Preview

Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984 George Orwell

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
627 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984 George Orwell
1984 Essay
When we think about the world we live in today we know that living under a democratic society like we are now is perhaps the best thing for us. But when writing 1984 George Orwell was trying to convey the message that we should avoid a totalitarian form of government in our society. Unfortunately for us we have fallen into a type of totalitarian government that is maybe not as extreme but still has its consequences. Living under a totalitarian government rule takes away privacy and manipulates people’s minds into thinking that everything that is done is for their own good.
The reason for Orwell putting emphasis in the technology aspect of 1984 is to show just how invasive a totalitarian government can be. When Orwell has Winston

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    During the cold war era you couldn’t buy foreign commodities or criticize government action without fear of being arrested or accused of being a communist. Today the North Korean government prevents its citizens from hearing news or information from other countries and sentences those who oppose their rule to forced labor camps. In his works George Orwell uses foreshadowing, irony, and allegories to demonstrate the mechanisms of tyranny such as propaganda, fear, and the control and alteration of information, often accurately foreshadowing real events.…

    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a totalitarian government, the people are not living in a reality, but rather the inverse, they are living in a reality made for them. 1984 by George Orwell is a story of Winston Smith's struggle against a totalitarian government that controls the ideas and thoughts of its citizens. In the mythical setting of Oceania, the Party is the ruling, and Big Brother is the fictitious leader that controls all the thoughts and actions of human life. The people's rebellious thoughts and actions are most likely suppressed, but that can only go so far for a totalitarian government. In the novel 1984, Oceania is controlled by a totalitarian government, which is similar to the government systems of Nazi Germany and North Korea because they used torture and food shortage.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Imagine living in a world where politics are everything and all forms of individuality and personal identities are shattered. A world where everybody is stripped of their rights to talk, act, think, or even form their own opinions, simply because they do not agree with the government’s beliefs. These aspects are just a few of the examples of things dictators would have control over in a totalitarianism form of government. Aggressive leaders such as Hitler and Joseph Stalin are examples of such dictators. They used their power for terror and murder, and their motive is simply to maximize their own personal power. George Orwell had witnessed World War II, the fall of Hitler and Stalin’s dictatorships, and the fatal outcomes that have come from these governments. To warn future generations of the harsh effects of totalitarianism governments, he wrote the book Nineteen Eighty-Four. Published in 1946, Nineteen Eighty-Four describes life in a totalitarianism form of government, following the main character, Winston Smith, as he takes risks in discovering how he believes life should truly be. Literary critic Irving Howe states, “Were it possible, in the world of 1984, to show human character in anything resembling genuine freedom...it would not be the world of 1984” (62). In Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the government uses its power to suppress individuality among the people.…

    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, 1984, the protagonist, Winston Smith, live in a world full of thought policies, telescreens and proletarian. In Oceania, proletarian are under watch within 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which mean they are being watched without any privacy. Also, they are not allowed to have any other thought other than what the party told them to have. For the people who do have the thought will being vaporized; never exist in the world, nobody will remember who they are anymore. The party slogan is "War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength." It's apparently the opposite of reality, and it showed Oceania have a psychological control over their people. Every proletarian is required to be as orthodoxy as they can, but Winston still attempted to "stay human" by having thought on "Down With Big Brother."…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A totalitarian government must be simultaneously admired and feared by its citizens in order to maintain absolute control. Oceania’s Inner Party in George Orwell’s 1984 takes extreme measures, such as putting its people through physical and mental torture, to ensure that they will always remain in power. Citizens are robbed of any personal rights and freedoms, bringing about their suffering and the Party’s success. Inequality between the social classes as well as unreasonable punishment for crime keeps the citizens in line and the Party in…

    • 86 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Orwell did not change anything about Totalitarianism when interpreting into the novel. He put on worshipping country leaders, strong dislike, and war hysterics. Children are brought up in families to work for the government as spies. They watch their elders both day and night (Voorhes 88). Big Brother is supposed to represent a soft element from a children’s story to society. Yet to the readers, he represents a political monster to add to Orwell’s science fiction novel, with horror elements mixed in. 1984 may have been inspired by the super-weapons of the cold war. The technology used in the cold war made a ‘social demand’. These technological advancements all served for the purpose to spread mass murder or even to at least intimidating sheer elimination. This can be seen throughout the novel, like when Syme disappeared (Deutscher 119-120). “ He lunged out a huge filthy pipe which was already half full of charred tobacco. With the tobacco ration at a hundred grams a week, it was seldom possible to fill a pipe to the top. Winston was smoking a Victory Cigarette which he held carefully horizontal. The new ration will not start until tomorrow and he had only four cigarettes left” (Orwell 58). During World War II, the government rations out good and often lowers the ration size so small due to overpopulation.…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Repression is a very important issue in George Orwell’s novel 1984. The citizens can not follow their natural impulses because of Big Brother and the party fearing that if they did they would be a danger to their power. Overall Orwell was trying to prove that a totalitarian society does not work because there will always be someone that does not fit into the system and that a government can never fully take away a person's natural…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Dystopian novel by George Orwell Oceania is a country which is a totalitarian state that controls each aspect of people`s lives using propaganda, language,and brain-washing as their manipulation methods. Even though its two main characters show a kind of acceptance as they follow their daily routine as party members. In spite of the fact that they are very courageous and both know that they way of thinking can lead them to be captured, and tortured; they are very different as regards outlook, temperament, age. and experience. However, these differences influence the nature of their rebellion.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Americans are living in a society which is very similar to 1984. Orwell’s depicts/insight a totalitarian regime government at which every individual does not have a freedom of choice because the government takes control over their citizens. In the novel George Orwell’s warns readers how freedom does not have a meaning and the danger that thee government can have/posses when they can maintain too much power, and how it is relevant to modern days. In the novel, Orwell’s depict a negative outlook of power abuse. Orwell’s achieved to persuade his warning through his written.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Totalitarianism is a form of government that is ruled by a leader who possesses absolute power and…

    • 1607 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Niccolo Machiavelli once said that "Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking." When it comes to the governance of human beings, communication and words outweigh violence. It is impossible to have one perfect society. There has yet to be a society in which there was not something wrong. Different attempts at a perfect society have come about but none has been proven to work without fault. Communism was a good thought but when put into action fails. Not far off from Communism comes the term Totalitarianism. A system of government where a class, group or party feel as though their authority has no bounds and strive to regulate every form of public or private life whatever way they see fit. Fighting in battles against totalitarian governments, such as the Nazi Party and the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin, was Eric Arthur Blair, better known as George Orwell. It is amongst the rise of dictators and the beginning of totalitarian societies that Orwell wrote and published the novel, 1984, a warning in disguise. Orwell’s predictions for what the future would look like if society continued its ways are seen through the eyes of Winston Smith. Winston’s life in the novel allows one to feel fear and concern toward Big Brother and his methods of power over civilization. Winston was able to experience dealing with three of Big Brother’s “tactics” of the government exploiting history, enforcing propaganda, and manipulating individuals’ thoughts at first hand. Winston lives in Oceania, a dystopia where the terrors of a totalitarian government are unavoidable. A totalitarian society is established through manipulation and control of one’s mind and body. It is maintained as a consequence of the threat of excessive abuse, propaganda, and force which can be seen in Winston’s everyday life.…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the 1930’s, the popularity of totalitarian governments were at an all-time high. With people like Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin, the idea of democracy itself was in danger. Fortunately, the rule of Hitler and Mussolini were shut down by the Allies, however, the communist regime persisted throughout the next couple decades. The novel 1984, by George Orwell, depicts society under a totalitarian government. The people of that society are forced to conform to society: act how the government, or Big Brother, wants you to act, be what Big Brother wants you to be, and hardest of all, think how Big Brother wants you to think. Although this is a fictional novel, even the most fictitious novels have some amount of truth to…

    • 2146 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 Totalitarianism

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Governments are the powerhouse of a country. However, when they contain too much power, they not only run the country, but the lives of every citizen. In other words, governments like those are considered totalitarian, They control all parts of society, including the daily life of their inhabitants. Total submissiveness is required, and opposition is punished severely. In 1984 by George Orwell, the reader can infer that the government is totalitarian based on their ideals and values. Especially in aspects surrounding society and everyday life, Big Brother’s party is evidently a totalitarian regime.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the year of 1949, George Orwell saw a possible future from his reflection of the totalitarian regimes of World War II and experience in Spain as well as Russia, especially with Stalin. This would culminate into the novel known as 1984, in which the Party and their leader – Big Brother – have complete control of the nation known as Oceania, where everyone is under constant surveillance by the Thought Police. The story is set in London which has decayed just as much as the people’s souls and minds, shown as a “negative utopia”.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cellphones and technology have become a major part of todays’ society. A totalitarian government is centralized and has total control over its people. On the other hand a democratic government makes major decisions through majority vote. In George Orwell’s novel 1984, Winston’s perspective depicts his life living in Oceania under a totalitarian. In this age of cell phones and mobile devices equipped with recording capabilities, when anyone says or does could wind up on the “internet” within minutes, showing similar tactics as Big Brother, but not entirely. Oceania’s totalitarian government is different from contemporary Canada by eliminating independent rights, creating psychological control and allowing no freedom of any sort.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays