Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984

Wes Driggs

Melton

British Lit/Comp

16 April 2018

Totalitarianism in 1984 A constant power struggle throughout history is that between leaders and the people they lead, or the governing and the governed. This power struggle is clearly represented in the novel 1984 by George Orwell. The novel, which centers around the overall theme of totalitarianism, takes place in a dystopia, in a country ruled by a governing force known as The Party. The Party are extremely strict leaders, and monitors their citizens very closely. It is similar to modern day North Korea. Totalitarianism is extremely prevalent in the novel. More specifically, control and the amount of it that the government has on its people, this includes control of things such as technology

Orwell discusses the Party's use of cameras to spy on the people. The Party uses the cameras to see if people are breaking one of their many laws, for example monitoring the faces of people to see if they are expressing themselves in any form, which is a crime in the book. This is an absurd use technology and provides no benefit to the people. Being under surveillance 24/7 can be very stressful is not safe psychologically for the citizens. A current issue that is up for debate is the use of technology in today's society to track people. A Washington Post article discusses how it has evidence that the National Security Agency (NSA) tracks billions of phones all over the United States. This discovery has citizens of the states very distraught and upset. The people feel less secure and also feel as though, if they can track where they are, then the NSA can access a lot more information about them that they may not want others to know. Another example once again comes from North Korea. The government in this secretive country has allowed small growth for the use of technology by beginning to allow its citizens to use more of the internet and have access to mobile phones. However they do this in order to spy on the activity of the people and collect data. This is very unethical and can be a cause of great concern in the country. The people of North Korea are allowed a

For example, in 1984, George states, “Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past”. This is referencing the Party's destruction of books and information that they deem unfit for citizens consumption. This is an extreme idea that can only have negative consequences. Limiting the amount of knowledge that citizens can get is very dangerous, without an educated population, advances in science and medicine could in turn decline. A similar situation occurs in Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451. The entire premise of the book is that the government burns all books and does not let the people read them. Bradburys story is often compared to Orwells story because of their similar totalitarian governments. Destroying books and other information of the past can inhibit society as a whole in the long run. Many modern day asian countries such as China block a lot of websites on the internet. “Its tactics often entail strict media controls using monitoring systems and firewalls.”, according to an article by the Council on Foreign Relations. The article goes on to discuss other ways the Chinese government censors information to the public. Censorship is effective when used appropriately, but censoring mass amounts of information can lead to serious