George Orwell's primary purpose in 1984 is to depict a totalitarian society and warn readers against allowing the world to fall into such a dystopian future after World War II.
Orwell creates an entire world in the novel, one that is marked by surveillance and lack of individual freedom. Big Brother's face is seen everywhere, along with the message that he is always watching. The Thought Police seek to punish those who even consider rebellious action. No one trusts anyone else, to the point that even parents and children would turn each other over to the Party if they suspected treason or transgression. Telescreens are in every citizen's home, monitoring their every move. Newspeak has been devised to dumb down the language so that people cannot speak nor even conceive of rebelling. The Ministry of Truth exists to destroy and rewrite history to fit the Party's current agenda. That is where the protagonist, Winston Smith, works.
Winston's ordinary name demonstrates that he stands for the common man. His journey illustrates what any citizen might do while living under the gaze of Big Brother. He begins to rebel in small ways and eventually wants to pull down the entire government. Winston is caught and tortured in the ironically-named Ministry of Love until he "loves Big Brother" again. The ending shows that there is no hope for escape from such a totalitarian system.
No comments:
Post a Comment