George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: An Analysis

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A problem that has grabbed my attention more than others while reading George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, is the destruction and lack of relationships. It is fascinating that a novel written before social media was created, specifically Facebook and Instagram, can relate to it in numerous ways. Technology today as well as the technology in Nineteen Eighty-Four causes the destruction of relationships, whether they are romantic or family. To begin with, having very few to no relationships with other individuals can cause many psychological issues and mental illnesses. Human beings are naturally social animals therefore if we do not have connections with others, it makes it possible to develop depression, paranoia, anxiety, and many …show more content…
They aid in the destruction of relationships by allowing people to feel social while socially isolating themselves. Not to mention, it allows individuals to easily lie and create a false identity. For a start, with social media being at our fingertips, we are constantly having information thrown at us, whether it be false or true, and influencing us to be just like everyone else more than we come to realize. While Winston is lost in his thoughts, he begins to think about how, “The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide” (Orwell 65). In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the majority of individuals try to be like everyone else out of fear of the Party. Today, the majority of individuals try to be like everyone else out of fear of being made fun of or considered “strange” for not looking and doing the same thing as everyone else. Our society claims it loves uniqueness and shames it at the same time. Further, social media and technology create a false sense of intimacy which allows individuals to isolate themselves from others while still feeling as though they have not. While speaking about social media journalist, Nqaba Matshazi said, “People are now connected in a virtual world but disconnected in the real world,
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