1984
In 1984, George Orwell warns future generations about the dangers of a totalitarian state. Orwell depicts a government that has total control of public problems as well as individual problems. The citizens of Oceania, as a result, ultimately do not have control over their thoughts and actions. This loss of agency is significant because it reflects the anxieties generated by the geopolitical and historical factors present in Orwell’s time, specifically the rise and fall of Nazism and the start of the Cold War. George Orwell lived during a time when Nazism and Stalinism were the ways of ruling, World War II had just ended, and the Cold War was about to begin. This was a time when the relationship between the USSR and USA were tense. …show more content…
You have the upper class, inner party, that was the elite ruling class, then you have the middle class, outer party, which consisted of the educated working portion of the party, and finally the lower class, the proles, which is where all the uneducated working class remained. This was a system that kept the hierarchy in check. The inner party had different living standards than those of the the outer party and the paroles. Big Brother had various ways in controlling those lower parties as well that demonstrate the ruling of political absolute power. For example, Winston Smith, the main character of the book and a man of the outer party lived in a run down, one-bedroom flat with a TV that had secret microphones and cameras, which allowed the thought police to keep track of anyone who may corrupt the party’s system. The thought police are in charge of watching people through these TV’s and listening in on their phone calls and enforce the laws against thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime is having any thought that is not approved by the party. You can be charged for thoughtcrime by talking in your sleep, thinking anything against the law set by Big Brother, or even having a sexual
In 1984, George Orwell warns future generations about the dangers of a totalitarian state. Orwell depicts a government that has total control of public problems as well as individual problems. The citizens of Oceania, as a result, ultimately do not have control over their thoughts and actions. This loss of agency is significant because it reflects the anxieties generated by the geopolitical and historical factors present in Orwell’s time, specifically the rise and fall of Nazism and the start of the Cold War. George Orwell lived during a time when Nazism and Stalinism were the ways of ruling, World War II had just ended, and the Cold War was about to begin. This was a time when the relationship between the USSR and USA were tense. …show more content…
You have the upper class, inner party, that was the elite ruling class, then you have the middle class, outer party, which consisted of the educated working portion of the party, and finally the lower class, the proles, which is where all the uneducated working class remained. This was a system that kept the hierarchy in check. The inner party had different living standards than those of the the outer party and the paroles. Big Brother had various ways in controlling those lower parties as well that demonstrate the ruling of political absolute power. For example, Winston Smith, the main character of the book and a man of the outer party lived in a run down, one-bedroom flat with a TV that had secret microphones and cameras, which allowed the thought police to keep track of anyone who may corrupt the party’s system. The thought police are in charge of watching people through these TV’s and listening in on their phone calls and enforce the laws against thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime is having any thought that is not approved by the party. You can be charged for thoughtcrime by talking in your sleep, thinking anything against the law set by Big Brother, or even having a sexual