1984
Totalitarianism; Impossible or Near Future?
Niccolo Machiavelli once said that "Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking." When it comes to the governance of human beings, communication and words outweigh violence. It is impossible to have one perfect society. There has yet to be a society in which there was not something wrong. Different attempts at a perfect society have come about but none has been proven to work without fault. Communism was a good thought but when put into action fails. Not far off from Communism comes the term Totalitarianism. A system of government where a class, group or party feel as though their authority has no bounds and strive to regulate every form of public or private life whatever way they see fit. Fighting in battles against totalitarian governments, such as the Nazi Party and the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin, was Eric Arthur Blair, better known as George Orwell. It is amongst the rise of dictators and the beginning of totalitarian societies that Orwell wrote and published the novel, 1984, a warning in disguise. Orwell’s predictions for what the future would look like if society continued its ways are seen through the eyes of Winston Smith. Winston’s life in the novel allows one to feel fear and concern toward Big Brother and his methods of power over civilization. Winston was able to experience dealing with three of Big Brother’s “tactics” of the government exploiting history, enforcing propaganda, and manipulating individuals’ thoughts at first hand. Winston lives in Oceania, a dystopia where the terrors of a totalitarian government are unavoidable. A totalitarian society is established through manipulation and control of one’s mind and body. It is maintained as a consequence of the threat of excessive abuse, propaganda, and force which can be seen in Winston’s everyday life.
In the year 1924, Joseph Stalin became the Communist dictator of the
Niccolo Machiavelli once said that "Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking." When it comes to the governance of human beings, communication and words outweigh violence. It is impossible to have one perfect society. There has yet to be a society in which there was not something wrong. Different attempts at a perfect society have come about but none has been proven to work without fault. Communism was a good thought but when put into action fails. Not far off from Communism comes the term Totalitarianism. A system of government where a class, group or party feel as though their authority has no bounds and strive to regulate every form of public or private life whatever way they see fit. Fighting in battles against totalitarian governments, such as the Nazi Party and the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin, was Eric Arthur Blair, better known as George Orwell. It is amongst the rise of dictators and the beginning of totalitarian societies that Orwell wrote and published the novel, 1984, a warning in disguise. Orwell’s predictions for what the future would look like if society continued its ways are seen through the eyes of Winston Smith. Winston’s life in the novel allows one to feel fear and concern toward Big Brother and his methods of power over civilization. Winston was able to experience dealing with three of Big Brother’s “tactics” of the government exploiting history, enforcing propaganda, and manipulating individuals’ thoughts at first hand. Winston lives in Oceania, a dystopia where the terrors of a totalitarian government are unavoidable. A totalitarian society is established through manipulation and control of one’s mind and body. It is maintained as a consequence of the threat of excessive abuse, propaganda, and force which can be seen in Winston’s everyday life.
In the year 1924, Joseph Stalin became the Communist dictator of the