carries out government policies in Oceania, rations food, issues clothing, and selects social activities. Both chocolate and tobacco are in short supply during this latest war. Public facilities were in shreds and patches, and most of people live in poverty. The

One of Orwell’s distinctive characteristics is his emphasis of his emotional response to life and death in every situation. Orwell engages readers in his pieces because they feel

In an article by The New York Times, the author suggests that George Orwell’s 1984 was “a chilling exploration of absolute depravity.” Orwell’s purpose in writing 1984 was to warn the people of the dangers that could come from becoming a totalitarian society. Throughout 1984, Orwell exposes the dangers of a totalitarian society, such as the psychological torture and the physical brutality that one would experience living in such a society.

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 the words of Anthony Hopkins, “We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It's a death trap.” In the well-established novel 1984, George Orwell effectively uses literary techniques to portray that death need not be physical, but can be psychological instead. It is through the use of foreshadowing and bildungsroman that Orwell effectively portrays Big Brother’s daunting existence within Oceania. It is the overbearing totalitarian presence of Big Brother that ultimately leads to the psychological demise of Winston Smith.

Historically, literature has always echoed the key issues and themes present during that time. In the period which Orwell wrote this novel, totalitarian government was a popular concept seeing implementation around the world such as Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and Mussolini’s Italy. In the novel 1984. While Orwell’s world is a fictional one, it can be said that he uses it as a voice for social commentary, and he predictions as to what a world would be like if totalitarian governments would rule the world. This essay will aim to explore how Orwell goes about doing this.

Orwell’s warning of the dangers of totalitarian regimes to his contextual readers and future audiences is portrayed through his novel, 1984, because “Big Brother is Watching You”, exerting total control over the masses. The masses are effectively controlled by the thought police, telescreens and children who are “against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations”.... Orwell writes about the potential dangers that are inherent when power and technology are abused, resulting in mindless citizens and “a world of fear and hatred and torment”, which Winston perfectly captures with his metaphorical epiphany; “we are the dead”. Like the dead, society will become opiated, lacking individual thought, a highly valued asset of

     Tired of feeling the way he is, with the monotonous struggle of everyday life Winston decides to oppose the party in more real ways; and begins to deviate from certain set behaviors to free himself from this bondage of the party. “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone-to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone”(25-26). He has realized what the government does to people; how everyone is made to be the same, where no one is allowed to think on their own. The party is omnipotent in all affairs and he will not go along with it anymore. Winston has made up his mind; he is going to do everything he can to bring down the party. He and Julia go to O’Brien’s apartment one afternoon, and Winston’s true hatred is revealed. “We believe that there is some kind of conspiracy, some kind of secret organization working against the Party,