1984 Essays Totalitarianism

Many of these enemies have been invented by the Party expressly for this purpose.

In addition to manipulating their minds, the Party also controls the bodies of its subjects.

1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers in the West of the dangers of totalitarian government.

Having witnessed firsthand the horrific lengths to which totalitarian governments in Spain and Russia would go in order to sustain and increase their power, Orwell designed 1984 to sound the alarm in Western nations still unsure about how to approach the rise of communism.

This essay will take this as its thesis and flesh out arguments and evidence in support.

There are several methods adopted by the party to dehumanize its population.Additionally, the Party employs complicated mechanisms (1984 was written in the era before computers) to exert large-scale control on economic production and sources of information, and fearsome machinery to inflict torture upon those it deems enemies.1984 reveals that technology, which is generally perceived as working toward moral good, can also facilitate the most diabolical evil.The Party also forces individuals to suppress their sexual desires, treating sex as merely a procreative duty whose end is the creation of new Party members.The Party then channels people’s pent-up frustration and emotion into intense, ferocious displays of hatred against the Party’s political enemies.The telescreens also monitor behavior—everywhere they go, citizens are continuously reminded, especially by means of the omnipresent signs reading that the authorities are scrutinizing them.The Party undermines family structure by inducting children into an organization called the Junior Spies, which brainwashes and encourages them to spy on their parents and report any instance of disloyalty to the Party.The Party forces its members to undergo mass morning exercises called the Physical Jerks, and then to work long, grueling days at government agencies, keeping people in a general state of exhaustion.Anyone who does manage to defy the Party is punished and “reeducated” through systematic and brutal torture.The Party controls every source of information, managing and rewriting the content of all newspapers and histories for its own ends.The Party does not allow individuals to keep records of their past, such as photographs or documents.