George Orwell Xenophobia In 1984

Breaking News: 87-year old Chinese woman beaten until unconscious outside her apartment two months after COVID-19 pandemic hits. Erika Lee, author of America for Americans, defines xenophobia as “an ideology: a set of beliefs and ideas based on the premise that foreigners are threats to the nation and its people”(Ritcher, Eva). George Orwell uses his science-fiction novel 1984 not only as a satirical warning discussing the phenomenon of a government that rapidly emerged during his lifetime--totalitarianism--but also to address underlying problems existing throughout multiple countries: xenophobia and hate speech. 1984 begins by introducing the reader to the protagonist, Winston Smith, who lives in one of three superstates, Oceania, which is

Despite being in a mindless society, Winston is very conscious of the Party’s lies, and almost recklessly defies them through his journal entries, inner thoughts, and later illicit affair with another Party member, Julia. However, throughout Winston’s narrative there is a constant reminder of what happens if an individual isn’t normal, if they stick out and get caught by the Party; they disappear. Although it may appear that Orwell predicted the xenophobia and hate speech of today, the fact is that they existed long before he wrote the novel and have only been amplified through mass media in our modern society.
Fear of outsiders has long been a part of human nature. Before Orwell wrote 1984, fear of Asians was evident in the Chinese Exclusion Act which barred Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S in 1882 (“Chinese Exclusion Act”). The novel 1984 is a response to the Anti-Asian hysteria of Orwell’s time fueled by the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II. American citizens discriminated against the Asian community and isolated them from the rest of the population in internment camps, similar to how in 1984 the Party indoctrinated the masses to

The Brennan Center reports that U.S “federal agencies may share information they collect from social media across all levels of government and the private sector” shockingly adding that they “sometimes even disclose data to foreign governments.” Electronics have taken over our lives, making it easier to collect information and watch people, like the telescreens in 1984. However, this does not prove that Orwell predicted the future. Governments have a long history of keeping tabs on their citizens. In fact, mass surveillance by the U.S government on German American citizens began in WWI well before Orwell wrote his novel (“Mass Survellance Began with