George Orwell 1984

George Orwell’s classic novel ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ paints a bleak picture of a futuristic society controlled by a totalitarian government. 1984 is a novel about using power to control society. George Orwell's novel was published in 1948 and this is significant because World War II had recently ended and the Nazi dictatorship of Adolph Hitler in Germany had been defeated. This was not an end to dictatorship around the world; however, because Joseph Stalin controlled Russia in much the same way that Hitler had controlled Germany and Mao Zedong was in charge of China. Propaganda, fear, murder and thought control were methods that Hitler, Stalin and Mao used to gain power and to control their countries. In 1984, many similarities exist between the novel and Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia and Mao's China. Big Brother could easily represent Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Overall, the main methods of control in 1984 were control of education and information and over bearing system of rules.
1984 is not just about totalitarianism; it makes us live through totalitarianism. The Party wants power for its own sake. The novel shows how the government attempts to control the minds and bodies of it citizens, such as Winston Smith who does not subscribe to their beliefs, through a variety of methods. The first obvious example arises with the large posters with the caption of "Big Brother is Watching You" (Chapter 1, page 3 and 4). These are the first pieces of evidence that the government is watching over its people. However, the Party truly carefully monitors the behaviour of all of its constituents. One method of Big Brother’s surveillance was through telescreens screens located in the homes in Airstrip One. The first obvious example of this that arises in the novel is in Winston’s home; “Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; more over, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the mental plaque commanded,