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Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984

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Throughout the novel, The 1984, the theme of totalitarianism is very present and significant, it defines the structure of government and life for the protagonist, Winston Smith. The environment around Winston Smith, and the rest of the citizens of Oceania is highly controlled by the government through surveillance and propaganda. A totalitarian government is a centralized governing style that seeks absolute control over everything, what people’s actions are, their level of freedom, and even what people think and believe. The governmental power that embodies the citizens of Oceania creates a lack of freedom, and lack of identity. The people of Oceania no longer have the ability to express themselves or change themselves to be different from …show more content…

Unfortunately this happens to our main protagonist, Winston Smith. Winston writes in his journal, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (Orwell 36) multiple times. This expresses the beginning of Winston’s intense hatred for the inner party and the power that it holds over him. After Winston is captured, tortured and has his mind ripped apart, he is released back into the city and is relaxing in a coffee shop. He watches the teleprompter and thinks to himself, “He loved Big Brother.” (Orwell 298). After such immense pain and torture the inner party had won, they had broken Winston down to the bare bottom and rebuilt him up in the shape that the government intended. Winston went from “Down with Big Brother” (Orwell 36) to “He loved Big Brother” (Orwell 298). This shows that the inner party did truly own the power to control the minds of the residents of Oceania, that their minds can be destructed and restructured into any form that the government desires and this causes Winston and all the other residents of Oceania slaves to the inner

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