1984 Fact Or Fiction Essay Research Paper

1984: Fact Or Fiction Essay, Research Paper Since the onset of the United States, Americans have always viewed the future in two ways; one, as the perfect society with a perfect government, or two, as a communistic hell where free will no longer exists and no one is happy. The novel 1984 by George Orwell is a combination of both theories. On the “bad” side, a communist state exists which is enforced with surveillance technology and loyal patriots. On the “good” side, however, everyone in the society who was born after the hostile takeover, which converted the once democratic government into a communist government, isn’t angry about their life, nor do they wish to change any aspect of their life. For the few infidels who exist, it is a maddening existence, of

constant work and brainwashing. George Orwell’s novel was definitely different from the actual 1984, but how different were they? 1984 starts out with a so called “traitor to the party,” Winston Smith, walking through the streets nervously observing the video cameras that are watching his every move. He makes his way into his apartment and produces a journal from his coat pocket. He thinks that even this simple act of attempting to keep track of time and history could get him vaporized. This scene portrays the strong grip the government has on its patrons. A person either obeys them, or is killed, or put into a forced labor camp. After Winston starts an illegal affair with a younger woman he gets careless and “the party” finds out that he has committed what they call

“thought crimes”. A thought crime is the intent to do something illegal but not actually doing it. In Winston’s world a thought crime is just as severe as a physical crime. They arrest him and his girlfriend and torture them until they realize what they did was wrong and that they love “the party” and will never do anything to hurt it again. Since the publication in 1949, Orwell?s novel has consistently trigured heated debates about whether or not our society has become like Oceania, how accurate Orwell?s predictions were, and which political parties? philosophies most resemble Ingsoc. The political right and the political left have both used 1984 as the vasis for any number of attacks upon their counterparts. One should remember, however, that Orwell never tells us

whether the Party?s genesis grew our of the right or the left. The Party name of Ingsoc bears no more resemblance to socialism than it does to facism. Even the old man in the bar cannot remember ?whose fault? Ingsoc is. To tell you the truth, it really doesn?t matter. While both the right and left have hailde this novel as exposing extreme intentions of the other olitical part, the fact of the matter is that Orwell was a very smart man and recognized that dictatorship is dictatorship- regardless of what poliical creed the government espouses. Never once in the novel do we hear mention of the Party?s ?uplifting the workers? struggle? or ?saving individual rights from desecration by the Huns.? There simply are no politics in Oceania. In today?s society, everything is politcs. Its

all about who you know, and who can get you what you want. Today politicians in America are concerned about the struggles hard working Americans face each day. But critics feel that the central idea that Orwell tried to get across is the fact that Oceania can spring up from any society or government. Orwell places the capital right in the heart of the nations that most represent freedom and individual rights, the United States and Britain. From a historical context, Orwell looked at the ravages of World War II that had yet to be repaired, and he saw the great poers ready to do glovbla battle again. Orwell shows us that life in Oceania is dreary agony. The people have been reduced to a lower level of cicilization; they have become little more than urban savages. The war that is