The Role Of Censorship In George Orwell's '1984'

Towards the end of Orwell’s novel that presents a dystopian society, the antagonist, O’Brien, a close member of the inner party, warns Winston, the protagonist and one of only two reasonable people left, that “We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them” (319). Winston, who has been taken prisoner for his political dissent, receives this grave warning tied down to a chair with O’Brien’s face staring at him from above. This alarming solution to the infamous mystery frightens Winston a significant amount, who after sacrificing so much, has just learned his fate. Orwell has brought about this fate to emphasize the perpetual triumph of the party over its enemies. In George Orwell's 1984, the author creates the totalitarian state of Oceania to warn the reader of the potential corruption and oppression of such a government.

Monarch Butterflies are famous for their migration in North America. In the fall, these butterflies migrate from Canada to the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico to avoid the colder weather. The cycle continues as the butterflies fly back to Canada in the the spring. Just like the butterflies are affected by the extreme weather, humans can also be affected by the surroundings. One such example is the novel, 1984 in which, George Orwell explores the theme of repression using stylistic elements such as irony, foreshadowing, and characterization, he reveals how totalitarian government’s control on the society influences Winston’s life and even his psychological traits, ultimately warning the readers about the effects of totalitarian government.

In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, a totalitarian government known as “the Party” and headed by the symbolic “Big Brother” is in command of the country of Oceania. This government demands complete and absolute control of the minds of its citizens. Reality is whatever the Party says it is in Oceania. Big Brother has complete control of the media and also claims to be above even the laws of mathematics and physics. There is an extraordinarily strong and influential relationship between media control and perception of reality both in the novel and in the real world.

1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s condition seems to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times.

The complete and utter lack of freedom in 1984 by George Orwell is a major theme which the entire plot revolves around. Not only is this the key problem the main character Winston faces, but the entire society in which this book is set is also doomed to slavery under the Party. One of the Party’s slogans,“Freedom is Slavery” (Orwell, 14), shows the backwards viewpoint of freedom that the people believe in. This reality affects Winston’s interactions with everyone, ultimately sending him into madness.

Newspeak demolishes thought. Throughout the book, George Orwell tackles controversial ideas. He uses topics that create distraught in the readers to show how the future could exist. People kill for excitement and uses special forces to attack people. This happens because “Big Brother” wants it to. Big Brother runs the society and he uses his influence to control his subservients. He does this with the help of his new language “Newspeak,” which inhibits peoples thoughts and minds. The society in George Orwell’s 1984 does not have the capability to form personal opinions because of Newspeak.

"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself--anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face...; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: face crime..."

Censorship dates all the way back to 443 BC in ancient Rome with the Office of Censor. In that time this was an office of great repute, the Office of Censor was charged with the shaping of the character of the people. Thus it was considered to be an honorable task, since then the connotation of the word and such an office has changed greatly. Today censorship is the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc. and suppressing “unacceptable parts” based on whoever is defining “unacceptable.” Unacceptable has been considered to be a wide range of concepts from ideas to sexually explicit content. Historically in the USSR most leaders used censorship in every form as a means of suppressing whatever or whoever was perceived as a

Different types of governments depend on entire control of their citizens - dictatorships and totalitarian governments especially. There are many ways to control a population; propaganda and censorship among the most popular. Censorship is one of the most commonly employed methods of controlling the masses, used by the Capitol in The Hunger Games, Hitler in Nazi Germany, and Stalin in the USSR, but the Party in 1984 employs the ultimate and purest form of censorship. In the Hunger Games, the Capitol tries to show their feats of strength, saying that they wiped out all of District 13 when they tried to rebel.

Censorship, a tool that is sometimes employed by governments, is used in order to shape citizens’ perception of the state in which they live; this act provides the means for easier manipulation. In modern day society, censorship may involve filtering information in the media, limiting materials in textbooks, or even monitoring and blocking controversial topics online. Similar events occur in George Orwell’s 1984, where protagonist Winston Smith has the job of altering history, or committing “impudent forgeries” (Orwell 154). Governments’ selectivity of reports gives them the power to decide what information the public receives and how they view it.

In Fahrenheit 451 the major theme is censorship. Censorship by the government about all things not approved by them. Thought the book does not provide a clear explanation as to why books are banned they provide a plethora of reasons. The reason censorship is big is because the government wants to control the population not bend to its will. By creating censors on everything the control what the population thinks. The growth of censorship in the novel is contributed to many things. One is the gradual decline in reading books it was not forced away by a authoritarian government. The next part was due to the fact of so many “sub groups” that all had differing views towards the same intellectual property. It graduated to the fact of the change

As one of the first novels to be written as a dystopian tale, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four questions what life would be like if the government had complete control over what it’s citizens feel, consume, act, and think. During the course of the entire novel, one of the biggest themes that Orwell attempts to make his readers aware of, is that of censorship. Throughout the book, Big Brother has limited and prohibited all sorts of media, including books, news, and gossip. Along with the lack of media, Big Brother and the government also alter facts about history in order to put themselves above all. Propaganda is also scattered across the town of these novel, act as a warning to all of the citizens, reminding them that “[w]ar is peace.

As human beings, there are distinct characteristics that separate us from feral animals; the ability to create, to appreciate art, to curiously question the world and most importantly to sympathize for our kind. However, when that exact nature is stripped from us, we tend to become mindless, restricted, cold, and degraded as an entire race. This is the setting of George Orwell’s last book, 1984. A world where human thought is limited, war and poverty lie on every street corner, and one cannot trust nobody or nothing. It is all due to the one reigning political entity, the Ingsoc Party, who imposes complete power over all aspects of life for all citizens. There is no creative or intellectual thought, no art, culture or history, and no

Repression is one of the main issues that the main character of 1984, Winston Smith, deals with. The tyranny of The Party and Big Brother have made it impossible for anyone to be alone with their thoughts. The idea of thought crimes and spies makes the public uneasy and aware of their every move. However, it is human nature to cast doubts, have desires, and crave love, which makes living in the dystopian rulership of Big Brother a dangerous and impossible life. Without making their subjects repress their emotions, The Party would fail.

When reading 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, you start to see a common element between these two novels, this element is censorship by the government. What is censorship? Censorship is the suppression of a publication of any media considered offensive or a threat to security. Both of these novels showed censorship elements in their passage by using technology and manipulation on their society to push their agenda. For instance, in 1984 their government was a totalitarian government that was run by the Inner party, which regulated the people of Oceania through language and monitoring their thoughts. In Fahrenheit 451 it has the same element of censorship by the government. The government censors the people of Fahrenheit 451 by using the firemen as an enforcement censorship by burning down homes that contain books. The common element of censorship between these two novels showed the controlling grip the government had on their societies by asserting their power of fear through censorship