Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984

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Joseph Avolio
Mrs. Kutzleb & Mrs. Petak
English 11 Period 8
25 April 2023
The Dangers of Totalitarianism in George Orwell's I984
The world we live in today is almost completely controlled by propaganda and the news. This is scarily similar to the world of Oceania created by George Orwell. The novel 1984 by George Orwell focuses on a small morsel in a large overpowering dystopian society. In this society it is not allowed to have your own thoughts or make your own decisions and to not follow these orders is nothing but a death wish. While in the middle of this we have our main character Winston, he is the one sliver of hope left in Oceania as he tries to be his own person and fight back against the government. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell there are many aspects of a …show more content…

While this is still somewhat true for the citizens of Oceania the main reason they work and do what they do is on the basis of fear. It is fully acceptable for the government of Oceania to punish and convict the citizens of basically whatever they want, there are crimes such as thoughtcrime, having sex with another comrade other than your partner, and any expression of individuality. All of these crimes could get you put away for a very long time, but above all else there was one punishment that kept everyone in-line, Vaporisation. It was given this name by the people simply because that's what it was. One day a person was walking around and living their normal lives and the next they simply vanished. Orwell emphasizes the severity of the situation by saying “Winston saw that he had left it on the table. DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER was written all over it” (Orwell 20). One thing that drove many people within the walls of Oceania was fear. The government used a method of vaporization which basically made people disappear without a trace. They would do this so people would have a sense of fear to stay in line and not act out against the