Resemblance Of The Party In 1984 To The Government In Today's Society

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Resemblance of the Party In 1984 To the Government In Today’s Society In 1949, George Orwell started the trend of novels about dystopian societies when he published his book, 1984. Like its title, the book is based in the near future of the year 1984. The purpose of this was too frightening readers about what can happen to their society in the decades ahead. In this novel, Oceania is one of three superstates in the world, and the home of the main character, Winston. The government and its leader, Big Brother, control everything that the people of Oceania do, including what they think. In order to develop such an over controlling government, Orwell uses his personal thoughts and experiences. This includes his hatred for communism and time spent …show more content…

As a worker in the Ministry of Truth, Winston was a record editor and his job was to change newspapers and articles to praise Big Brother. The party also used ‘double think’ to change people's thoughts and alter their beliefs. Orwell wrote “Whatever the Party holds to be truth is the truth. It is impossible to see reality except through the eyes of the party,” (Orwell 102). What this quote means is there is no creativity or imagination, the only point of view is the party’s. For example, Winston was brainwashed into thinking two plus two equals five, because the party says so. Although these things seem extreme and unrealistic in today’s society, it occurred in 1998 with the Tiananmen Square incident. Thousands of troops marched into the square and fired upon several thousand peaceful protesters. Anywhere from hundreds to thousands of people died on this day, however the Chinese government would never admit to it. Instead, they removed it from all libraries, books, databases, and newspapers. In an article about Tiananmen Square, the author wrote: “As the loyal party member said, “What they really want is for you to say, ‘We love Deng, we love the party and we love socialism.’ And we all say it of course.” No one died in Tiananmen Square,” (Lutz). Similarly, to Big Brother and double think, the communist government covered up their wrongdoings to make themselves look good. This is a major flaw in both, the government in 1984 and the government in today’s