Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984 By George Orwell
1) How far and in what ways are totalitarianism and human societies criticised by Orwell, and is this meant as a warning for the population in the post-war period?
2) Orwell criticises totalitarianism in his novel by creating in it a society that cumulates all the disadvantages from different regimes throughout history. Therefore, this author manages to denigrate human societies in general as well as the government of totalitarian regimes through the way his main character, Winston Smith, feels about the Party.
He also manages to give us an overview of the human societies throughout history and their structure, without omitting to implicitly criticise them.
Why does Orwell write this novel, full of under-statements and direct references …show more content…
to the world of today and throughout history, if not to warn the population of the extents of communism? 3) Three documents focused on to develop and illustrate the main theme are:
-An extract from Orwell’s 1984 chapter 9,
–An extract of Chapter 1 from 1984
–An essay written in class with the theme of: ‘ How far and in what ways does Orwell appear to criticize humanity and totalitarianism?’
-Firstly, we will take a look at the ninth chapter of Orwell’s award-winning novel 1984.
This chapter is in fact a book within a book. Its title is ‘The Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism’. In this chapter, Orwell looks at, amongst other themes, society, how it functions and how it is structured. He treats this theme by explaining aspects of the fictional world of 1984, but he does not stop there. It is made explicit that, by criticizing and explaining the world he creates in his novel, Orwell makes references to the real world both of today and throughout history. A point made in this chapter is that democratic societies, who affirm they are based on equality and respect of human rights, are no better than dictatorships, because either way there are too many aspects of them which remain unequal. One of these aspects is that “since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle and the …show more content…
Low.” The way Orwell sees it, “the essential structure of society has never altered” meaning human societies have not made progress in the way the population is split up, or rather it had not remained the way it should have done; as it was before Neolithic age, where there were not three kinds of people but one.
This is a perfect example of implicit criticism of human societies throughout history by the author of 1984. It is not said outright that human societies are all unfair, but it is implied. A very wide overview is given of human societies and their disadvantages, but there is no insight in this passage of how these different societies have an impact on the individuals living under their rules.
Now it is understood how Orwell implicitly criticises human societies in general, it is important to acknowledge the way this author also explicitly criticises totalitarianism in his novel.
-As said previously, 1984’s protagonist Winston Smith plays an important role in depicting the conditions in which an ordinary Party member has to live in.
Orwell criticises the ‘perfect’ totalitarian society through Winston’s eyes. The Party, a government that holds all the powers and the reins to a country named Oceania, is in fact a portrayal of a state that could eventually be created if people in Europe do not fight against totalitarianism/communism.
Since the only knowledge the population has involving totalitarianism is based on what the Soviet Union regime and Nazi Germany have done, Orwell is willing to show people what England would be like under totalitarian rule.
(= World in which individuals are controlled so strictly that every aspect of their life is monitored (telescreens, thought police, anti sex league…) to the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law.)
Winston has to live in despicable conditions, he has no liberty and the Party controls even his personal life. For example, we see this in chapter one when it is said that:
“You had to live-did live, from habit that became instinct-in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”
Or, on another aspect, a quote showing us the conditions that would be established by totalitarianism is:
“The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. (…) It was no use trying to use the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours.”
When the English population, who do not know what to make of the new regimes being set up all around them (Russia, Germany…), will read this they will receive it as a warning not to accept communism/ totalitarianism into their free country.
It is seen here that totalitarianism is no longer implicitly criticized; given the fact that we know through Winston’s thoughts and his description of his life that Oceania is a horrible place, the criticism of totalitarianism is now explicit. It is not something that is implied.
Now we have seen why Orwell criticises totalitarianism as well as human societies in his novel, we will go on to examine how far and in what ways he does this.
-Using an essay written in class on the topic “How far and in what ways does Orwell appear to criticise humanity and totalitarianism?” we will prove that, although at first sight 1984 does not seem like it, this book as a political novel.
Orwell in his novel criticises many aspects of today’s society as well as societies throughout history, and he does this mainly by making references to the world of today through the fictional world he created.
One of these references is the omnipresence of telescreens throughout the city. They “represent the fact that in totalitarian regimes such as Hitler’s or Stalin’s, the population was severely supervised by the government.” This criticism is taken quite far and also takes the form of Goldstein’s book, which I have talked about previously. Not only does Orwell make references to the real world, he also exaggerates facts. An example could be the thought
police:
“Is a step ahead of the armed forces because they do not arrest you for actions or spoken words, they arrest you for what you think.”
We can know understand Orwell’s book much better than before, and we read it in a different way than how the population of the late 1940’s would have read it. This is due to the fact that communism is not a threat to us, and we have seen what it does. Therefore we read this book not as a warning, but rather as a story.
Hidden meanings in what Orwell writes are not always perceived straight away for example, not like they would have been perceived by the people in the late 1940’s.
4) These two chapters have particularly interested me as they contain a lot of information.
The first chapter of a book has to make people want to read it, and here we start reading without really understanding where the scene is set, who the characters are, why the place is dilapidated etc. This definitely makes it more interesting because the reader wants to carry on reading to find out the answers to all his questions!
(Another particularly interesting aspect of it is that, as said before, the extent of what Orwell is saying does not hit at first: only when the reader has almost finished the book does the first chapter clearly make sense.)
The ninth chapter was quite long to read and not particularly catchy, but it explains the three slogans of the Party in detail. Again, Orwell creates a mysterious atmosphere using three sentences that don’t appear to make any sense until you read chapter 9 of part 2. This chapter makes us see that the slogans are not contradictory just for the sake of it…!
EXAMPLE : “War is Peace.” This slogan is explained in chapter nine quite well, as it is said that war unites the nations and it is no longer a struggle between countries to get what they want, but rather equal forces fighting against each other knowing not one will win. War is then never-ending, and it is useful to the government as it assures they have complete control over their population.
Since war is more constant than peace, “ War is Peace.” In conclusion to this, Orwell’s 1984 is a much more complex book than it seems, but the language is not very difficult to understand. This is very important since it shows Orwell’s talent in explaining simply what is in general very complicated.
2) Orwell criticises totalitarianism in his novel by creating in it a society that cumulates all the disadvantages from different regimes throughout history. Therefore, this author manages to denigrate human societies in general as well as the government of totalitarian regimes through the way his main character, Winston Smith, feels about the Party.
He also manages to give us an overview of the human societies throughout history and their structure, without omitting to implicitly criticise them.
Why does Orwell write this novel, full of under-statements and direct references …show more content…
to the world of today and throughout history, if not to warn the population of the extents of communism? 3) Three documents focused on to develop and illustrate the main theme are:
-An extract from Orwell’s 1984 chapter 9,
–An extract of Chapter 1 from 1984
–An essay written in class with the theme of: ‘ How far and in what ways does Orwell appear to criticize humanity and totalitarianism?’
-Firstly, we will take a look at the ninth chapter of Orwell’s award-winning novel 1984.
This chapter is in fact a book within a book. Its title is ‘The Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism’. In this chapter, Orwell looks at, amongst other themes, society, how it functions and how it is structured. He treats this theme by explaining aspects of the fictional world of 1984, but he does not stop there. It is made explicit that, by criticizing and explaining the world he creates in his novel, Orwell makes references to the real world both of today and throughout history. A point made in this chapter is that democratic societies, who affirm they are based on equality and respect of human rights, are no better than dictatorships, because either way there are too many aspects of them which remain unequal. One of these aspects is that “since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle and the …show more content…
Low.” The way Orwell sees it, “the essential structure of society has never altered” meaning human societies have not made progress in the way the population is split up, or rather it had not remained the way it should have done; as it was before Neolithic age, where there were not three kinds of people but one.
This is a perfect example of implicit criticism of human societies throughout history by the author of 1984. It is not said outright that human societies are all unfair, but it is implied. A very wide overview is given of human societies and their disadvantages, but there is no insight in this passage of how these different societies have an impact on the individuals living under their rules.
Now it is understood how Orwell implicitly criticises human societies in general, it is important to acknowledge the way this author also explicitly criticises totalitarianism in his novel.
-As said previously, 1984’s protagonist Winston Smith plays an important role in depicting the conditions in which an ordinary Party member has to live in.
Orwell criticises the ‘perfect’ totalitarian society through Winston’s eyes. The Party, a government that holds all the powers and the reins to a country named Oceania, is in fact a portrayal of a state that could eventually be created if people in Europe do not fight against totalitarianism/communism.
Since the only knowledge the population has involving totalitarianism is based on what the Soviet Union regime and Nazi Germany have done, Orwell is willing to show people what England would be like under totalitarian rule.
(= World in which individuals are controlled so strictly that every aspect of their life is monitored (telescreens, thought police, anti sex league…) to the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law.)
Winston has to live in despicable conditions, he has no liberty and the Party controls even his personal life. For example, we see this in chapter one when it is said that:
“You had to live-did live, from habit that became instinct-in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”
Or, on another aspect, a quote showing us the conditions that would be established by totalitarianism is:
“The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. (…) It was no use trying to use the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours.”
When the English population, who do not know what to make of the new regimes being set up all around them (Russia, Germany…), will read this they will receive it as a warning not to accept communism/ totalitarianism into their free country.
It is seen here that totalitarianism is no longer implicitly criticized; given the fact that we know through Winston’s thoughts and his description of his life that Oceania is a horrible place, the criticism of totalitarianism is now explicit. It is not something that is implied.
Now we have seen why Orwell criticises totalitarianism as well as human societies in his novel, we will go on to examine how far and in what ways he does this.
-Using an essay written in class on the topic “How far and in what ways does Orwell appear to criticise humanity and totalitarianism?” we will prove that, although at first sight 1984 does not seem like it, this book as a political novel.
Orwell in his novel criticises many aspects of today’s society as well as societies throughout history, and he does this mainly by making references to the world of today through the fictional world he created.
One of these references is the omnipresence of telescreens throughout the city. They “represent the fact that in totalitarian regimes such as Hitler’s or Stalin’s, the population was severely supervised by the government.” This criticism is taken quite far and also takes the form of Goldstein’s book, which I have talked about previously. Not only does Orwell make references to the real world, he also exaggerates facts. An example could be the thought
police:
“Is a step ahead of the armed forces because they do not arrest you for actions or spoken words, they arrest you for what you think.”
We can know understand Orwell’s book much better than before, and we read it in a different way than how the population of the late 1940’s would have read it. This is due to the fact that communism is not a threat to us, and we have seen what it does. Therefore we read this book not as a warning, but rather as a story.
Hidden meanings in what Orwell writes are not always perceived straight away for example, not like they would have been perceived by the people in the late 1940’s.
4) These two chapters have particularly interested me as they contain a lot of information.
The first chapter of a book has to make people want to read it, and here we start reading without really understanding where the scene is set, who the characters are, why the place is dilapidated etc. This definitely makes it more interesting because the reader wants to carry on reading to find out the answers to all his questions!
(Another particularly interesting aspect of it is that, as said before, the extent of what Orwell is saying does not hit at first: only when the reader has almost finished the book does the first chapter clearly make sense.)
The ninth chapter was quite long to read and not particularly catchy, but it explains the three slogans of the Party in detail. Again, Orwell creates a mysterious atmosphere using three sentences that don’t appear to make any sense until you read chapter 9 of part 2. This chapter makes us see that the slogans are not contradictory just for the sake of it…!
EXAMPLE : “War is Peace.” This slogan is explained in chapter nine quite well, as it is said that war unites the nations and it is no longer a struggle between countries to get what they want, but rather equal forces fighting against each other knowing not one will win. War is then never-ending, and it is useful to the government as it assures they have complete control over their population.
Since war is more constant than peace, “ War is Peace.” In conclusion to this, Orwell’s 1984 is a much more complex book than it seems, but the language is not very difficult to understand. This is very important since it shows Orwell’s talent in explaining simply what is in general very complicated.