George Orwell 1984 Analysis

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You may have heard the phrase “Big Brother is watching” from TV, or from your friends showing irritation about the NSA restricting their pirating. However, not everyone knows that this phrase refers to political activist George Orwell’s 1949 masterpiece 1984. Set in 1984, the novel is a depressing dystopian that, since it’s publication in 1949, has given individuals an uninviting interpretation of the future. The novel narrates the life of Winston Smith, a man living in the tyrannical super state of Oceania, undergoing the woes and danger of having beliefs that oppose the party. Along with his young lover, Winston Smith sets out to destroy the tyranny and control of society. Getting caught, however, exposes Smith to the horrors of torture and what happens when you give in to the temptation of submission. While this novel sounds alarming, and potentially …show more content…

(Van Bossche). Van Bossche went on to demonstrate a few ways in which his society mirrored Orwell’s. Finally, he highlighted the importance of listening to Orwell’s warning: don’t let our society turn into 1984. In 2013, Ian Crouch wrote an article similar in the nature of comparing 1984 to modern day society. Crouch asked “Have we doomed to either submit to the safety of unthinking orthodoxy or endure re-education and face what horrors lie within the dreaded room 101? Is Obama Big Brother? Omnipresent and opaque?” (Crouch).Crouch and Van Bossche both asked the questions we should be asking. Creating parallels between our society and that of 1984 is an effective way to aide in assessing in what ways must we change our society in order to further ourselves from the eerie world of