1984: Government's Attempt to Control The Mind and Bodies of Its Citizens
The novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is an American classic which explores the human mind when it comes to power, corruption, control, and the ultimate utopian society. Orwell indirectly proposes that power given to the government will ultimately become corrupt and they will attempt to force all to conform to their one set standard. He also sets forth the idea that the corrupted government will attempt to destroy any and all mental and physical opposition to their beliefs, thus eliminating any opportunity for achieving an utopian society. The novel shows how the government attempts to control the minds and bodies of it citizens, such as…show more content… Kazin also states in his essay that:
"Orwell thought the problem of domination by class or caste or race or political machine more atrocious than ever. It demands solution. Because he was from the upper middle class and knew from his own prejudices just how unreal the lower classes can be to upper-class radicals, a central theme in all his work is the separateness and loneliness of the upper-class observer, like his beloved Swift among the oppressed Irish." (Kazin, 1984).
This feeling of superiority somewhat provokes and leads to the aforementioned corruption of absolute power. As the saying goes, "absolute power corrupts absolutely." It is not even so much that the rulers want to become corrupt, but they cannot grasp the idea of an absolute rule. They, as Kazin stated, cannot comprehend the differentiation within the system, and thus become corrupt. This ultimately prevents achieving an utopian society where the upper class people want to oppress and the lower class want to rebel. Orwell had strong anti-totalitarianism points of view and greatly satires Socialism, even though he still insisted he was a Socialist in its pure form, in this novel and in Animal Farm. Many consider that Nineteen Eighty-Four is actually an extension of Animal Farm. In Animal Farm, Orwell
