Living In A Utopian Dystopia In George Orwell's '1984'

Great Essays
Living in a Utopian Dystopia Dreaming of a world, where everything is okay. Dreaming of living in a world where everyone can trust one another, where mothers and fathers stay around to see their children grow up. Where you can do whatever you want and not get told you are wrong. Now, it sounds perfect doesn 't it? Think harder. You think everything is okay for you, but what about for someone else? Winston Smith experienced living in a dystopia while his “friend” O’Brien was running a Utopia for him. In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, Winston slowly started to figure out the type of life he was living. It is expected that Orwell’s writings were mostly about utopias and dystopias lead back to when he was in the war and living through …show more content…
A dystopia is most frequently described as an anti-utopia. If utopia is a world fantasized by optimistic people, a dystopia must be the world imaged by pessimistic people. Author Gormori says, "It seems to me that the proper definition of 'dystopia ' indeed hinges upon a bad system of government which imposes its will upon all its subjects in the name of arbitrarily chosen criteria or 'values '. Whether in crushing the individual the system stages a trial or uses other methods is of secondary importance" (Gormori). Dystopias are ran by nightmarish governments. They are produced so they can steal the integrity from others. In 1984 Winston’s trial was a significant scene. The scene was significant because it showed the effects of a dystopia. The definition of dystopia seems more to be a new upcoming government to aims to destroy the original system and create a system that aims to please the pessimistic people of the world. Dystopian fictions are usually political, exploring certain social issues by setting up a horrific alternative world in which those issues are looked at largely. Many of these fictions present themselves as cautionary writing, as warnings about the consequences of continuing certain policies or behaviors. Dystopias are usually looked upon as sermons because of the horrific message they usually come with

Related Documents

  • 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

    The song concentrates on how the power-greedy United States government initiates unnecessary wars in foreign nations in an attempt to discreetly coerce other nations into adopting its political beliefs. The song’s main message to the audience conveys that the United States government is not as good as it is perceived to be. In other words, the song demonstrates how the El Salvadorian War is a politically driven war provoked by an unhappy and power greedy United States government. The song portrays that many nations view the United States as heroes. Then, the poem states, “You plant a demon seed.…

    • 1452 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Author Christopher Hitchens had once said that “the totalitarian, to me, is the enemy - the one that 's absolute, the one that wants control over the inside of your head, not just your actions and your taxes” ("Totalitarian”). George Orwell’s novel, 1984, cautions the reader about the dangers of a totalitarian regime. The dystopian future that Orwell created in his novel shows the devastating effects on the people themselves. The people of Oceania lost their intelligence, independence, and even their love for one another. Governments with unlimited power will eventually destroy humanity itself.…

    • 1564 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The goal of the two minutes hate was to direct people anger towards an external source, as well as unify people under a common belief. To smith, the most horrifying thing about the Two Minutes Hate was “not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it is impossible to avoid joining in” (14). The Two Minutes Hate serves its goal for the party by unifying individuals against a common figure, as well as directing all hatred away from the party. The other primary way that the Party shapes public thought is through the Ministry of Truth, where smith works. The Ministry of Love is tasked with altering official documents to match what Big Brother supposedly claimed, giving the party the illusion of accuracy and reliability.…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In 1984 it is written, "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" (Orwell 16). They use this slogan to constantly expose the citizens to false ideas made up by the inner party. The government in 1984 also uses means of torture to insure that the citizens are well aware of who is in charge. They want the people to believe whatever they say is correct no matter how wrong it is. In the essay “Politics and the English Language” the author, George Orwell describes how propaganda is now using more complex words to confuse people.…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Observably, one can view Vonnegut’s point in this symbol: big governments may entice society with offers of utopian ideals, but in the end, these proposals (in the hands of a presumably evil big government) will ultimately turn themselves into oppressive situations. All in all, these symbols add depth to Vonnegut’s perspective, and create a hatred for the omniscient, omnipotent government in this…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    By using propaganda, the Party implements a hatred of their enemies upon the people: in particular, the hatred of Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston describes him as “the primal traitor, the earliest defiler of the Party’s purity” (Orwell 14), an image that has presumably been manipulated by the Party. The Two Minutes Hate is a form of propaganda that helps spread this hatred. “The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in” (Orwell 16). Even if a person does not find Goldstein to be horrible, they are conditioned to react negatively to the Two Minutes Hate, indicative of a loss of free will, playing directly into the Party’s hand.…

    • 1581 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great 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

    Metropolis Analysis

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Power is maintained by fostering ignorance through propaganda/deceit, abuse of technology and manipulating the subjects as desired by the party, consequently destroying any opposition. These ideas are presented through a satirical manner in, ‘Nineteen-eighty Four’ (1984) by George Orwell (1949) and ‘Metropolis’ directed by Fritz Lang (1927) about a fictitious totalitarian society linked with contemporary events showing how power is maintained by its elite and its destructive and dehumanising effects on those subjected to it. Through the fostering of ignorance, absolute power is able to be maintained. ‘Metropolis’ is set in a dystopian future world where ignorance is fostered to maintain absolute power. The city was built by Joh Frederson…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The mass media bombards us with messages and ideas which shape the way we view our world – our thoughts are becoming a product of the media rather than a product of our own vast imaginations. Additionally, in many places around the world censorship by governments or other authorities is depriving populations of important and helpful information. This combination of government regulated censorship and mass media manipulation is a stern reality for the public in Fahrenheit 451 and The Pedestrian. This issue is illuminated through the character struggle of Guy Montag. Books are burnt as they are seen as a dangerous source of information by the government in the novel- this is because they empower the people by equipping with the knowledge to form their own opinions and make their own choices.…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays