1984 Essay

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1984 Essay: Dystopian Fiction

Hailey Rutherford
Mr. Chornie
March 10th, 2015
Over time, there have been many different versions of dystopian fiction. Some of the most popular examples include; Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, and of course, 1984 by George Orwell. Dystopian fiction It has been characterized as a type of literature that consists of an imaginary place or condition in which everything that could go wrong, goes wrong (Oxford Dictionary Reference). It often has a futuristic, war burdened, fearful, totalitarian society much like in the book 1984. It is evident that there are many characteristics of dystopian literature in 1984. There is overwhelming oppression and economic downfall because of the war with “Eurasia”, Telescreens and the immense surveillance is far beyond the technology achievements in 1984, as well there is impending control by Big Brother that is made possible because of fear. Big Brother and his implausible need for total control and desire for warfare has led to the oppression and economic downfall of Oceania and it’s citizens. Big Brother has 3 slogans for their country, “Freedom is slavery”, “Ignorance is strength”, and lastly “War is peace” (Orwell, 1984) which is quite ironic because everyone knows that it is the complete opposite. This slogan has instilled fear in the citizens so that they will give them themselves with their full attention and participation to Big Brother, which allows for the Party to easily manipulate and have full control over the country. With Big Brother in full control of everything it has lead to poverty and a lowered standard of living just because Big Brother can. However, few people know that the way they live is not a normal standard of this because Big Brother has the ability to change the past, present, and future. (Rage Against the Machine) Changing the past is Winston’s job so he is well aware of the decreasing living conditions and increasing poverty. Winston walking to work is a prime example of the horrible surroundings;
“Were there always these vistas of rotting 19th century houses, there sides shored up with bulks of timber, there windows patched with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron, their crazy garden walls sagging in all directions? And the bombed sights where the plaster dust swirled in the air and the willow herb straggled over the heaps of rubble; and the places where the bombs had cleared a larger path and there had sprung up sordid colonies of wooden dwellings like question mark?” (Orwell, Page 5)
The Party oppresses the Oceania citizens in an infinite amount of ways. A big part of their oppression is the ‘week of hate’ and the daily ‘two minutes of hate’ both of which they direct hate toward either Goldstein or the country they are at war with, or led to believe they are at war with, Eurasia. Oppression is a powerful tool used by people in the society to maintain control over the citizens of Oceania and helps maintain its totalitarian power over the country. Big Brother oppresses the citizens in many ways but the most obvious and abundant is the use of technology. Dystopian novels are often futuristic and way beyond their time in a technical and tactical sense. Big Brother has many way of keeping full control over his inhabitants. He has telescreens everywhere, speakers, microphones, some of the proles, and of course the Thought Police. Big Brother is constantly listening, constantly watching therefore, making one wrong action, sound, or even thought could have you vaporized. Telescreens are a technology with the ability to listen and see anything going on around it at all times;
“It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever the wanted too. You had to live- did live, from habit that became instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement
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