George Orwell's 1984 Essay Example

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell), born on June 25th, 1903, was an English author, journalist, and critic, predominantly recognized for the novels "Animal Farm" (1945) and "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949). Orwell was a democratic socialist, exhibiting a deep resentment against totalitarianism. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany (1933–45) and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union Regime (1924–53) were the first examples of decentralized totalitarianism, and Eric Blair counteracted these fears by composing oeuvres on the expansive topic. The dystopian novel of 1984 centres around a party’s oligarchy maintaining control over Oceania, integrating the prior events of WW2, and establishing the rebellious personalities of various characters. Withal, in 1984, George Orwell’s sinister symbolism of Big Brother and the regime illustrates the recurring manipulation of truth, propaganda, psychological and physical surveillance, and the eradication of independent thought to ultimately instill fear into a brainwashed population.  

George Orwell depicts control in 1984 through the delineation of the dystopian and grimy world of 1984—"A swirl of gritty dust," as Nathan Waddle quoted, and various other methods displayed prior. Orwell excerpts "all history was a palimpsest," metaphorically suggesting the continuous rewriting of history to reinforce the exemplariness of the regime. During the Russian Communist Revolution, Joseph Stalin frequently edited pictures, rewrote news articles, and altered history to indicate certain factors had always been the case. For example, a Soviet secret police official named Nikolai Yezhov disagreed with Stalin's policies and was therefore executed and eradicated from existence (similar to vaporization). Furthermore, the Ministry of Truth ideology, "War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength," implies that having a common enemy unites the regime's people, independence leads to chaos and failure, and the less knowledge and greater orthodoxy, the better the chance of survival. Furthermore, Orwell strengthens the control of the system through the input of metaphorical, contrasting, and oxymoronic propaganda. In 1984, George Orwell’s employment of the phrase "Big Brother" alludes to the metaphor of Russian communism and creates a protective atmosphere as though somebody is eternally omnipresent. In addition, the slogan "Big Brother is always watching you" intimidates the population due to the thought of 24/7 surveillance and the use of propaganda in the third person elicits an obligation like Lord Kitchener's 1914 WW1 recruitment poster, "We Need You." Moreover, the introduction of Goldstein in the 2nd chapter represents the primary enemy of the regime, corresponding to the Leon Trosky and Stalin relationship as informed prior. Furthermore, Orwell compares the brutality of a tiger with the children's vulnerability through the simile, "Like the gamboling of tiger cubs which will soon grow into man eaters," and foreshadows the horrible acts these innocent souls will commit in the future. In addition, the prior section demonstrates that by encouraging children to attend youth leagues and spy groups, the patriotic infants will report parents' signs of disloyalty and unorthodoxy, indistinguishable from the procedure of the Nazi Youth established in 1926.