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What Was The Role Of The Totalitarian Government In George Orwell's 1984

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Imagination allows people to escape the hardships reality presents by fostering some sort of dreams; without it people would be incapable of setting goals to become something they have always desired. Imagine yourself in the novel, “1984”, in which an author by the name of George Orwell depicts characters who imagine themselves rebelling against a totalitarian government. The government does not permit any contradicting views of the control it has over the people and it annihilates anyone who shows signs of rebellion. The totalitarian government, also known as Big Brother, has complete control over the lives of the people living in Oceania, the city where the novel takes place. Any dreams the characters once had are suppressed into memories locked away in fear of being perceived as a traitor of the …show more content…

Smith has ideas that challenge the government’s policies but he has no one to share his thoughts with, because he fears that everyone is a secret agent of the thought police who are looking for rebellious thinkers like himself. He decides to write down his emotionally filled ideas in a diary which is a huge risk certainly punishable by death. Smith is always under watch by a telescreen in his room and he says “There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the thought police plugged in on any individual wire was guess work. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to(pg.5)”.Winston takes a life threatening chance to write his thoughts in the diary because he is going crazy with the way things are in Oceania. Beginning with the writings in his journal Winston smith began to imagine himself revolting against the totalitarian

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Although America in the 21st century is developing similar dystopian qualities to the fictional society within George Orwell’s novel 1984, the dystopian qualities of constant surveillance, news modification, and dehumanized state demonstrate how dystopian qualities can exist within the United States without becoming problematic. The United States of America passed the Patriot Act because of the government’s obligation to itself and others to become a safer place from both internal and external threats, showing striking similarities to George Orwell’s 1984 where citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance. After being apprehended and locked inside the Ministry of Love for conspiring against the Party, it was made aware to Winston that “for seven years … there was no physical act, no word spoken aloud, that [The Thought Police] had not noticed, no train of thought that they had not been able to infer” (Orwell 276). The secrecy and power of the Thought Police to monitor Winston’s activities is frightening and demonstrates the fear inhabitants of Oceania live under.

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Individuals suspected of committing thoughtcrimes were detained, subjected to torture, and often murdered by the Thought Police. The Thought Police monitored residents' thoughts and actions through surveillance and psychological manipulation. “There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.” (5) The central protagonist of 1984, Winston Smith, was too afraid to look at the telescreen that would be watching him.

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The party 's tactics of mind control has resulted in the party having absolute control over the human mind. The party has oppressed its people by brainwashing, taking away individuality, attempting to alter the past, and limiting privacy as well as rights. Although the party has done everything in their power to limit the risks of being overthrown, I believe that human emotions, and instincts can never be oppressed completely. There will always be those who resist the party. As long as humans can feel love, compassion, lust, sadness, hatred, anger, happiness, and most importantly hope, the party will eventually fall.

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(Orwell 3-4). In 1984, telescreens are everywhere, they speak, record, and scan all areas within its reach. These are designed to spy on people, never allowing anyone to ever be alone, lessening the number of people that will rebel against Big Brother. Society is constantly around technology (not much of a choice), people are thought police that will see that you are guilty of committing a thought crime (thinking any bad thought against Big Brother). In this novel, thoughts are not private anymore.

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In a world where thought is monitored, and actions are watched continuously by neighbors, strangers, and cameras, the conflicts that exist in that type of world are astronomical. This is the type of world that the main character of George Orwell?s book 1984, Winston Smith, lives his life in. So it is no surprise that Winston faces many forms of conflict, mainly within the range of character vs. character and character vs. society. Winston Smith faces many challenges within this novel, starting with the external challenges posed by other characters. One of the most prominent conflicts in this storyline in the beginning, was Winston?s conflict with Julia.

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Powerful Governments A government is to be in charge of the economic affairs, policy, and actions of a country. There are various types of governments, with laws and restrictions that citizens are to follow. These laws and restrictions can easily be taken to extremes as portrayed in George Orwell’s 1984.

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While winston writes about what is going on in Oceania the information he is being given to write with

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Government Manipulation in 1984 People generally rely on the government as a source of protection and stability. However, the government does not always have the citizens’ best interests in mind, as shown in 1984. The government has the power to distort realities and the ability to detect the truth. They can manipulate, or influence people’s minds without them even knowing. George Orwell’s 1984 uses a futuristic dystopia to show how the government is able to manipulate human values through the use of fear.

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In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, Winston Smith lives under the oppressive rule of the Oceanian government. Since the institution of the Ingsoc governmental system, the people living in Oceania are under constant supervision. Using telescreens and training children to spy on their parents, the government maintains order by removing any individuals behaving divergently. Big Brother, the poster child for Ingsoc, is always watching and anyone who acts against him is immediately erased from the past, present, and future. The totalitarian regime within Oceania controls people by limiting their language and manipulating their thoughts.

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George Orwell’s 1984 is a precautionary tale of what happens when the government has too much control in our lives. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is at odds in a world in which he is not allowed to counter the government’s surveillance and control. Perhaps more striking is the noticeable relationship between the novel and modern society. In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the book predicts the surveillance of Big Brother in modern day societies.

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In the book 1984 by George Orwell (1949) , the government uses physical and mental methods to control the citizens of Oceania. Orwell portrays an undemocratic government, INGSOC (English Socialism), ruled by a dictator they call big brother. Who seems to have the power to control and the right to anything possible. All the people in Oceania have no freedom at all. The government have physical and mental methods of controlling the population.

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George Orwell’s 1984 has resonated with many who have experienced first-hand what life is like under a dictator. The novel describes how everything is controlled and monitored by the government and how even mere thoughts can be detected by ThoughtPolice. Readers get to experience Oceania’s system of ruling through the eyes of an Outer Party member, Winston Smith. At first, Winston is adamant to destroy The Party and its figurative leader Big Brother, but eventually is captured and converted into a lover of Oceania’s system of government. Children, although not playing a significant role in this book, are mentioned as devious little spies.

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Totalitarianism in 1984 and the Real World The concept of a totalitarian society is a major theme throughout the novel 1984. This theme of totalitarianism can also be applied to the world today. The definition of totalitarianism, a concept used by some political scientists, is a state which holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible. Totalitarianism can be related between the novel 1984 and current events in the real world. George Orwell incorporated the theme of totalitarianism into his novel 1984 to display the ever changing world around him during the time it was written.

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1098 Words | 5 Pages

In this, the protagonist, Winston Smith, writes a diary entry to himself before he gets brainwashed. The dairy basically talks about his knowledge of the totalitarian rule of the party and Big brother and how it must be brought to end. His main motive in doing so is to regain his knowledge after he is brainwashed. He does so to sustain his rebel against the party. This text is mainly linked to the theme of use of “language in media”, which was a profound part of our course.

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George Orwell 's classic novel, 1984, portrays a look into the future. Set in Oceania (supposedly Britain), it emcompasses the life of an outlying civilian, Winston Smith, who stood against the dictatorial society that he lived in, dodging the many obstacles that piled before him. Despite the fact that Orwell’s 1984 was published in 1949 and centers around a tyrannical future controlled by a totalitarian regime, both the strict authoritarian society ruled by the omnipresent Big Brother and today’s modern world contain several similarities. “The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely” (2). In 1984, almost all public and private places harbor large TV screens, announcing the newest government propaganda, news and entertainment.

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