Through his writing of 1984, George Orwell crafted one of the most impactful commentaries on totalitarianism in literature. Containing ominous passages of a post-war dystopia, much of his work acts more effectively as a warning than a fictional story. Purposefully avoiding any particular political party to comment on, Orwell’s main focus is that The Party can maintain power through its methods of restricting free thought. Winston Smith, the protagonist, faces an internalized struggle with accepting these oppressive parameters. At the climax of the book, a scene takes place, where Winston has his mind beaten into submission by a formerly trusted friend, O’Brien. While torturing Winston, O’Brien makes the claim, “‘Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own
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This contrasts his famed anti-communist novel Animal Farm, for he wrote 1984 with the intent of highlighting the danger associated with any unrestricted governing system. This can be seen when Orwell has O’Brien make the assertion, “‘The object of power is power (272),’" in the middle of a lecture his is giving Winston. Here it becomes clear The Party is an evil entity as a result of its prioritizing control over all facets of life despite power. This neglect encompases the novel’s exploration of how a government that seeks power for the purpose of becoming more powerful is a threat to the freedom of its people. Doublethink is the primary example of this, as it entails an individual rejecting personal belief in order to accept the contradictory reality presented to them. In committing oneself to The Party, one also sacrifices their right to individual thought. Orwell wrote 1984 with the intention of igniting a response of fear from its readers, and what better way to do this than by threatening their loss of
This contrasts his famed anti-communist novel Animal Farm, for he wrote 1984 with the intent of highlighting the danger associated with any unrestricted governing system. This can be seen when Orwell has O’Brien make the assertion, “‘The object of power is power (272),’" in the middle of a lecture his is giving Winston. Here it becomes clear The Party is an evil entity as a result of its prioritizing control over all facets of life despite power. This neglect encompases the novel’s exploration of how a government that seeks power for the purpose of becoming more powerful is a threat to the freedom of its people. Doublethink is the primary example of this, as it entails an individual rejecting personal belief in order to accept the contradictory reality presented to them. In committing oneself to The Party, one also sacrifices their right to individual thought. Orwell wrote 1984 with the intention of igniting a response of fear from its readers, and what better way to do this than by threatening their loss of