1984 Warning Signs

The Warning Signs of 1984 Eric Arthur Blair, also known as George Orwell, made one of the more brilliant and questionable books of the 20th century. Orwell lived through a time of new political movements and mass destruction of World War II. Communism, fascism, and the idea of a totalitarian government concerned Orwell, and also had a big influence on his novel 1984. In this novel, Orwell tries to show the readers what the dangers of a Totalitarian government really are, attempting to prevent it from happening one day. Orwell wrote this novel when communism began rising. He wanted to inform people of his opinion, which he was never shy about doing in the past. Communism was a ruthless form of government, and the most ruthless communist leader
was Joseph Stalin. With Orwell living through the times of World War II, it gave him a first hand idea of what a communist government was really like. George Orwell’s life events are correlated to the events in 1984, his opinions on the government and new government trends were also expressed throughout the book. George Orwell was a natural born writer. He started by writing critiques and essays, which he was very skilled at. He wrote many essays and book reviews in his spare time to express things through writing. Around 1921, he produced his first novel out of his two best essays “Shooting and Elephant” and “A Hanging.” These essays were inspired by his time in the Indian Civil Service. Orwell had always loved writing, which was a surprise to his family. He even made the name “George Orwell” for when, if ever, his books were published, no one would know it were him (Rossi). Orwell took part in the Spanish Civil War, which helped him convert over to socialism. It was contradicting that in the time he was in there he joined a communist group called the POUM, which in simpler terms meant “Worker’s Party of Marxist Unification.” This was not a normal communist party, considering they were against Stalin and the Soviet Union. This is when Orwell really began to be against the Stalinist version of communism. This concept is commonly shown in the novel 1984. Orwell really based 1984 off of his life and the communism and fascism happening around him (Seaton). Orwell and his fellow POUM members worked hard to make others not give into the Stalinist form of communism. Orwell wrote many reviews which were about the Spanish communists who followed Stalin. In these reviews he would attempt to tell people how terrible communism really was, much like Winston with his journal in 1984. 1984 states “‘If there is hope,’ he had written in the diary, “it lies in the proles,’” (Orwell, pg. 82) and the only way to change the world from supporting communism, is through the people. Back in the day, Orwell openly discussed his feelings towards communism, fascism, and totalitarian governments.
He was completely against these forms of government and wanted a way to express this view and make the people aware of what a totalitarian government could really do. The main fascist/communist country of his time period was the Soviet Union run by the ruthless leader, Joseph Stalin. Stalin’s form of government was a dictatorship, where he ruled the people and the people had no say. When people such as farmers attempted to resist Stalin, he would take everything they owned including their crops which killed off millions of people (Crowley, Parker). This is what communist Stalin perceived to be the best way to run a country. If people attempted to disobey Stalin and his government, he would simply kill them off because he believed that he knew the best way to run a nation and did not want anyone to threaten his ideas. Throughout the entire novel of 1984, Orwell is stating ways that a totalitarian government will destroy any nation. This book was strongly based off of Orwell’s real life political views. The totalitarian government in 1984 mirrors the communist government of Russia in the 1940’s. Orwell’s main goal of this book was to show his political views towards communism. A totalitarian government is a government in which all decisions and authority is done by the state and the people have no say. This form of government is shown in 1984, “BIG BROTHER IS
WATCHING YOU, the caption ran beneath it,” (Orwell, pg. 2) is showing how the totalitarian government in 1984 was a dictatorship. The goal of these governments is to put fear into the people to make them scared. If the people of the country fear you, the will never betray you or attempt to overthrow you. Fear of the party by the people was the main goal of Big Brother and the party in 1984. “Tears trickled down the side of his nose -- he loved big brother,” (Orwell, pg. 298). After finally fearing big brother and the government, Winston finally gave into not being against them. Orwell feared the thought of the government having an abuse of power, and abusing citizens with their power. This was a big message in the book 1984 because abuse of power and abuse of citizens was very common. This is a government in which Orwell was completely against (Makovi). Communism works relatively in the same way. This book was very interesting to people at the time it was published. It came out around when the war ended and when when communism was rising. Many people believed that maybe Orwell was trying to tell us something, and predict what may happen in the future and this frightened people. Many researchers also thought it was interesting how many correlations there were between 1984 and Orwell’s real life. Being a person relatively fighting alone against an extreme government is a very stressful and scary thing.
In 1984, this is exactly what Winston Smith was doing. In reality, this was how Orwell felt in his head attempting to fight a battle against communism. Orwell was a socialist who wrote many things about being against communism, which not many have. Winston also writes in his diary about being against the party: “diary open -- DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER,” (Orwell, pg. 20). In 1984, Winston talks about how he works on at a speakwrite machine, which forces people to believe things that only the government wants them to believe, this is also how communism worked. During the communist era, there were many propaganda posters promoting communism and scaring people. This is similar to the posters that state “Big Brother is Watching You” (Orwell, pg. 2) in 1984. Winston and George Orwell are similar in many ways, considering Orwell did base his novel relatively off of himself. In the real world, Orwell was sick for a lot of his life with lung complications, and eventually died from tuberculosis (Rossi). In 1984, Winston is also sick with a nagging cough and a “varicose ulcer above his right ankle,” (Orwell, pg. 1). Orwell, like Winston, wanted so badly for people to understand the consequences of this form of government. Orwell was slightly more straight forward with his viewpoint on the communist government, while Winston kept it all to
himself.
1984 is a book strongly based on communism, totalitarian governments, and the effect that they will have on citizens individually and as a whole. Orwell created a book that does not only make you think, but also makes you question if this really is the type of society you want to live in. He challenges different viewpoints, and shows the struggle of a person who is completely dictated for their whole entire life. 1984 showed viewpoints of the people against the government, for the government, and the government itself which gave readers a good view of the whole story. This book was meant to show readers how a totalitarian government would be if the world really did turn over to communism. Orwell’s novel really made readers stop and think about how the world would be if perhaps this did really happen, and also made some readers concerned about whether or not this is soon to be a reality for the world.