Dystopian society in George Owell’s 1984
The word ‘Dystopia’, which is the opposite of utopia, means a dark future where the negative aspects of modern society are maximized. It is also called retro-Utopia.
One of the representative works that shows dystopia skillfully is the novel ‘1984’, written by George Orwell. In ‘1984’, various dystopian images such as humanity- extermination policy, continuous surveillance and ideological education through telescreen, and the extinction policies implemented as a part of the extermination of political offenders are depicted.
It envisages a totalitarian future of the world divided into Eurasia, Oceania, and East Asia by some grandiose powers. The protagonist, Winston Smith is a member of Oceania who is in charge of the crucial task of manipulating the past. He is a potential ideological offender who writes a diary or shares love secretly with the female member of the party, both of which are all prohibited by the authorities. He was merely a dreamer of departure. However, since he confirms the existence of Brotherhood, which tries to subvert the government system, he
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Meanwhile, it is interesting that Aldous Huxley 's ‘Brave New World’ and George Orwell ' s ‘1984’, which were written at the same time, draw a different perspective while both drawing a dystopian future. Both the ‘Newly Beautiful New World’ and ‘1984’ portrayed a future that is thoroughly monitored and controlled and lost humanity. However, while Aldous Huxley 's ‘Brave New World’ was based on the abundance of scientific progress, George Orwell’s work was based on the poverty of totalitarian society. Humans living in the ‘Brave New World’ live in a society where material abundance and war do not exist, but humans living in ‘1984’ live in a poor housing environment, scarce food, and fear of constant warfare. So I think it would be a very interesting search to look at the view of two novelists who saw dystopian future with a totally different