A utopia is an ideal or perfect community. While some writers have created
fictional places that embody their ideals societies, other writers have written
satires that ridicule existing conditions of society, or anti-utopias, which show
possible future societies that are anything but ideal. In 1984 , George Orwell
presents a terrifying picture of future as life under the constant surveillance of
"Big Brother." This book 1984 is an anti-utopian novel.
The main character Winston Smith lives in the large political country
Oceania, which is eternally at war with one of two huge countries, Eurasia and
Eastasia. At any moment all existing records show either that Oceania has always
been at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, or that it has always been at
war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia. Winston knows this, because his work
at the Ministry of Truth involves the constant correction of news. "Who controls
the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past," the party
slogan reads. Basically, Winston takes real news and twists it to what "Big
Brother" wants the people to know.
In the grim city and terrifying country, where "Big Brother" is always
watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind, Winston is a
man in great danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. He
knows the party controls people by feeding them lies and taking away their
imaginations. The Party forbids thought, love, and relationships. Drawn into a
secret love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary
organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party.
Together with his lover Julia, he puts his life on the line in a deadly match against
George Orwell creates an anti-utopian society in the novel 1984 . The
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