Subjects:
had been at war with the totalitarian state, Nazi Germany. He was there when
London was blanket bombed and left in rubble by the Germans. Like many
writers he decided to make a statement with his work, and did. George Orwell’s
novel 1984 was written as a political statement of against totalitarianism.
Totalitarianism is a form of government that tries to assert total control
over its citizens (Comptons). Being nothing like democracy, totalitarianism is like
communism, as it also has one party rule, no free and open elections, and due
process is not guaranteed, however totalitarianism is much more controlling.
Orwell presents the evils of such a system is 1984.
1984 is about life in a world where no personal freedon exists. The book’s
main character is a man named Winston Smith. He is not a heroic type of person
nor is he extraordinarily intelligent. However, Winston hassomething that the
majority of the people at his time and in the situation that they’re in don’t, a good
pair of eyes. I don’t mean good eyes as far as good vision goes but rather good
. . .
brainwashes Winston and scares him using the thing Winston fears most, getting
his face eaten by rats. The Ministry of Love is where all criminals are tortured,
rehabilitated, and then set free of killed. “Your name was removed from the registers, every record of your
existence was denied and then forgotten (Orwell 19). In the Soviet Union it was easy to find
Stalin’s image plastered all around. However it turns out that
he is a member of the thought police and enjoys seeing Winston and Julia get
captured. These two closely resemble eachother.
Because the Cold War is over we are less effected by the prospect of
a controlling nation. Winston also meets a man
named O’Brien who indicates that he is also a revolutionary like Winston and
Julia. seeing things for the way they are and seeing that what the
government isn’t as right as the people think it is. Both this ministry and theMinistry of Truth were contradictary to their
names. An example of
this is when O’Brien betrayed Winston. Julia is considered a sexual deviant and has been
sexually active since she was sixteen, having an affair with a party member who
was sixty (Orwell 109). This is an illegal
action known as thought crime and is punishable by death.
This is the great cognitive triumph of totalitarianism: it cannot be accused of
lying any longer since it has succeeded in abrogating the very idea of truth
(Kolakowski 127).
Essay's Topics
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