1984 Paper
1984 is about life in a world where no personal freedoms exist. Winston the main character is a man of 39 whom is not extraordinary in either intelligence or character, but is disgusted with the world he lives in. He works in the Ministry of Truth, a place where history and the truth is rewritten to fit the party's beliefs. Winston is aware of the untruths, because he makes them true. This makes him very upset with the government of Oceania, where Big Brother, a larger than life figure, controls the people. His dissatisfaction increases to a point where he rebels against the government in small ways. Winston's first act of rebellion is buying and writing in a diary. This act is known as a thought crime and is punishable by death. A thought crime is any bad thought against the government of Oceania. Winston commits many thought crimes and becomes paranoid about being caught, which he knows is inevitable (Greenblast 113). He becomes paranoid because a young woman who is actively! involved in many community groups follows him. Winston is obsessed with the past, a time before Oceania was under strict dictatorship. He goes into an antique shop and buys a shell covered in glass, which is another crime punishable by death. He sees the
and rehabilitator. O'Brien and the party can't tolerate Winston's betrayal of the government. O'Brien tells his victim: You are a flaw in the pattern, Winston. You are a stain that must be wiped out...It is intolerable that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. (Daley 117) In fact, the party can't comprehend his disbelief and must change his thoughts through torture and brainwash. "You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty and then we shall fill you with ourselves" (Orwell 200). O'Brien represents the core of communist or totalitarian rule, making the victims suffer by using brainwashing to control them. O'Brien also tells Winston what he should feel about Big Brother when Winston is at his lowest point mentally and physically. O'Brien's speeches to the broken Winston Smith in the Thought Polices' torture chamber represents for Orwell the core of our century's political hideousness. Although O'Brien says that pow! Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all. Winston had never been inside the Ministry of Love, nor within half a kilometer of it. It was a place impossible to enter except on official business, and then only by penetrating through a maze of barbed-wire entanglements, steel doors, and hidden machine-gun nests. Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers were roamed by gorilla-faced guards in black uniforms, armed with jointed truncheons (Orwell 8). In a totalitarian state something resembling a Ministry of Love is common place. It's a place where the government can inflict pain on its subjects for crimes big and small. That is how totalitarian nations keep, power over their citizens-- by fear of pain. The name Ministry of Love is a contradiction of itself. Its name shows a feeling of love and warmth, but in actuality it's the complete opposite. It's a place of hate and pain and is cold and dark. A better name for it would be the ! Ministry of Hate. George Orwell lived during a time when Europe was in a period of rebuilding after World War II. During that time Soviets gained six nations as satellites. England was helpless and had to worry about their own problems and had to watch the Soviet Union take control of half of Germany. The leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin, closely resembles Big Brother. They were both larger than life figures in their respective countries. In the Soviet Union you could easily have found large posters with Stalin's face on them. The same holds true in 1984; Big Brother's face is everywhere. A famous quote from 1984 is "Big Brother is watching you" (Orwell 5). Meaning if his Thought Police don't catch you, his telescreens and hidden microphones would. In the Soviet Union, Stalin's KGB sought criminals who plotted against the government. In Stalin's regime over 10 million people were killed. In 1984 hundreds of criminals were killed daily. Another aspect of the 1940's was the ne! obliterating the past is not fully established in Orwell's description; clearly they try hard and they score impressive results. The ideal of complete oblivion may not have been reached, yet further progress is to be expressed (Kolakowski 126). Winston and Julia are workers at the Ministry of Truth. Winston gets more mentally involved in his work than Julia. "Winston Smith and his fellows at the Ministry of Truth spend their days rewriting the past: Most of the material you were dealing with had no connection with anything in the real world, not even the kind of connection that is contained in a direct lie'" (Daley 118). Winston is not as strong mentally as Julia is. His work affects him more. The Ministry of Truth is like a totalitarian country, because it has ways to sc
Some common words found in the essay are:
Ministry Truth, Soviet Union, Smith Polices', Winston Smith, Ministry Love, Animal Farm, O'Brien Winston, Oceania Winston, Stalin's KGB, Police Orwell, ministry truth, soviet union, ministry love, winston smith, george orwell, world war ii, winston julia, world 1984, world war, love affair, war ii, deep resentment totalitarianism, crime punishable death, ministry truth history, telescreens hidden microphones,
Approximate Word count = 2512
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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