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Response To George Orwell's 1984

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1984 is the 1948 published science fiction novel by George Orwell that gave a chilling prophecy about the future and I read it first whilst studying for an English Literature Examination in the 1960s. Back then, when the world was a different place and the internet no more than a fantasy this was a haunting vision of a future that Orwell foresaw in his mind. Indeed this notion was so powerfully written that it is completely convincing from beginning to end. I defy anybody to state that they were unaffected by the power of this novel which has exercised an understandable hold on the imaginations of generations of readers. 1984 somehow has that timeless quality that belongs to great novels and with the passage of time, seems only to grow …show more content…

This whole scenario unfolded in the city state of Oceana. Many have speculated that this was Orwell describing a future incarnation of London. Those so-called Thought Police were in fact a strange organisation for monitoring the thoughts of citizens. Of course Winston fails, and is naturally caught. He believes implicitly that he was set up to fail by people he considered allies . Naturally, such toxic thoughts as Winston displays signify to those Thought Police his rebellious nature. This is forcefully and completely subdued by brain-washing, and his earlier cause is lost. When I read this book back then I found this vision of the future bleak and frankly foreboding with an underlying message that it is better to conform than not even when society and government are not perfect. 21st century society is by no means as awful as this bleak Orwellian vision. His s dystopian epic embodied his having created a a negative Utopia with nowhere to hide in which people simply do not have a choice. 1984 is, in fact, a novel of hopelessness rather than hope, ending on such a negative note for Winston. Yet still one has to remark on just how stark a reminder this novel the truly fragile nature of democracy and how thin the veneer of

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Throughout the story, Winston commits various “thoughtcrimes”, which are punishable by death, against “Big Brother” in order to escape its tyranny. We see the things he commits these crimes with, specifically with his diary and Julia, to be what he cherishes most. At the start of the book, Winston’s first “thoughtcrime” was writing in his diary. In this society, expressing thought is against the law and

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Yash Patel Mrs. Choi AP Literature October 2015 1984 Dialectal Journals for Part 2 Text Response 1. “In front of him was an enemy who was trying to kill him; in front of him, also was a human creature… He had indistinctively started forward to help her,” (Orwell 106) This quote shows that even in this time where they live in a life where they are being manipulated, Winston is still living in a time where he is experiencing hatred, but still maintains what keeps him normal or humane, which keeps him separated from everyone else. This hate is showing that people still have hate for each other and still want to kill each other but it also shows the true human he is by helping her when she was threatened.

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For example, “He discovered that while he sat helplessly musing he had also been writing, as though by automatic action… DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (Orwell 18). Winston feels that there is something fundamentally wrong and is not satisfied with his government. It shows that Winston starts to think that the government is controlling everything and becoming totalitarian. No matter how hard the people tried to make a utopian society, it was never successful.

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Often, we get to hear that criminals were not out of sound mind when they committed their crimes and might receive lighter punishments for that reason. Winston is not like that. He knows exactly what he is doing and still holds a sense of moral when he commits the thoughtcrime at the beginning of the book when he makes the diary entry. He is aware that thoughtcrime is something despicable in the society he lives in and frightens when someone knocks on the door, thinking the Thought Police is already here to arrest him.

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Many a literary critic claims that the strongest aspect of the book 1984 by George Orwell is its plot. Indeed, there is some merit in this conclusion, as the entire purpose of Orwell’s writing of this book was not to create a literary classic, but to warn the public about the dangers of communism if it got out of hand, and what better way to do this than to write an engaging plot? Others may claim that 1984’s greatest strength is in its character development. This aspect, too, is quite strong in the book, as not only are the minor characters effected in serving the dystopian theme, but the major characters are believable and very human in their failings. Winston’s transformation from an oppressed office worker to revolutionary and finally

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At the beginning of the novel, Winston made it prominent that he dissented Big Brother and his party’s idea. He wrote in his diary, in Book 1 Chapter 1, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER…” (Orwell 18). This shows that Winston dissented his country’s government and was willing to rebel for he knew deep inside that

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To begin, the suppression of privacy by technological invasions diminishes freedom. Others posit that it shows when the party slogan reads, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” They think, proles, who are the middle class, should be kept in subjection; their thoughts should be controlled and kept in fear, but if not, then the beliefs need to be converted. The proletariat is satisfied with its misery and with no acknowledgment of its suppression. Otherwise, the population will not survive.

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“And here I am, again… I could die because of this “rebellion”; I mean after every torture I have suffered, I don’t want you to ignore the situation we have to deal with. I really don’t care about myself anymore; they have taken off every single thing I used to long for, even my life as everyone’s here, and we are all robots without souls, as they have wanted it to be since always. Nothing is good ever. Even that I know the truth.

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As the world watched World War II emerge as one of the biggest wars in the history of the universe, George Orwell wrote 1984 to criticize the totalitarian approach of the socialist leaders in countries like Germany and the U.S.S.R. The book was written in 1948 when the act of communism became a dangerously threatening type of government to the citizens all over the world. In 1984, Winston, the main character of the novel, reflects on London’s dystopian society by creating his own diary, which is an act that brings him immense threat to the quality of his life. Even today, many citizens face the same types of situations that Winston experiences throughout the book. There are obvious parallels between the novel and America in 2016 in concepts

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He has done all this simply to please the party, and Big Brother. Winston is now one of the masses by the end of the novel. “And he awaits the bullet in the back of the head to finally set him free”(Orwell). Totalitarianism has completely won over humanity at last. Which may be a prediction of what may inevitably come in the future, according to Orwell himself.

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This is a literary analysis on the novel 1984 by George Orwell. 1984 is a more recent classic dystopian novel. Written in 1949, it's based in the future year of what is presumed to be 1984. It focuses on the life of Winston Smith, a member of the newly established Party that rules over a territory called Oceania and that is led by a man called Big Brother. This novel provides a rather frightening insight into a dystopian socialist environment.

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Throughout 1984, Winston is forced to confront a society which rejects the central tenets of humanity and independent thought, and which presides over society through the dissemination of propaganda. Orwell’s novel explores the dangers of totalitarian government and absolute control and is a prophetic tale of power and control that must be heeded in modern times. Totalitarianism is employed to grant absolute power to the Party and ensure the deference of the

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In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the main theme is of conformity to the wants of society and the government. Themes of dehumanization of our species, as well as the danger of a totalitaristic state are repeatedly expressed. Orwell demonstrates this theme by using setting and characters in the novel. The setting helps to convey the theme because of the world and kind of city that the main character lives in. Winston’s every move is watched and controlled by the governmental figurehead known as “big brother”.

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1784 Words | 8 Pages

Comparisons between the world that Orwell described and current world activities can be made. The novel 1984 depicts a totalitarianistic government which can be related to historical events such as World War II, and to events that are currently happening today such as the NSA and the spying incidents that occurred in the United States. The novel of 1984 displays themes of totalitarianism. One example directly from the novel 1984 is this quote written by the author George Orwell; “Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere.

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Foremost, Winston is paranoid about the though police. For example, when Winston returns to his flat after a work day at the Ministry of Truth, George Orwell states, “Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer; though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing” (3). George

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