Examples Of Totalitarianism In George Orwell's '1984'

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Nineteen Eighty-Four follows Winston Smith, a man living in what used to be Britain but is now known as Airstrip One. He works as an editor for the Ministry of Truth where he works to revise historical events in any way that Big Brother, the overruling party of Oceania, deems correct in their society. This is not the only questionable motive seen throughout the novel as Thought Police are used to regulate any threatening ideas that could somehow overpower the government. George Orwell uses the lack of political awareness to portray the consequences of a dictatorship in which facts are changed and the truth does not exist. He also makes many references toward a totalitarian regime. In a letter written in 1944, Orwell describes his fear in which society as a whole may have been moving toward a totalitarian rule. When a government has complete control over its citizens, they do not recognize their limits and they thrive off using propaganda and brainwashing to maintain their power. This political system has been …show more content…

Even if they are not being told the truth, the information they are being fed by the government is the only thing that they know. Big Brother works hard to make sure that news articles, documents, and photographs to make sure citizens never know how historical events actually happened. One of the biggest ideas throughout the story is that people can be controlled simply by believing in whatever they are told. Even though the claim sounds ridiculous, the people of Oceania are broken down by this notion in the sense that they do not think twice about what they see or hear. If a leader can cause someone to think that 2+2=5 then they have successfully rid their reign of any threats even if that means repressing their