Society is made up of multiple factors including individuality and opposition. George Orwell’s 1984 is a novel that depicts a communist dystopian society. Orwell wrote this novel to show what will happen to society under Communist control—more specifically, Joseph Stalin’s control. Orwell presents the reader with a protagonist, Winston, and through Winston, the reader can see the effects of extreme, forced conformity in a society. Through 1984, the reader can conclude that a society as a whole cannot thrive when constrained. For instance, in 1984 the act of thinking individual thoughts is considered a crime against Oceania. Once a comrade has given himself or herself some individuality, the Thought Police arrests the comrade for committing …show more content…
There is no individual thought process nor is there any innovation in new technology meaning that Oceana’s society has no room for improvement. Also one of the leading factors to the Soviet Union’s demise was the restriction on freedom of speech, and thought; as well as the restriction of opposition and individuality. This quote, “…He [Big Brother] did succeed, through the management of the news and the censorship of the written and spoken word, in severely impairing man's ability to think freely,” (Message) shows how Big Brother restricts a comrade’s freedom of speech via censorship produced by the Ministry of Truth, but it also resembles how Stalin produced fake propaganda, news, and government documents among other things, to make the Soviet citizens believe in him and follow his rulings. Both of these situations lead to the constriction on individuality, opposition, and therefore, innovation; and each government enforced this via their respective secret police. Because the main goal of either government is to make the people conform to the status quo, the Thought Police and the NKVD were essential to making the citizens obey the government, but the organizations were also responsible for restricting individual rights and the future of