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Orwell's Anti-Totalitarianism

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Orwell’s personal experiences fighting against Franco in the Spanish Civil War planted the seeds for his anti-Fascist/Totalitarian political view. Orwell fought against Franco’s regime under a non-stalin left wing militia called the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification(1984). He originally planned to fight exclusively against Fascism, but pro-stalin forces branded his party as traitors (1984). This led to the state charging Orwell with treason which prompted him to flee the country along with his wife.This conviction also revealed to him his true enemy, not Fascism or Communism, but Totalitarianism(Newsinger). Many readers of the novel fail to realize this and simply understand it as a warning against Fascism. Some also believe it encourages …show more content…

He writes against the atrocities committed under totalitarian regimes, which includes the actions of both socialist and fascist rulers such as Stalin and Franco. The following quotes are taken from various essay/letters written by Orwell himself regarding the Spanish Civil War. “I know that some were committed by the Republicans, and far more (they are still continuing) by the Fascists. But what impressed me then, and has impressed me ever since, is that atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection”(Orwell). He points out that people tend to believe what is most supportive of their ideologies, regardless of how credible the source or accurate the information. Of course this isn’t exclusive to Fascism, but for Fascism to work at all required people to immediately accept new information given to them by the state. This is reflected very heavily in 1984 as nearly all people tend to believe anything the party tells them without question, even if it makes absolutely no sense or is contradictory of itself. This is called “Doublethink” in the novel, and is often exemplified as 2+2=5. Of course, this is not the greatest extent of this tactic as the Party also tends to demonize the enemy nations of Eurasia and Eastasia, and as expected the people of Oceania blindly “feel” what they are told to

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In “Smoker’s Get a Raw Deal”, Stanley S. Scott argues that smokers are being discriminated against, and being able to smoke wherever they like is a right that is being taken away. This argument is not effective. One reason is that it is stated at the end of the article that the writer, Stanley Scott at the time was the vice president of the tobacco company Philip Morris. This creates a bias in his argument since he is likely to favor smoking. Which can lead to leaving out certain details in order to sway the readers toward smoking.

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The rage that the people felt is “an abstract, undirected emotion” of which “The Party” can direct towards anything/one that they want to. Orwell uses this society’s situation to demonstrate how wars can be used as propaganda and how if people are informed about the wars, the government will use their ignorance as an advantage and will be in a continuous state of violence (p.

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(Orwell 193). They want to eliminate individual freedom and thoughts for good. This essay confirms Orwell’s warnings because they have fixed their own “truths” just to abide by the government and their lies. People’s love for the Party was very strong they took back their statements and described them as mistakes, justifying the government. In Nineteen Eighty – Four Julia says “It’s always one bloody war after another, and one knows the news is all lies anyways” (Orwell

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The first website article “George Orwell Biography” is written by the editors of Biography.com explains Orwell’s life with facts and dates. This website goes into detail on his early life, early career, his later works, and his personal life. I thought it was very interesting to read that Orwell knew how the rich people were treating the poor. I thought this was interesting because of in the first few chapters of his book 1984, it seemed like he had know idea of what life could be like and it didn’t seem like he knew how poorly the rich people were treating them.

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Orwell 's goal was to warn us of the serious danger totalitarianism poses to society. Orwell 's was a socialists and believed strongly in the potential for rebellion go wrong and developed into totalitarian rule. We as society should not be letting ourselves be control by the government because it will get us into a much bigger danger of depending on their government. People should not be letting their lives be manipulated there is actually managment going on in them, people have the right to make their own choices or decisions because we all have rights and the government is not really respecting that. Yes the people should be taking it as a warning as an important advice, our society is being controlled by the government and people

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In World War II, the increased aggression of the Axis Powers and further knowledge on their ideologies caused widespread fear across the world. This fascist threat from Germany, Italy, and Japan brought the powers of the Allied countries into the war to fight for their freedom. Ultimately, the Allies were victorious against fascism, and many people believed–and still believe–that fascism could never again exist in the modern age. This idea then begs the question: what would our world look like if fascism prevailed? Although this thought is distasteful to most, author George Orwell published his most popular novel in 1984 concerning this same prospect.

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Though Orwell writes about a nightmarish and purely fascist government whose aim

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George Orwell's experience in the Spanish Civil War, while fighting the fascists, showed a darker side to communism. He had unknowingly joined the Spanish Trotskyists, and when the Communists took over in 1937, found himself being hunted down by the Spanish Govenrment. He witnessed people he knew being shot, jailed or simply vanishing. According to Orwell, the hunt for anyone considered unorthodox coincided with the "great purges of the USSR". He states, "In Spain as well as in Russia the nature of the accusations (namely, conspiracy with the Fascists) was the same and as far as Spain was concerned I had every reason to believe that the accusations were false.

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Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.

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Totalitarianism in 1984 and the Real World The concept of a totalitarian society is a major theme throughout the novel 1984. This theme of totalitarianism can also be applied to the world today. The definition of totalitarianism, a concept used by some political scientists, is a state which holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible. Totalitarianism can be related between the novel 1984 and current events in the real world. George Orwell incorporated the theme of totalitarianism into his novel 1984 to display the ever changing world around him during the time it was written.

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Orwell’s book showed his opinion on the government of Russia. His writing put the point across that dictators will not be best for the future. He wanted a government that was not just one person was in control of everything you could say or do. Orwell was not afraid to have his opinion out in the open for everyone to hear.

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Orwell provides a detailed account of his experience in the Spanish Civil War as a broader fight towards a social revolution. The egalitarian revolution was one of great importance for left. While studying their decision making throughout the revolution, the Anarchists, did the best they could given the setting of the situation. The question remains; if the Anarchist revolution had been successful, would it have been a functioning model in the long-term. There were many underlying factors that led to the defeat of the anarchist goals, and the broader left movement in general.

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Above all, it works as a weapon against the powerful few who violate the fundamental human rights by snatching away the right to thought, freedom and expression. George Orwell employed a totalitarian setting in his celebrated works Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. His works are marked by eloquent prose, responsiveness and wakefulness towards social injustice, resistance to totalitarianism, and forthright support of democratic socialism. He handled delicately the many strings of the violation of the basic fundamental rights. His works touched the aspects of the repression of freedom, natural impulses and individualism whilst taking fundamental rights as the basis of such claims.

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George Orwell has left a lasting impression on the lives of his audience despite only living for forty-six years. Known for his politically critical novels, Orwell’s material is proven relevant, even today, to explain situations pertaining to society or to government. However, the question of how Orwell understood totalitarianism to the extent that he did remains. On June 25, 1903, this Anglo-French writer, originally named Eric Arthur Blair, was born in Motihari, India, to Richard Blair and Ida Limouzin. At a young age, Orwell was sent to a convent run by French nuns, where his hatred of Catholicism was established.

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George Orwell lived during a very tumultuous time, serving in the Indian Imperial Police, and seeing both World Wars and the Spanish Civil War. While surrounded by this near-constant state of strife, Orwell used writing as a way to comment on political situations and to pass on an understanding to his readers. In his novella, Animal Farm, Orwell uses the allegory of a farm to comment on the failures of Stalinism in the Soviet Union. As a man whose strong political convictions were shaped by his surroundings, it is no surprise that Orwell finds his purpose for writing in political commentary. Orwell’s purpose for writing is so severely political that he states that every novel he wrote after 1936 was written “directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism” (268).

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