Orwell's Warnings

Improved Essays
Physical control, psychological manipulation, control of information and history, technology, and supervised communication all exemplify the ideas of totalitarianism. In “1984” by George Orwell these horrid notions of power, unfortunately, become a reality. In 1949, Orwell wrote this novel in order to express his views of the possible grim future the world could succumb to and to convey his warnings of a totalitarian society. Although his prediction of a complete Orwellian society did not become a reality, Orwell’s warnings still possess large meaning today and can be validated from numerous examples associated with modern existence. For instance, the United States government has been spying on its residents similarly in “1984” the “Party” …show more content…
This simple concept is one of the fundamental basis that compose the tactics the “Party” in “1984” facilitate in order to remain in a state of overwhelming power over the population. The “Party” implements several violent actions in order to suppress the common individual from opposing the government. For instance, Winston is subjected to numerous brutal and unjust tortures in order to assimilate his once profound ideas of freedom into the ideologies of the “Party”. When Winston writes in his diary, “freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make [sic] four” it shows his independence from the “Party” and his lingering hope for freedom. However, this thought is eradicated during his interrogation with O’Brien through torture and he is forced to succumb to the “truth” that the “Party” creates which of course is that “2 plus 2 make 5”, dictating the complete power of manipulation the government has over the population. Such demoralizing practices are also utilized in North Korea in which their “re-education camps” are similar to prisons in “1984” where torture is a common practice. Similarly to“1984” these “re-education camps” aim to subject inhabitants to accepting a false truth. Through torture, the government manipulates its prisoners into false confessions in which they are then condemned to an unjust long-term prison sentence. This proves that modern society coexists with the warnings Orwell conveyed in this novel; the possibility of a complete totalitarian

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Although people believe our government and the Party in 1984 share no similarities, the two governments frighteningly resemble too closely to one another because they both publically and privately watch over their citizens through the use of technology and people, and they also change or restrict information given to the public in order to make the nation look more appealing. Big Brother spys on its people through the use of strategically placed telescreens as to interfere with any conversation being given, and also trains the children to become loyal enough to turn in any suspicious people they encounter no matter who they may be. Our government parallels their behavior in that they hack into citizens’ personal emails, texts, and voice recordings as to intercept anything they deem as suspicious. With propaganda, although our government does not intend to make the population remain in an amnesia-like state, it to copies they ways of Big Brother when altering information in history books as to make the nation appear more heroic than brutish and aggressive. Orwell highlights these points throughout the novel in order to persuade the reader to look at those they trust in a new light in hopes that they open their minds and not follow anything with a blind pair of…

    • 1599 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This prevents the people from acknowledging their thoughts and how they perceived the past. Within 1984, Orwell displays how a futuristic society compares to a totalitarian society through the restrictions of the inner party by programs of individualism, a loss of privacy, and how the freedom of the people is minimized. A totalitarian society is a system of dictatorial changes in which the society is focused on the fixed ideas of the government’s control. Orwell illustrated how…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    SBA Journal #5 1984 by George Orwell THE TORTURE SETTING: The play takes place in the 1984 in a cell, Room 101. STAGE LEFT is one telescreen and a door. CENTER STAGE is a camp bed, just big enough to lie on. STAGE RIGHT is another telescreen and a lavatory pan. Concealed lamps are hanging from the prop bar.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In addition, the dehumanisation of society is a consequence consistent with totalitarian government and its extensive control and is explicitly portrayed throughout both 1984 and Metropolis. Exploring the repercussions of authoritarian government, Orwell’s novel was largely motivated by the politics and rhetoric present at the conclusion of the Second World War and the onset of the overwrought Cold War. Orwell’s construction of a condensed form of the English language, Newspeak, facilitates the Party’s psychological manipulation and encompasses the control of society in a pseudo reality. This destruction of language ensures an unparalleled level of conformity, evident when Winston writes in his diary, “Orthodoxy means not thinking, not needing…

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Party in 1984, by George Orwell, represents an oligarchy, which has eliminated the fundamental characteristics of a democratic society. Through sheer determination of the Party and its unlimited omnipotent power, human spirit is crushed in the eradication of privacy, individuality, and freedom. These though, are the risks associated with totalitarianism. “Totalitarianism is a form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of the individual’s life to the authority of the government” (Encyclopædia Britannica).…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George Orwell writes about many important issues in his book, 1984. He writes about a future government where many different problems are portrayed dramatically and obviously. The book is about a totalitarian government that has complete control over its citizens, and intrudes on people’s privacy, to the point where even thoughts aren’t safe. Not only do they invade their thoughts, but they also control them. The government brainwashes their citizens to get them to be unquestioningly loyal the party.…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Imagine a harsh and frightening dystopia where controlling governments misuse technology, revise history and use fear and manipulation to maintain order. Is this a far cry from our society today? George Orwell’s, 1984, uses a grim, negative tone and irony in appealing to the reader’s emotional capacity for sympathy, fear, and desire while posing the rhetorical questions of reality versus truth. Written in 1949, George Orwell’s political novel, 1984, gives an exaggerated account of how individuals and regimes use propaganda and fear to gain power over people’s words, thoughts, and actions. Its purpose was to warn readers of the dangers of totalitarian government and to sound the alarm in Western nations about the rise of communism after the…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    There Is No Such Thing as Privacy “It was even conceivable that they watched us all the time.” These are the words Winston Smith and all of Oceania had to live by. George Orwell’s 1984 warns us about totalitarian regimes. The government, Big Brother, abolishes the citizen’s freedom and their own personal privacy, and even into their personal thoughts.…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kian Nafeiy 7.10.07 Polysci 121.9356 1984 1984, by George Orwell, is a book with symbols for what Orwell felt were important about government and other aspects of society that he had taken notice of, mostly representing the ideals of totalitarianism. The major parallel in 1984 to government is the rise of totalitarianism in government at the time the novel was written. Having taken note of the rule in countries such as Russia and Spain, Orwell chose to write a vivid and extreme vision of how he felt the government was playing a large role in the personal lives of citizens, with no privacy and stripped of the freedoms people should be entitled to.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Winston, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, all else follows (Orwell 103).” This concept is the central idea posed within the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell’s dystopian future presents a frightening reality in which human rights are considered criminal in nature and unnecessary for society. The tyrannical leading group, known as the Party, controls every aspect of human life for the sake of power, therefore eliminating free will.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Government is in Control George Orwell was a political writer prominent in the post World War II era, who opposed the rise of totalitarian states. In the novel 1984, he created an imaginary society where the people are stripped of their humanity. The story takes place in a fictional country called Oceania, where the ruling Party and its leader, Big Brother, seek absolute power over its people. To achieve this, they apply physical and mental restrictions, surveillance, propaganda, and shame of language to gain control of the people 's minds. I know you wonder if our government is controlling to help us, or if they are controlling just to be in control.…

    • 1223 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1984 The consequences of living with a totalitarian government has never been so clear before, having privacy is no longer a right you have. In the novel 1984, English novelist and journalist George Orwell, illustrates the alarming abusive nature of a totalitarian government, but even more so it 's penetrating analysis of the psychology of power and the ways that manipulation of language and history are used as mechanisms of control. Throughout the eye-catching novel, the author attempts to show what life would be like in a world of total evil, where those controlling the government kept themselves in power by mesmerizing the people generally. Winston Smith, an everyday man, is dissatisfied with how the political party conducts,…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, provides a chilling glimpse into a world where technology is used to control and to manipulate. The totalitarian government of Oceania, simply called, The Party, clamps down on the lives of its inhabitants, and forces them to obey Big Brother, the face of the Party. There is no room for revolution, as rebels are destroyed. Children are encouraged to spy on their parents, resulting in fractured relationships. The…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    1984: Diving into Deeper Meanings Imagine a society where you are always being watched. You can’t think on your own, speak your mind, or even feel any type of emotion. In George Orwell’s 1984, he writes of a Dystopian society in Oceania that is basically under totalitarian rule.…

    • 2185 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Practically, every single aspect of the society in 1984 is controlled, especially where sexual desires, compassion, love and affection are forbidden and the phrase "I love you", is non-existent as it is prohibited by “The Party”. The rules of “The Party” state that, "The sex instinct creates a world of its own. The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm” (337).…

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages
    • 2 Works Cited
    Superior Essays