1984 George Orwell Analysis

Published in 1948 and set thirty-six years in the future, 1984 is Orwell’s dark and dirty vision of the future. The novel is a depiction of how the power of the government could come to dominate the lives of their citizens. This satire shows how Winston Smith’s personality is wiped out and re-created in the Party’s image. In 1948, when the novel was written, World War II had just ended. Orwell’s experiences and feelings during and after the times of war are reflected and represented through Winston Smith and other major characters in the text. Winston himself is a representation of Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England during World War II. “Big Brother, the mysterious all-seeing, all-knowing leader of the totalitarian society is …show more content…
The totalitarian Party is manipulative on many levels. The Party’s physical manipulation is very extensive. The Party regulates the citizens’ exercise, which is led by the “Physical Jerks.” The Physical Jerks would begin in three minutes… “Thirty to forty group!” yapped a piercing female voice. “Thirty to forty group! Take your places, please. Thirties to forties!” … “Take your time, by me. One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four! Come on, comrades; put a bit of life into it! One, two, three, four!” (Orwell 31-32). The Party also tortures the citizens if they do not obey the Party’s rules. “Winston is tortured in jail-known as the Ministry of Love- for an interminable length of time… One last hurdle remains: Winston must come to love Big Brother, for the Party wanted no martyrs, no opposition at all. Winston is released a shell of a man, his hair and teeth gone, his body destroyed,” (“1984” 236). Winston is tortured until he confesses his crimes and comes to love Big Brother with his own free will. “Have you ever seen a rat leap through the air? They will leap onto your face and bore straight into it. Sometimes they attack the eyes first. Sometimes they borough through the cheeks and devour the tongue,” (Orwell 285).The physical torture is so severe that the Party is able to convince the citizens that 2+2+ =5. The Party has mastered the art of physical manipulation. Unfortunately, for the people of Oceania, they have also perfected the practice of mental manipulation. The Party knows that to succeed in its totalitarianism, they must control the collective memory of “history”, to ensure that any truth is replaced by more advantageous and current needs. “As he begins writing his diary, Winston thinks of the perpetual warfare of Oceania wit either Euasia or Eastasia and notes, “’To trace out the history of the whole period, to say who was fighting whom at any