Brayden Strobel Ms. Fokken English 07 March 2023 1984 book challenge essay “If you wanted to keep a secret you first had to hide it from yourself” (Orwell 354). A chilling quote from a chilling novel. In the book 1984 you see a dark dystopian future in which the government controls everything. Even your own thoughts. The main character Winston has to try and navigate through all this and hide his own thoughts from the government, and himself. George Orwells 1984 darkly displays the theme of oppression by showing us how government oppression breeds unrest and revolution and should be kept in the curriculum. One literary element that helps develop the theme is the conflict of the book. The main conflict of the book is the complete oppression …show more content…
Throughout the whole book Winston remains in this sort of fear and hate relationship with the party. He hated the party but at the same time they have so much control and so much power he knew he couldn't voice these opinions to anyone because Winston knew “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 moment scrutinized” (Orwell 4). Living like this was not specific to just Winston. Every citizen besides the elite lived in constant fear and complete submission to the party which made revolt basically impossible. Winston felt he managed to have his own mini protest against the party with his sexual affair with Julia. He felt. Sex, by the party's rule, was supposed to be a chore of sorts even to the people you love. The party thought that by taking away basic human desires they could have more control over the people, and they were right. With Winston and Julia having sex it was their own revolution against the party. They knew they could be tortured, or even killed for just the thought of sex yet they both did it. Julia only did it because she liked breaking the rules but to Winston it was something more “It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act." (Orwell …show more content…
Like how there are many graphic and somewhat disturbing scenes. Like when Winston told Julia the first time he met her he wanted to “Rape you and then murder you afterwards” (Orwell 121). Obviously rape and murder is bad, and with how much the book mentions murder and torture it can definitely be graphic and not suitable for some people. Another reason is that there are certain themes of the book that are also concerning. Like the themes of violence evident during the torture scenes that are very graphic “Sometimes it was fists, sometimes it was truncheons, sometimes it was steel rods, and sometimes it was boots. There were times when he rolled about the floor, as shameless as an animal, writhing his body this way and that in an endless, hopeless effort to dodge the kicks, and simply inviting more and yet more kicks, in his ribs, in his belly, on his elbows, on his shins, in his groin, in his testicles, on the bone at the base of his spine. There were times when it went on and on until the cruel, wicked, unforgivable thing seemed to him not that the guards continued to beat him but that he could not force himself into losing consciousness. There were times when his nerve so forsook him that he began shouting for mercy even before the beating began, when the mere sight of a fist drawn back for a blow was enough to make him pour forth a confession of real and imaginary crimes.” (Orwell 240). The book may be