Powerful Government In George Orwell's 1984

Powerful Governments A government is to be in charge of the economic affairs, policy, and actions of a country. There are various types of governments, with laws and restrictions that citizens are to follow. These laws and restrictions can easily be taken to extremes as portrayed in George Orwell’s 1984. 1984 follows a man named Winston Smith who resides in Oceania, a country ran by a totalitarian government called INGSOC. The government controls almost every aspect of peoples’ lives and going against the government results in elimination or torture. Surprisingly, 1984 relates significantly to several of today’s societies and governments, including the United States, Russia, Cuba, and North Korea in ways of mass mind control, electronic intrusion, and endless war. The USA PATRIOT Act allows the government to get a hold of an individual’s private records without a warrant. This completely takes away a person’s right to privacy. The government has access search anyone’s internet or library records. Taking away someone’s right to read what they please also takes away the freedom of writing about controversial topics since anyone who reads it is intimidated by the government (Jacobs and

For instance, “In 2012 the Cuban government prevented the country’s citizens from leaving or returning to Cuba without first obtaining official permission, which was often denied to those who had criticized the government” (“Cuba” n.p). The government might restrict the citizens from leaving to create a blockage from the outside world. This was the case in 1984, since, “…the average citizen of Oceania never sets eyes on a citizen of either Eurasia or Eastasia, and he is forbidden the knowledge of foreign languages” (Orwell 181). The government does this so the citizens do not have any access to information on other countries, since that will lead to them questioning their own lives, which will lead to thoughts of