Totalitarianism In 1984

How would life be if the government controlled our thoughts? In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the citizens were controlled by a totalitarian government similar to the way that other countries like Germany had control over its citizens. A totalitarian government is a form of government where that state has unlimited authority and strives to regulate every aspect of society. The way that a totalitarian government achieves control is by the use of technology, media, and influence. In America it is believed that we live in a democratic society but yet we are being surveilled in a similar way that a totalitarian government surveilles their citizens. In the novel 1984 Big Brother watches every single citizen’s move through the telescreens. The

This tool is called propaganda. According to Siegel Online, in 1938, a year before the invasion of Poland, the Wehrmacht began recruiting photographers for its propaganda campaigns. The reason that they began recruiting photographers is to manipulate the citizens to think that the war was good and that Germany was superior. The same way that Big Brother and the party rewrote history, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party rewrote Germany’s history as well. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, some books were removed by censorship, rewritten and were brought in to teach students blind obedience to the party, love for Hitler, and anti semitism. By rewriting history it changes the past and the future because of the fact that people don’t know what is real and what is fake. This gives them control of the past and future and no one is allowed to ask questions. During the holocaust anyone who was in resistance of Hitler's rules were to be punished. In the novel 1984, Big Brother and the party want everyone to have the same ideals and if anyone goes against them they are punished as well. In page 257 of the novel 1984, Winston is being tortured because he was showing objection to the power of the party. In Germany people were usually arrested, sent to concentration camps and later killed. The same way that Germany and Oceania manipulate their citizens, America shares a similarity to Oceania in the way they both surveille their