Examples Of Totalitarianism In George Orwell's '1984'

Justin Xiao

Vogel

AP Literature

4 March 2023

1984s Prediction of the Future

With several influences and ideologies of governance constantly at odds with each other, each claims to be the best way to govern. Similarly, those in power seek to maintain their control over the citizens while under the facade, they are in a power struggle. Instead of civil war and chaos, they use tactics and convincing arguments to gain influence over others and use sly tricks to have the upper hand. Even though a majority advocate for democracy, there are those who support the elite class to rule or a monarch. Despite differing opinions about what type of government should be in office, most people agree that totalitarianism isn't suitable for most countries. In

By instilling fear and killing those who are deemed a security risk to the state. Seen by the Ministry of Love in 1984, the facility uses torture to break down individuals until they are no longer physically and mentally stable and eat up any information that is thrown at them. Using these brainwashing techniques, it eliminates their self thought and becomes a blank slate for the government to spread their teachings on. Losing independence and uniqueness, people become this collective society of following the leader. Such as when Winston got arrested, the government made it sure that he believed everything they said. Though torture Winston realizes, “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it” and it changes him into an model citizen for his country (Orwell 80). Even though it is known that two plus two equals 4, the party has the power to break down anyone and force them to believe it is five. Translating this into the day to day lives of Oceania’s citizens, whatever the party deems to be the truth and what is the way life is supposed to be like. Governments that control over what people read, see, and do allow them to shape beliefs and actions to the way they want to. Even for the many enemies of the state, it is said “We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them” (Orwell 166) and the usage of torture to mentally change them. The

In 1984, the party is known to use Newspeak and with each new edition that is out, it removes words it deems unorthodox and therefore limiting the citizens ability to think critically about their society. By limiting the range of thought and eliminating words that express rebellious behavior, there are fewer words to and ideas that can be accurately conveyed. Through Winston, he purposely uses old and unapproved words to resist against the government’s attempts to control language, “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it” (Orwell 35). By controlling language, it eliminates crimethink (thought crime), allows doublethink (accepting contradictory beliefs), and tries to instill Ingsoc (Socialism beliefs) in all forms of communication. By using the disguise of modernizing their language, they are inherently trying to limit the words that can express anything the party doesn't want. Limiting the individual's ability to think about concepts such as personal identity, self-expression, and free will is all in the agenda for them. Currently in the world the broadcast in Russia can be seen using, “[Russia’s] government describes its invasion as a ‘special operation’, and state controlled media reports dehumanize the Ukrainians by using