Similarities Between Fahrenheit 451 And 1984

Both the regimes shown in Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 use surveillance and thought control to oppress the public. In 1984 this takes shape as the party INGSOC and the figure head of big brother, in chapter 1 there are posters in Winstons apartment building that read ‘big brother is watching you’ the totalitarian regime of the novel is all under this omnipotent and omniscient figure which instils fear in the people. ‘Poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures that you are so contrived by that the eyes follow you about when you move.’ the size of the image itself reflects how big brother and the government looms over the public, the personification of the poster is used to show how the public feel constantly watched,

Another large part of surveillance in 1984 is the telescreens, small wall mounted screens that can see and hear what is going on in a room at any given time, they are put everywhere part members may be, in Winstons apartment or ‘victory mansion’ however they are not always being used meaning they never know when they are being watched. ‘You had to live- did live, from habit that became instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard and, except in darkness, every movement was scrutinized’ By using surveillance and creating the fear of it INGSOC are able to control every move of any person they need to, the abrupt changing from had to, to did symbolizes how the people in 1984 self-correct in order to defend themselves from the thought police, ascribing to the party's way of thinking out of fear even if they don’t agree with it, the ‘thought police’ are likely a reference to Hitler and the Nazi’s Gestapo or the soviet union's KGB, both state controlled police forces that spied and arrested people if they disagreed with their respective government and both were active before or during Orwell's writing of the book in

In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” by limiting intellectual freedom through language expressing any sentiment against the ruling class would be impossible, Orwell himself also held this opinion that controlling language and expression also meant controlling minds and actions in his essay politics and the English language (1946) Orwell said ‘"If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." Drawing from the Ussr and its suppression of though under Stalin, he was openly critical of the regime in his novel animal farm despite himself being a socialist. By suppressing intellectual thought of the party members, they suppress independent thought which is a point made throughout both 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Orwell’s use of Similarly in Bradbury’s dystopia ‘Fahrenheit 451’ the government suppresses its people's intellectual freedom through the banning and destroying of books, books are seen as contradictory and