George Orwell Totalitarianism
In the twentieth century, George Orwell’s 1984 became a definitive novel with unique terms that continue to be used in today’s societies. The dystopian novel is set in Airstrip One under the dictatorship of “Big Brother” who no one really knows exists. The English Socialist government persecutes individualism and independent thinking with constant surveillance of its citizens. Winston Smith, the protagonist, is a member of the Outer Party and works for the Ministry of Truth rewriting the past. Elements in George Orwell’s life such as literature, wartime experience, heath problems, and a warning to society are among the multiple issues that contribute to writing 1984. Literature and authors had an influence in Orwell’s writing of 1984. One
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Totalitarianism is an objective, neutral term describing a particular type of political regime or form of government (Mantzaris 218). 1984 is not intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party but as a highlight of the perversions to which a centralized economy is liable and which have already been partly understood in Communism and Fascism. Orwell’s intention and his political stance in the last years of his life are brought up with the publication of 1984. The novel is an expression of his “irritation at the many facets of British Socialism and most particularly… at the drab gray pall life in Britain today has drawn across the civilized amenities of life before the war” (Rankin 189). Orwell fabricated a fictional reality that pretends to be a description of what would happen in 1984. The novel is functioning today as a sample of fiction but is formed by not only one but three worlds. One is the one where Orwell once lived and the world of today. Another is the world created by Orwell, which is the world for the fictional characters that live in that world. The third is the fictional world created and enforced by the omnipotent Party, which ought to be considered as a true reality for the characters of the novel (Zolyan 140). The world of the novel, where “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell 2) is on posters all around, comes from only a fear that Orwell could have about the future. 1984 is a warning not only to government leaders but also to society that the loss of individualism is the loss of
Totalitarianism is an objective, neutral term describing a particular type of political regime or form of government (Mantzaris 218). 1984 is not intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party but as a highlight of the perversions to which a centralized economy is liable and which have already been partly understood in Communism and Fascism. Orwell’s intention and his political stance in the last years of his life are brought up with the publication of 1984. The novel is an expression of his “irritation at the many facets of British Socialism and most particularly… at the drab gray pall life in Britain today has drawn across the civilized amenities of life before the war” (Rankin 189). Orwell fabricated a fictional reality that pretends to be a description of what would happen in 1984. The novel is functioning today as a sample of fiction but is formed by not only one but three worlds. One is the one where Orwell once lived and the world of today. Another is the world created by Orwell, which is the world for the fictional characters that live in that world. The third is the fictional world created and enforced by the omnipotent Party, which ought to be considered as a true reality for the characters of the novel (Zolyan 140). The world of the novel, where “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell 2) is on posters all around, comes from only a fear that Orwell could have about the future. 1984 is a warning not only to government leaders but also to society that the loss of individualism is the loss of