1984 George Orwell Analysis

One factor of totalitarian governments is complete control of communications. This includes media, news, propaganda, and the transfer of information. This includes instilling fear into the people. This fact makes me thing very much of 1984 by George Orwell and how the government was ‘always watching them’ so the people were always afraid to speak poorly of it. The government in 1984 was a totalitarian government. In this painting, I see a face coming out of nowhere, as if to be catching the civilians when they least expect it. This face seems to be holding a light, as if to be illuminating their possible treason. I imagine this face to be a representation of the government that is looming over the people and filtering what they are allowed and not allowed to see in the form of communications. The face is also a central focus of the painting. This could be representative of what Hitler said in Mein Kompf when talking about war propaganda and that “[i]t must be addressed always and exclusively to the masses.” This shows the mentality of totalitarian leaders. Hitler is saying that

As Hannah Arendt states in The Origins of Totalitarianism that “[t]otalitarian movements are mass organizations of atomized, isolated individuals. Compared with all other parties and movements, their most conspicuous external characteristic is their demand for total, unrestricted, unconditional and unalterable loyalty of the individual member.” This can represent the fact that another aspect of totalitarian governments only has one party in their governmental systems. They have a one-party system so to further control the government and therefore the country. If there is no opposition then it is easier to have complete control. This single face, watching above the citizens, can also represent the single party system of totalitarian