Preview

1984: Conformity And Oppression

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1569 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
1984: Conformity And Oppression
1984 Essay
John F. Kennedy once said,” conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth” a statement that still stands strong as conformity and oppression can seldom be found in today’s world. Together in this world the people choose their leaders and enjoy the right to overthrow any government they think of as corrupt. With such a heavy surge of information onto the general public, politicians can hide nothing forcing them into honesty. Also, the media is a massive help in the decision of our future leaders highlighting topics some might never have thought of; giving us the ability to pick and choose between topics we feel relevant. In terms of fear this world turning into dark, stale place; comparable to something like the dystopian
…show more content…
I deal with small people” (Ballot or the Bullet, Malcom X) The most successful leaders appeal the small people, the masses. People like George Washington, Winston Churchill, and Mahatma Gandhi, people who can bring out a positive public change in the world and most importantly appeal to the public. Actually Malcolm X once said,” If we don't do something real soon, I think you'll have to agree that we're going to be forced either to use the ballot or the bullet. It's one or the other - time has run out!” (Ballot or the Bullet, Malcom X) references the direct message a leader will instill into the people, It’s either the people create a peaceful change through their right to vote or if the government does not listen, to become violent. If a government refuses the people, they can’t do anything about the unlike in Orwell’s 1984 where one wrong thought can get any innocent man deleted,” at any moment the tension inside of you was liable to translate itself into a visual symptom.” (Orwell, 64) And it’s these symptoms the party would use to delete any spark of rebellion. In today’s society where problems are constantly spouting leaders will bring the people together to spark a change and bring about a solution, whether it …show more content…
Though there are many contradicting ideals in the media today on news sites, twitter, YouTube etc.… these Ideas are not shoved down the throats of the masses. Unlike 1984 Where Winston is put through intense torture just because he doesn’t accept doublethink “his body was being wrenched out of shape, the joints were slowly being torn apart” (Orwell, 244). People, voters, have the choice to make based on the information we have what we feel to be more viable as opposed to having both being called %100 true. They may also say that the government regulates the information internet constantly, though they may do that there are always websites like WikiLeaks run by hackers, made specifically to show the hidden, the gov. can’t hide anything we want to know. Likewise, we will never reach the extremes that were approached in 1984 where they know nothing, absolutely nothing is certain in their world, “Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution. Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed” (Orwell, 155). Others might even make the claim that politicians will lie their way too power giving people a sugarcoated view of their future via the media, something very common Winston’s world, “A shrill trumpet had pierced the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The two minutes Hate is powerful and weird and has displays of many Psychological concepts in the book 1984 since all of the members of society are required to participate in the two-minute hate there’s definitely an aspect of groupthink of play. Conformity is the action in accordance of prevailing social standards and they show how their attitudes in the Novel 1984, which was written by George Orwell and conformity was the absolute and it ruled the lives of all the individuals and was valued as the right thing to do. The main character in 1984 Winston Smith contradicts the wrongs of conformity and reveals how he conformed to not because he liked it but out of necessity for survival. He also highlights the extent of government control by describing…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    We live in a world that George Orwell predicted in "1984." And that realization has caused sales of the 1949, dystopian novel to spike dramatically upward recently - a 9,000% increase at one point on Amazon.com. Comparisons between Orwell's novel about a tightly controlled totalitarian future ruled by the ubiquitous Big Brother and today are, in fact, quite apt. Here are a few of the most obvious ones. Tele-Screens, in the novel, nearly all public and private places have large TV screens that broadcast government propaganda, news and approved entertainment. But they are also two-way monitors that spy on citizens' private lives. Today websites like Facebook track our likes and dislikes, and governments and private individuals hack into our computers and find out what they want to know. Then there are the ever-present surveillance cameras that spy on the average person as they go about their daily routine. This causes people to change their behavior and mannerisms for fear of being made a suspect. The Endless War, in Orwell's book, there's a global war that has been going on seemingly forever, and as the book's hero, Winston Smith, realizes, the enemy keeps changing. One week they’re at war with Eastasia and buddies with Eurasia. The next week, it's just the opposite. There seems little to distinguish the two adversaries, and they are used primarily to keep the populace of Oceania, where Smith lives, in a constant state of fear, thereby making dissent unthinkable - or punishable. Today there is the so-called war on terror, with no end in sight, a generalized societal fear, suspension of certain civil liberties, and an ill-defined enemy who could be anywhere, and anything. This Concept of an endless war causes people to become irrational and therefore make ill-informed decisions. Newspeak, the fictional, stripped down English language, used to limit free thought. With examples in the modern age such as OMG (oh my god), RU (are…

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Orwell brings up the idea of a totally totalitarian government to the reader in his novel 1984. He does this to instill fear into the reader’s mind to show them that they need to watch out for what is to come in the world. The world today is not all the way to being one like in the novel 1984, but it is close, and although people can see everything you do that’s not always a bad thing. Orwell wrote his novel as a worst case scenario situation but the citizens of this world don’t understand that the lives lived today are slowly going down the path of 1984 Oceania. Between everybody’s digital dossier and the willingness to give out information, people could be in some trouble in the near future.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Setting George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984 takes place in the fictional country of Oceania one of the three world superpowers, along with Eurasia and Eastasia, the war between the countries is constant. A revolutionized London, England renamed Air Strip One is the totalitarian capital of Oceania in which protagonist Winston Smith resides dissatisfied. The pyramidal government ministries of names matching with the propagandic slogan, “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”, are the backdrops to most scenes. Air Strip One’s filth is suggestive of the government’s contempt for the welfare of its citizens. This is the result of the revolution in which the fundamental principles and core values of the ideology called Ingsoc, where…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Totalitarianism, a form of government that has absolute authority over all aspects of its citizen’s public and private lives. Media persistently regulated to convey that those in power are great and always right, citizens are closely monitored to identify any form of rebelliousness; propaganda is plentiful and a police state is held to oppress and instill a sense of powerlessness in people who dare think of fighting back. A single party is in power and has no competition, and is never challenged by any opposing ideas. The purpose of Orwell’s 1984 was to warn people of totalitarianism coming to fruition and stop it before it becomes too powerful to prevent.…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1984 Dystopian Society

    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Our society contains surveillance all over the place. No matter where you go someone is always watching you. . The Government is shaping one’s behavior by embedding the idea of one is always being watched. Interesting enough, it’s almost as Orwell foreshadowed what society would end up like because the book was published in the late the 1940’s and showcases a society using surveillance. Like the book, people today self- police themselves because they fear the consequence of getting caught. Is it possible that our government too, is only doing this to control us for their self-gain of power? Perhaps not. But, the movie “Citizenfour” tells me otherwise. Within the beginning of the movie, the NSA was being accused of monitoring people through different forms: cell phone calls, internet searches, and laptop cameras. Not only was the NSA willingly watching people without their consent, but they were denying the charges. If the NSA was guilty of the crime, why hide it? Is it because they want to keep people under control for their own sake? Similarly, “1984” has a higher authority (the Party) controlling the rest of the people for power. The government too, wants aims to prevent people from rebelling, so they believe that monitoring everything is needed. In “1984” the Party monitors everything to ensure security of their power, but perhaps our government wants to increase security upon the people to make us feel safe. With different traumatic events like nine eleven, maybe it’s the governments way of dealing with…

    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1984 Persuasive Essay

    • 740 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The well-known novel 1984 by George Orwell, is a direct commentary of our present society, the novel talks about media controlling the thoughts of the people, the reoccurring slogans of the party which are, “War is peace, Freedom is slavery and Ignorance is strength” and the idea of doublethink, these are all seen in our society today, but in different forms.…

    • 740 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Is 1984 A Dystopia

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages

    George Orwell’s novel “1984” is a startlingly original and haunting story that creates an imaginary world based on a classic interpretation of a “negative utopia,” more commonly referred to as a “dystopia.” Orwell is able to successfully create a world of fear where there is no sense of freedom and the citizens are “brainwashed” to believe that they are living in what is known as an ideal world. The government, or more accurately referred to in the book as the “Party” has managed to do this by suppressing a person’s ability to think for themselves and by eliminating their freedom by instilling fear through propaganda, strict rules and regulations, and never-ending surveillance. The members of the “Party” live very comfortable and lavish lives…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The society in the novel of 1984 written by George Orwell is based on power and hate. This society controls the community by brainwashing and training them to follow their leader big brother, i could not be able to live and or survive in a society based on hatred for everyone and everything. I have read and learned about these societies and they have all came crashing down. For example Hitler and his tyranny state. Humans should not be controlled in such a way because it eliminates their rights.…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    We as humans like to think positive, that all is dandy and that only good can prosper, but is this really true? In the book 1984 by George Orwell, Orwell challenges this by saying, “It is impossible to found a civilization on fear and hatred and cruelty It would never endure” (269). But, in fact, countries can be founded on the basis of fear, hatred and cruelty and although these elements may not last, the country can indeed endure.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    George Orwell’s 1984

    • 2276 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In 1949, at the dawn of the nuclear age and before the television had become a fixture in the family home, Orwell’s vision of a post-atomic dictatorship in which every individual would be monitored ceaselessly by means of the telescreen seemed terrifyingly possible. That Orwell postulated such a society a mere thirty-five years into the future compounded this fear. 1984 is one of Orwell’s best-crafted novels, and it remains one of the most powerful warnings ever issued against the dangers of a totalitarian society.…

    • 2276 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Totalitarianism In 1984

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages

    There are still governments today that practice totalitarianism and dictatorship. The dystopian society portrayed in the novel 1984 resonated with people who had been oppressed post World War II. How did the government control the people? Eric Arthur Blair, who used the pseudonym George Orwell, was an English novelist, journalist, and critic. Orwell was born on June 25, 1903 in India.…

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is a saying: yesterday is a history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is way it’s called the present. This sounds quite reasonable for us: what has gone becomes history and what lies in the future is always a mystery; present days are for us to treasure. However, these become fantasies in George Orwell’s 1984 society, the society that is opposite to the one we are living in—where history is constant and future is altering. The history of 1984’s society is constantly changing while the future remains solid, for no one is able to change his fate.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    And more importantly, when comparing political systems we talk about ‘the flow of power in and around governments; and another conception is power is simply the capacity to bring about intended effect” (Hague and Harrop, 2010) . However citizens disenchantment with the political systems are formed in the idea that “contemporary democracies are facing popular pressures to grant more access, increase the transparency of governance, and make government more accountable; and new forms of representation and public participation are emerging”…

    • 2030 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Totalitarianism: Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed," (dictionary.com). Essentially, totalitarianism is a type of government in which the person or people in power seek to maintain absolute control over every person under their authority, with virtually all importance eliminated from the concept of an individual. The term was characterized by Hannah Arendt, the German-American political theorist who wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism, inspired by Hitler and Stalin of the just-finished World War II and just-starting Cold War. Responding to the terrors of WWII that she experienced firsthand, Arendt describes the evils of totalitarianism as she saw them. George Orwell, an author living at the same time as Arendt, responded similarly to the widespread war and terrifying totalitarianism. In his 1984, Orwell creates a strictly totalitarian society, offering an alarming glimpse into a possible future. Orwell 's society shows every characteristic named above in the definition of totalitarianism, its government 's sole goal to maintain power.…

    • 1595 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays