Totalitarian Government In 1984 George Orwell

People often think they have the ability to change the society they live in, which is true if you’re a part of the government. George Orwell’s novel 1984 shows how this could happen, but also how it couldn’t if you have no authority. George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1949, in reaction to the upcoming totalitarian governments after WWII. Orwell felt that these types of governments were very mind controlling; He wanted to let readers know that these governments only wanted to control what belonged to the citizens, and leave them without any real knowledge. The totalitarian government in Orwell’s novel controlled, and brainwashed the people of Oceania. The totalitarian government, in 1984, control the society through propaganda, technology, and pain. The novel 1984 shows how people’s minds can be manipulated and controlled through propaganda. The government used many techniques to keep the people of Oceania ignorant of the past, and their history. “This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, soundtracks, cartoons, photographs- to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance” (Orwell 40). This refers to the process of changing the past, which is Winston’s job. The party being able to change the past, as if it has never happened, shows how they easily manipulate the minds of citizens to keep them ignorant. The party could trick anyone into believing that a person, or place was a part of the past when he or she really wasn’t. One example occurs when Winston was required to make a fake character, that was allegedly a part of the thought police. “Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar”, (Orwell 48). This quote is saying that …show more content…
Even if there was no telescreen around, people were still heard and monitored. “The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard,” (Orwell 3). Here, Orwell is saying that no matter where you were, or how low you tried to speak, the telescreen picked up any noises. This explains why people always watched what they said no matter where they were at, or what they were talking about. This is how they controlled the people of Oceania. In addition to the last quote, there is no way for the people to escape the telescreens; they were even their houses. “For some reason the telescreen i the living room was in an unusual position. Instead of being placed, as was normal, in the end wall, where it could command the whole room, it was in the longer wall, opposite the window… By sitting in the alcove, and keeping well back, Winston was able to remain outside the range of the telescreen, so far as sight went,” (Orwell 5). It is implied that Winston was in his own home, and had no privacy, because of the telescreen. This quote shows how people couldn’t escape the telescreens even if they wanted to, because they lived with them. The party could