...1-40 If there is any doubt of the persistent power of literature it should be banished by the novel “1984” by George Orwell. There is much that reasonant for most of us in Orwell’s dystopia in the face of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA; the totalitarian State of Oceania, its menacing Big Brother, the history-erasing Ministry of Truth and the sinister Thought Police with their everpresent telescreens. Eventhough the novel “1984” was read by its readers in 1949, the novel was meant to represent a very real threat in near future: a totalitarian regime within the next thirty years. The threat against privacy is, in Orwell’s opinion, one to be fought against. Looking at “1984” while pondering over the ideological criticism, one would find traces of certain ideologies in the artifact and the artifact in this particular case being the literary work “1984” by George Orwell. The primary target when doing a ideological reading, is to discover or locate the dominant ideology or the ideologies embedded in the literary work and perhaps the ones that are muted in it. The political ideology of Big Brother in “1984” is shown through a third person narration that clearly understands what Winston experiences living under a totalitarian regime. The style that Orwell appropriates in relaying this political ideology is one of fear and control. The ‘telescreens’ are constantly watching you and listening in on your conversations; “The telescreen received and transmitted simultaniously...
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...Modern Totalitarianism. In the 1940s through the 1960s, the world lived in a time of war. In September 1939 World War II broke out , and was followed by the Cold War of 1947 that lasted up until 1991. The historic wars of these times influenced literature and the writers of the time, as they shaped their novels and books around these events. Writers such as George Orwell and Kurt Vonnegut created novels of dystopian societies to alert nations that communism was not as great as it sounded. British writer George Orwell wrote the novel 1984 published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. in 1949. 1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers in the West of the dangers of totalitarian government. In 1949, the Cold War had not yet escalated, and many Americans supported communism as possible political systems for the west. Therefore, Orwell wrote his novel in order to expose the cruelty and oppression of communist countries. In his dystopian nation, Orwell gave a sneak peak of what a country could become if the people gave all the power to the government. In 1984, Orwell portrays the perfect totalitarian society in which the government monitors and controls every aspect of human life to the extent that having a disloyal thought is against the law. They do so with the use of technology such as tele screens and microphones across the city which allowed the government to monitor all the citizens almost all of the times. In order to keep the citizens of London...
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...environment under the surveillance of a big power, imagine being manipulated and controlled for every thought and action. The act of obeying orders from the big power leads to survival, and the rebellion for freedom leads to the most devastating punishment. Would you give in to the big power or would you fight? The novel Nineteen-Eighty Four written by George Orwell portraying through the view of the protagonist, Winston Smith, describing a nation called Oceania being under the ruling of the antagonist, a totalitarian Party or the Big Brother. In addition, it presented various methods such as constant surveillance, unending propaganda, distortion of language, historical revisionism, fear, torture, perpetual war, and lack of habeas corpus to characterize an oppressive and authoritarian government. The Party utilizes these methods to keep its citizens living in a state of fear, making them developing a feeling of dependency of the party. The novel Nineteen-Eighty Four has its significance today because all of the methods that characterize a totalitarian government are still presence, especially being currently utilized by the government of the United States. Once upon a time, the U.S used to be a land of unparalleled freedom. However, ever since the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, the U.S government, primarily under the management of the bush administration, has been taking numerous steps of becoming to a totalitarian state. Constant Surveillance: Under the reason of...
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...Eureka! The cure for cancer has been found. The holy grail of modern medicine has been discovered. But there is one problem – it is locked up inside a top secret government facility restricted to the public. Why so? Because there is far more money to be made in treating a disease than curing it. Why cure someone of cancer in a day if they can be treated for it their entire life and bill them every step along the way? This is modern day society. It is the vivid reality of the dystopian world portrayed in George Orwell’s 1984 – In a world where war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength, the government has full control of society; dictatorship and communism are rampant (p. xx). Every action you take, every word you say, and every person you interact with is monitored closely by the government as represented by Big Brother in the novel. An Orwellian existence is staring at us directly in the face;...
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...Manojlovic 1 Milana Manojlovic Ms. Miminas ENG 3U Tuesday, June 14th, 2016 Dystopian Society in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four The citizens in Nineteen Eighty-Four live in a world polar opposite of perfect. They are constantly being watched and oppressed by big brother and the thought police. The citizens live an unorthodox life due to the totalitarian government. The theme of dystopia is evident in nineteen eighty-four because information, independent thought and freedom are restricted, a figurehead is worshipped by citizens, and they are under constant surveillance. Firstly, Nineteen Eighty- Four emulates the theme of dystopia because information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. The citizens in Oceania live in a world where they are not allowed to feel human emotions. They are constantly being watched by the thought police and are forced to live in constant fear. They must show that they are abiding Big Brothers orders constantly to avoid being annihilated. The citizens are blind to Big Brothers plans because all information from the past is erased and all information for the future is kept secret. The proles are the only people in their world who do not look up to Big Brother. Although they live in a lower class compared to the people in the party, the proles are able to do whatever they want because Big Brother does not control them. The people in the party may have a more secure home and Manojlovic 2 material items;...
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...Daulerio George Orwell's famous book 1984 was written as a political novel to warn people of the dangers of facing Communism in a totalitarian government. This book not only warned the world of potential dangers of being ruled this type of government, but it also presented some controversial new societal trends and technological advancement ideas for the future. Little did society know that Orwell's technology predictions in this book would actually come true in the near future. Orwell was especially concerned with the technological role in these governments, allowing them to control and keep an eye on their citizens. People in the time period that this book was written had a hard time grasping what Orwell was predicting. Many of his ideas and concepts were said not to happen for thousands of years, some were even claimed impossible to be done. In actuality, as we know today, a good amount of Orwell's predictions in the book 1984 have already became a reality. Orwell presented these ideas to warn people of what might be ahead and to be careful, but it may have created an opposite effect. His ideas may have actually had society work towards making his predictions come true. Orwell's book 1984 revealed how powerful technology could be, as the Party, or "Big Brother", used its complex technology to monitor and implement fear into those it identifies as its enemies. One of the devices the Party used for this purpose was the "telescreen". This is one of Orwell's predictions that...
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...Humanities 101-03 10-30-13 George Orwell’s 1984 In the book 1984 has a futuristic setting from when it was wrote. Oceania is the super state where Winston Smith lives; he is the main character of the novel. Outside the streets are covered in trash and buildings are run down. The whole place just looks like a war zone. You can hear bombs and gunshots going off when Winston is just standing in his apartment. Winston’s job is changing the newspaper to make the paper seem more appealing. The government is not like ours, it is like Joseph Stalin with his fascism regime. But instead of pictures of Joseph Stalin it is a picture that looks like a mixture between Stalin, Franco, and Hitler. The picture is all over the place on these telescreens. Not only is the picture of Big Brother on these screens everywhere even in every house, but also they can see you threw the screen and watch the population. The government even tries to dumb down or depress it’s people. They push alcohol and cigarettes to keep the people drunk and dumb. They do not want the people talking and try to over throw the government. The people in this super state all wear blue overalls to make them the same. Men and women are not aloud to have sex for fun only to reproduce, that’s it. Men call women sister and women call men brother. It is the most ridicules society ever imaginable, it is one hundred percent controlled by the government and helicopters and tanks come by to check on the people and make sure they know...
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...in the field of cell phones and computers, the amount of privacy an individual has grows smaller and smaller. In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, illustrates his prediction of a future dystopian society where every citizen is continuously watched by “Big Brother”; at work, in their homes, everywhere. Technology is taking us closer and closer to the world of Big Brother since American’s...
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...“No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.” Bob Dylan said this probably not knowing its profound connection with George Orwell’s novel “1984”, but the as well could be in “1984”. Orwell depicts a totalitarian dystopian world where there is no freedom and citizens are being brainwashed constantly. Without any sense of individual fairness, people work for the party just like the gear wheels in a machine. In order to achieve this, the politicians in “1984” suppress people’s thinking and eliminate their freedom by creating fear through propaganda, strict laws and incessant surveillances. In “1984”, lies, myths and false information controls the thinking of the citizens. The Party uses propaganda as the deadliest weapon of control. Propaganda increases the citizens’ morale and makes them think that what the party tells them to do is always right. There are mainly two types of propaganda, one changes truth, so-called doublethink, and another creates fear. “Doublespeak” can be seen frequently in the world of 1984. The party’s big slogan “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” (George Orwell, 4) is an good example. The idea of the slogan is to convince the citizens that what they want, is what they already have. Only war can make peace and harmony, so peace is no longer peace, it becomes war; anyone who is slaved and wants freedom, he already has freedom; you can only strengthen yourself by not knowing things and being ignorant. The slogan changes...
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...Big Brother is Real and Active in Our Lives George Orwell’s novel, 1984, speaks of a world where an all-powerful dictator named Big Brother eliminates personal freedom and thought. There is much argument about whether or not the world in his novel ties in with our own world. Do we have enough privacy or are we constantly under surveillance? The argument on personal privacy is far from a new debate. Some people argue that the government has too much access to what we do, while others say that the government’s intrusion is fine. In our age, the digital age, everything is online and private information is available to the government. The so called “Big Brother”, or, our government and algorithms, is watching over US citizens in illegal and inappropriate ways. Private companies like Facebook or Google have access to what one searches on those sites, but the video “What Google and Facebook Are Hiding” demonstrates how those sites save and...
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...Many people may counter these reasons why it is unconstitutional to wiretap citizens, because they believe that the government should have the power to use a wiretap method without permission because they could be listening to terrorist attack plans before they even occur and cease them. They use the claim that citizens will feel more protected and safer in the nation. Therefore, if the president of the United States wants to put a wiretap on someone, why can he not go through the legal way and order a warrant. If the warrant is granted by all means the person should be put under investigation. Yet, it is only natural for citizens to feel like this is an invasion of privacy. Using President Bush as an example again, when the President thought...
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...found in the futuristic books and movies? Many seem to agree since technology has advanced to point where it can do as much or even more as the aged books have foretold. In the novel, 1984, the author, George Orwell, wrote about a distant future where everything was controlled by one person known as Big Brother. The main protagonist in Orwell's story, Winston Smith, believes that things are not as they should be and explains how they were always being watched by the Inner Party which consisted of less than 2% of the entire population. Proles, as they were named, consisted about 80% of all the population, including the Party. The Outer Party, where Winston is,...
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...Big Brother isn’t watching you The phrase “Big Brother is watching you” is from George Orwell’s novel 1984. The novel, which was published in 1949, gave a very frightening point of view on the so-called Big Brother society, where the surveillance on society would be huge. The British comedian Russell Brand has changed the phrase to: “Big Brother isn’t watching you” in comment of the then recent UK riots, where he thinks that there clearly is no one, who is watching or controlling the riots. Russell Brand, married to the world famous Katy Perry, is especially known for his role in Get him to the Greek, where his very distinctive British accent brought a smile to every viewer. His comment on the riots is definately in a different genre, where he, with some serious and some sarcastical statements, is trying to define why these riots are occurring. Russell is starting his comment by telling a bit about himself. When he was in his early twenties, he had been participating in various protest. This means that even though he is no longer in the “economic class”, he can still relate to the riots, since he has been part of other riots. This experience from his early life is making him come up with what the reason of the riot could be. When he lived back in London and took part in riots, it was because he felt he was in need for some meaning in his life. Some goal he could go for, or like a direction, he could follow. He is sure that most of the rioting people are having the same problems...
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...The phrase ” big brother is watching you” originated from George Orwell's acclaimed novel '1984'. Though it was published in 1949, people acknowledge his work and the book for its very desriptive and frightening story about a surveillance society – or 'the big brother society'. Now, the british comedian Russell Brand, brought this phrase to life, by commentating on the UK riots; ” Big brother isn't watching you”. He means that no one are watching the rioters. Russell Brand is known for his stand-up and acting. He is starring for example : ” Forgetting sarah marshall”. As a major name in Hollywood and around the world, it is a bit tricky for him to comment on such things as the riots, but he has done so and tries to explain, why this is happening. Russell Brand initiates the reader by saying, he no longer lives in London and that he used to work for the reality show 'Big Brother'. Then he comments on 'This week's riots' and says its tragic and frightening. As a part of his fame, he has risen to a level of economic standard, which means, he is not in the 'working class'. He is bothered by the reason that its in exactly this type of enviroment, these sorts of riots arise. At the time, he was one of them, and has lived through these things himself. He thinks that a lot of rioters are in a state of depression in a materialistic way, but as one might say, that their existentialistic journey, to find and approve themselves, may effect those amongst them. On page 8 l. 42 Russell...
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...In Fritz Lang’s German Expressionist film Metropolis (1927) and George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), both composers express the dangerous effects of tyrannical and demagogical leadership. In exploring the quote ‘If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever,’ Lang presents a perspective that both challenges and restores our faith in humanity, where an autocratic leader falls to his knees in a cry for mercy while Orwell aims to shatter it, with the subjugation of the rebellious protagonist. Both Orwell and Lang explore this through their contextual paradigms, demonstrating it through the apotheosis of human power, where both leaders’ ‘demi-god-like’ status produces an opaque view of reality and excess materialism. It is also revealed through a distorted sense of...
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