What happens if we lose everything that defines us as us?
1984 truly delves into this scary concept as the Party removes everyone’s personal details so they are not able to establish their own identity. For example, even Winston does not know his own age, who his real parents are nor can he trust his own childhood memories as there are no photographs or evidences to help him differentiate between reality and imagination.
Aside from Winston, the rest of Oceania are also denied documents that could give them a sense of individuality and help them differentiate themselves from others . This causes their memories to grow fuzzy, thus making the people of Oceania vulnerable and dependent on the stories that the Party tells them.
In turn, by controlling the present, the Party can re-engineer the past. Simultaneously, by controlling the past, the Party can rationalise its shortcomings and project a perfect government that is far from the truth.
With no recollection of the past, the people of Oceania can no longer stay in touch with their real identities and instead, become identical as they wear the same uniform, drink the same brand of alcohol and more. Yet, Winston builds his own sense of identity through recording his thoughts, experiences and emotions in his diary. This act along with his relationship with Julia symbolises Winston’s declaration of his own independence and identity as a rebel who disagrees with the Party’s system.
Despite this, Winston’s own sense of individuality and identity dissolves after his torturous experience at the Ministry of Love, which transforms him into another member of the Outer Party who blends into the crowd. By asserting a dark vision of humanity’s individualism, Orwell urges audiences in the present to truly value their freedom to express and preserve their identity.
Here are some quotes that are related to this idea which you may find helpful:
Quote | Link to the Consequences of Totalitarianism |
---|---|
“Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” | This slogan from the Party reveals that by rewriting history, the Party can justify their actions and systems in the present. Alternatively, by controlling the present, they can choose to manipulate history however they like. |
“What appealed to [Winston] about [the coral paperweight] was not so much its beauty as the air it seemed to possess of belonging to an age quite different to the present one” | This quote from Winston represents his act of rebellion which helps him to assert his own independence in determining what he likes or does not like that are outside of the Party’s influence. |
“And when memory failed and written records were falsified… the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had go to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist.” | This quote represents Winston’s realisation that the Party purposefully erodes people’s memories of the past to disable their sense of identity and gain full control of their sense of self. |
Of course, 1984 also includes other themes that you may be thinking about writing analysis for, such as:
Check out our recommended related text for 1984 .
Analysing your text is always the first step to writing an amazing essay! Lots of students make the mistake of jumping right into writing without really understanding what the text is about.
This leads to arguments that only skim the surface of the complex ideas, techniques and elements of the text. So, let’s build a comprehensive thesis through an in-depth analysis of the 1984.
Here are three easy steps that you can use to analyse 1984 and really impress your English teachers!
1984 is a world of its own with its totalitarian systems, use of foreign words and more. So, we totally understand if you’re feeling lost and don’t know where to begin.
Our piece of advice is to look for examples that come with a technique. Techniques offer you a chance to delve into the text’s underlying meaning, which would help you deepen your analysis and enrich your essay writing.
Find our extensive list of quotes from 1984 by George Orwell!
Here are two quotes that relate to consequences of totalitarian power, which we have picked to help you visualise which examples can provide a deeper meaning:
“Big Brother is Watching You.” “WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”
Getting a good grade in English is more than listing out every technique that you can find in the text. Instead, it’s about finding techniques that allow you to dive deeper into the themes you’re focussing on, while also supporting your argument.
Try to look for techniques that allow you to explain its effects and link to your argument such as symbols, metaphors, connotations, similes and historical allegories . In Orwell’s case, he uses a lot of language techniques such as neologism, where he makes up his own words such as “Doublethink” or “Newspeak”.
For the two quotes above, its three techniques include historical allusion, rhetoric and oxymoron.
If possible, you can look out for a quote that encompasses a few techniques to really pack a punch in your analysis.
Once you’re done collecting your examples and techniques, the next part is writing. You must remember to explain what the effect of the technique is and how it supports your argument. Otherwise, it’s not going to be a cohesive essay if you’re just listing out techniques.
An example of listing out techniques looks like this:
“The rhetoric “Big Brother is Watching You” is also a historical allusion while “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength” is oxymoronic.”
Instead, you must elaborate on how each of these techniques link to your argument.
“Big Brother is Watching You” is a rhetoric imposed by the Party to instil psychological fear and submission of the people of Oceania, whereby Orwell uses to warn the dangers of totalitarianism. “Big Brother” is also a historical allusion to Hitler to remind the audience that 1984 is not entirely fictional but a possible future of our reality, urging us to take action against totalitarian regimes with the autonomy we have now.
Meanwhile, the slogan ““WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” represents the oxymoronic mentalities that have been indoctrinated into the people of Oceania, highlighting how totalitarian regimes would force its people to think whatever they want their people to think, no matter how illogical it is.
Together, your analysis should look something like:
The Party perpetuates the rhetoric, “Big Brother is Watching You” to instil psychological fear and coercion of the the people of Oceania, which forewarns a lack of individual freedom and private reflection within authoritarian regimes. As “Big Brother” is a historical allusion to Hitler, Orwell reminds the audience that 1984 and its extremist politics is a reality, urging us to defend our independence before it’s forbidden. Furthermore, the slogan “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” embodies the oxymoronic mentalities that the Party indoctrinates into its people, revealing the extreme extent of psychological control an authoritarian regime strives to ensure their power is never questioned, no matter how irrational it is.
Check out other texts we’ve created guides for below:
We have an incredible team of tutors and mentors.
We can help you master your essay analysis of 1984 by taking you through the summary, context, key characters and themes. We’ll also help you ace your upcoming English assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or online!
We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years , and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
Kate Lynn Law graduated in 2017 with an all rounders HSC award and an ATAR of 97.65. Passionate about mentoring, she enjoys working with high school students to improve their academic, work and life skills in preparation for the HSC and what comes next. An avid blogger, Kate had administered a creative writing page for over 2000 people since 2013, writing to an international audience since her early teenage years.
Everything you need to know about analysing ‘jasper jones’ for english – summary, context, themes & characters, a comprehensive guide to analysing ‘the book thief’: summary, context, themes & characters, the definitive guide to analysing ‘in cold blood’: summary, context & themes, 45,861 students have a head start....
Get exclusive study content & advice from our team of experts delivered weekly to your inbox!
Discover how we can help you!
Orwell published Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949, not as a prediction of actual future events, but to warn the world against what he feared would be the fate of humanity if totalitarian regimes were allowed to seize power as they had done recently in Germany under Hitler and in the Soviet Union under Stalin. In the aftermath of World War II, Anglo-American intellectuals were reluctant to criticize the Soviet regime, despite evidence of Stalin's despotism, because…
One way a totalitarian regime seeks to stay in power is by denying human beings their individuality, eradicating independent thought through the use of propaganda and terror. Throughout Nineteen Eighty-Four , Winston tries to assert his individual nature against the collective identity the Party wishes him to adopt. He keeps a private diary, engages in a forbidden sexual relationship, and insists that his version of reality is the truth, as opposed to what the Party…
The Party controls the citizens of Oceania through a combination of surveillance, terror, and propaganda. Although there are no laws to punish crime, the party can indiscriminately use torture, imprisonment, or vaporization on anyone whose thoughts or actions indicate that they may commit a crime in the future. The presence of telescreens in every room reminds citizens that they are constantly being observed, and all live in fear that their neighbors, coworkers, or even family…
As Julia observes, the Party polices sexual relationships because it realizes that the hysteria caused by sexual frustration can be harnessed into war fever and leader-worship. Because of this, when Winston and Julia make love they think of it as a political act, "a blow struck against the Party." The sadistic fantasies Winston has about Julia before they begin their affair indicate the strong link between sexual repression and violence. The red sash Julia wears…
In Nineteen Eighty-Four , society is made up of three distinct social classes: the elite Inner Party, the industrious Outer Party, and vast numbers of uneducated proles. When Winston reads Goldstein's book, he learns that the history of humankind has been a cyclical struggle between competing social groups: the High, the Middle, and the Low. This theory was originated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the 19th century and became known as Marxism. Marxists…
1984 essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of 1984 by George Orwell.
GradeSaver provides access to 2366 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 11012 literature essays, 2782 sample college application essays, 926 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.
The reflection of george orwell crystal epps.
"On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it...
Following the political upheaval and struggle for power after the second world war, George Orwell's novel 1984 cautions against the dangers of oppression and exemplifies the consequential nightmarish world of the near future. The plot traces the...
The opening of Book Two of 1984, in which Winston meets Julia and begins the erotic affair he has so deeply desired, commences the main section of the novel and strikes an immediate contrast between the two lovers. Unlike Winston, Julia is neither...
In George Orwell's 1984, the differences and relationships between the proles, the Outer Party, and the Inner Party reflect different aspects of human nature and the various levels of the human psyche. The most base, savage level of humanity is...
"When Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1515, he started a literary genre with lasting appeal for writers who wanted not only to satirize existing evils but to postulate the state, a kind of Golden Age in the face of reality" (Hewitt 127). Unlike a...
The title year of George Orwell's most famous novel is nineteen years past, but the dystopian vision it draws has retained its ability to grip readers with a haunting sense of foreboding about the future. At the heart of many of the issues touched...
The difference between the methods of control in 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD is the difference between external control by force and internal control, enforced only by the citizen's own mind. While 1984's method has real-world precedent and seems...
Perception of time represents a major motif in modernist literature. Many works address the subjectivity of our experiences, including how we process and consider the passage of time. Due to the modernist and post-modernist emphasis on style and...
In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith cannot escape the state's domination. Yet his inability is not only because of government power. Rather, even if he did have an opportunity to leave Oceania, his actions indicate that he would not have the...
Are Winston, Julia and Offred eventually made into ‘reluctantly-selfish’ victims of totalitarian regimes or are they innately ‘pragmatically-selfish’ beings? Discuss in relation to The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984.
Offred and Winston, the main...
“How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?” O’Brien asks. Winston’s answer: “By making him suffer” (214). These two characters inhabit George Orwell’s vision of a future totalitarian government that has evolved to its most...
In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell uses several literary techniques to develop the theme that totalitarianism is destructive. He does so by using extensive imagery, focusing on the deterioration of the Victory Mansions, the canteen where...
Contemporary political discourse often references George Orwell’s 1984 as an example of how government interference infringes on our rights as individuals while we remain complacent in the face of these violations. For example, the falsification...
Tony Harrison’s “A Cold Coming,” William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and George Orwell’s 1984 each display distinct sensibilities that reflect the time from which they emerged....
The power of words is enough to control an entire nation. Although many would consider physical power and brute force to be absolute power, George Orwell’s 1984 demonstrates a dystopian society where language is the ultimate form of power. The...
George Orwell’s 1984 portrays a dystopian society whose values and freedoms have been marred through the manipulation of language and thus thought processes. Language has become a tool of mind control for the oppressive government and...
A government of an ideal society is meant to represent the people. It is the people’s choice to support, to select, and to seize government. The idea of open communication is employed as a way for people to choose the best representative. With the...
Problems faced by characters in literature often repeat themselves, and when these characters decide to solve these standard problems, their actions are often more similar than they first appear. This idea is evident when comparing the actions...
In his treatise Civilization and Its Discontents , Freud makes an interesting statement about advanced society. He argues that “the price of progress in civilization is paid in forfeiting happiness through the heightening of the sense of guilt,” to...
“Nobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories.” According to George R.R. Martin, an estimable American novelist, an individual's perspective ultimately decides whether he views himself as a protagonist and deems...
George Orwell’s 1984 (1949) is a cautionary novel which explores a dystopian society mired in propaganda and totalitarianism. Similarly, director Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) is a critique of a futuristic world where growth and industralisation...
In order for one to exist in a totalitarian society whose government is successful in its control, one must deal on a day-to-day basis with strong persuasion and propaganda. These totalitarian societies have an iron grip on their people, leaving...
The fear of a dystopian future that is explored in both Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis and George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four is reflective of the values of the societies at the time and the context of the authors. As authors are considered...
“O, brave new world!” John joyfully proclaims after being told he will have the chance to live in the World State with Bernard and Lenina (Huxley 93). Upon first reading dystopian literature, one might feel much like John, assuming a more...
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four , completed in 1948 and published a year later, is a classic example of dystopian fiction. Indeed, it’s surely the most famous dystopian novel in the world, even if its ideas are known by far more people than have actually read it. (According to at least one survey , Nineteen Eighty-Four is the book people most often claim to have read when they haven’t.)
Like many novels that are more known about than are carefully read and analysed, Nineteen Eighty-Four is actually a more complex work than the label ‘nightmare dystopian vision’ can convey. Before we offer an analysis of the novel’s themes and origins, let’s briefly recap the plot.
Nineteen Eighty-Four : plot summary
In the year 1984, Britain has been renamed Airstrip One and is a province of Oceania, a vast totalitarian superstate ruled by ‘the Party’, whose politics are described as Ingsoc (‘English Socialism’). Big Brother is the leader of the Party, which keeps its citizens in a perpetual state of fear and submission through a variety of means.
Surveillance is a key part of the novel’s world, with hidden microphones (which are found in the countryside as well as urban areas, and can identify not only what is said but also who says it) and two-way telescreen monitors being used to root out any dissidents, who disappear from society with all trace of their existence wiped out.
They become, in the language of Newspeak (the language used by people in the novel), ‘unpersons’. People are short of food, perpetually on the brink of starvation, and going about in fear for their lives.
The novel’s setting is London, where Trafalgar Square has been renamed Victory Square and the statue of Horatio Nelson atop Nelson’s Column has been replaced by one of Big Brother. Through such touches, Orwell defamiliarises the London of the 1940s which the original readers would have recognised, showing how the London they know might be transformed under a totalitarian regime.
The novel’s protagonist is Winston Smith, who works at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting historical records so they are consistent with the state’s latest version of history. However, even though his day job involves doing the work of the Party, Winston longs to escape the oppressive control of the Party, hoping for a rebellion.
Winston meets the owner of an antique shop named Mr Charrington, from whom he buys a diary in which he can record his true feelings towards the Party. Believing the working-class ‘proles’ are the key to a revolution, Winston visits them, but is disappointed to find them wholly lacking in any political understanding.
Meanwhile, hearing of the existence of an underground resistance movement known as the Brotherhood – which has been formed by the rival of Big Brother, a man named Emmanuel Goldstein – Winston suspects that O’Brien, who also works with him, is involved with this resistance.
At lunch with another colleague, named Syme, Winston learns that the English language is being rewritten as Newspeak so as to control and influence people’s thought, the idea being that if the word for an idea doesn’t exist in the language, people will be unable to think about it.
Winston meets a woman named Julia who works for the Ministry of Truth, maintaining novel-writing machines, but believes she is a Party spy sent to watch him. But then Julia passes a clandestine love message to him and the two begin an affair – which is itself illicit since the Party decrees that sex is for reproduction alone, rather than pleasure.
We gradually learn more about Winston’s past, including his marriage to Katherine, from whom he is now separated. Syme, who had been working on Newspeak, disappears in mysterious circumstances: something Winston had predicted.
O’Brien invites Winston to his flat, declaring himself – as Winston had also predicted – a member of the Brotherhood, the resistance against the Party. He gives Winston a copy of the book written by Goldstein, the leader of the Brotherhood.
When Oceania’s enemy changes during the ritual Hate Week, Winston is tasked with making further historical revisions to old newspapers and documents to reflect this change.
Meanwhile, Winston and Julia secretly read Goldstein’s book, which explains how the Party maintains its totalitarian power. As Winston had suspected, the secret to overthrowing the Party lies in the vast mass of the population known as the ‘proles’ (derived from ‘proletarian’, Marx’s term for the working classes). It argues that the Party can be overthrown if proles rise up against it.
But shortly after this, Winston and Julia are arrested, having been shopped to the authorities by Mr Charrington (whose flat above his shop they had been using for their illicit meetings). It turns out that both he and O’Brien work for the Thought Police, on behalf of the Party.
At the Ministry of Love, O’Brien tells Winston that Goldstein’s book was actually written by him and other Party members, and that the Brotherhood may not even exist. Winston endures torture and starvation in an attempt to grind him down so he will accept Big Brother.
In Room 101, a room in which a prisoner is exposed to their greatest fear, Winston is placed in front of a wire cage containing rats, which he fears above all else. Winston betrays Julia, wishing she could take his place and endure this suffering instead.
His reprogramming complete, Winston is allowed to go free, but he is essentially living under a death sentence: he knows that one day he will be summoned by the authorities and shot for his former treachery.
He meets Julia one day, and learns that she was subjected to torture at the Ministry of Love as well. They have both betrayed each other, and part ways. The novel ends with Winston accepting, after all, that the Party has won and that ‘he loved Big Brother.’
Nineteen Eighty-Four : analysis
Nineteen Eighty-Four is probably the most famous novel about totalitarianism, and about the dangers of allowing a one-party state where democracy, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, and even freedom of thought are all outlawed. The novel is often analysed as a warning about the dangers of allowing a creeping totalitarianism into Britain, after the horrors of such regimes in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and elsewhere had been witnessed.
Because of this quality of the book, it is often called ‘prophetic’ and a ‘nightmare vision of the future’, among other things.
However, books set in the future are rarely simply about the future. They are not mere speculation, but are grounded in the circumstances in which they were written.
Indeed, we might go so far as to say that most dystopian novels, whilst nominally set in an imagined future, are really using their future setting to reflect on what are already firmly established social or political ideas. In the case of Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four , this means the novel reflects the London of the 1940s.
By the time he came to write the novel, Orwell already had a long-standing interest in using his writing to highlight the horrors of totalitarianism around the world, especially following his experience fighting in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. As Orwell put it in his essay ‘ Why I Write ’, all of his serious work written since 1936 was written ‘ against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism’.
In his analysis of Nineteen Eighty-Four in his study of Orwell, George Orwell (Reader’s Guides) , Jeffrey Meyers argues convincingly that, rather than being a nightmare vision of the future, a prophetic or speculative work, Orwell’s novel is actually a ‘realistic synthesis and rearrangement of familiar materials’ – indeed, as much of Orwell’s best work is.
His talent lay not in original imaginative thinking but in clear-headed critical analysis of things as they are: his essays are a prime example of this. Nineteen Eighty-Four is, in Meyer’s words, ‘realistic rather than fantastic’.
Indeed, Orwell himself stated that although the novel was ‘in a sense a fantasy’, it is written in the form of the naturalistic novel, with its themes and ideas having been already ‘partly realised in Communism and fascism’. Orwell’s intention, as stated by Orwell himself, was to take the totalitarian ideas that had ‘taken root’ in the minds of intellectuals all over Europe, and draw them out ‘to their logical consequences’.
Like much classic speculative fiction – the novels and stories of J. G. Ballard offer another example – the futuristic vision of the author is more a reflection of contemporary anxieties and concerns. Meyers goes so far as to argue that Nineteen Eighty-Four is actually the political regimes of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia ‘transposed’ into London of the early 1940s, during the Second World War.
Certainly, many of the most famous features of Nineteen Eighty-Four were suggested to Orwell by his time working at the BBC in London in the first half of the 1940s: it is well-known that the Ministry of Truth was based on the bureaucratic BBC with its propaganda department, while the infamous Room 101 was supposedly named after a room of that number in the BBC building, in which Orwell had to endure tedious meetings.
The technology of the novel, too, was familiar by the 1940s, involving little innovation or leaps of imagination from Orwell (‘telescreens’ being a natural extension of the television set: BBC TV had been established in 1936, although the Second World War pushed back its development somewhat).
Orwell learned much about the workings of Stalinism from reading Trotsky’s The Revolution Betrayed (1937), written by one of the leading figures in the Russian Revolution of 1917 who saw Stalinist Russia as the antithesis of what Trotsky, Lenin, and those early revolutionaries had been striving to achieve. (This would also be important for Orwell’s Animal Farm , of course.)
And indeed, many of the details surrounding censorship – the rewriting of history, the suppression of dissident literature, the control of the language people use to express themselves and even to think in – were also derived from Orwell’s reading of life in Soviet Russia. Surveillance was also a key element of the Stalinist regime, as in other Communist countries in Europe.
The moustachioed figure of Big Brother in Nineteen Eighty-Four recalls nobody so much as Josef Stalin himself. Not only the ideas of ‘thought crime’ and ‘thought police’, but even the terms themselves, predate Orwell’s use of them: they were first recorded in a 1934 book about Japan.
One of the key questions Winston asks himself in Nineteen Eighty-Four is what the Party is trying to achieve. O’Brien’s answer is simple: the maintaining of power for its own sake. Many human beings want to control other human beings, and they can persuade a worrying number of people to go along with their plans and even actively support them.
Despite the fact that they are starving and living a miserable life, many of the people in Airstrip One love Big Brother, viewing him not as a tyrannical dictator but as their ‘Saviour’ (as one woman calls him). Again, this detail was taken from accounts of Stalin, who was revered by many Russians even though they were often living a wretched life under his rule.
Another key theme of Orwell’s novel is the relationship between language and thought. In our era of fake news and corrupt media, this has only become even more pronounced: if you lie to a population and confuse them enough, you can control them. O’Brien introduces Winston to the work of the traitor to the Party, Emmanuel Goldstein, only to tell him later that Goldstein may not exist and his book was actually written by the Party.
Is this the lie, or was the book the lie? One of the most famous lines from the novel is Winston’s note to himself in his diary: ‘Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.’
But later, O’Brien will force Winston to ‘admit’ that two plus two can make five. Orwell tells us, ‘The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.’
Or as Voltaire once wrote, ‘Truly, whoever is able to make you absurd is able to make you unjust.’ Forcing somebody to utter blatant falsehoods is a powerful psychological tool for totalitarian regimes because through doing so, they have chipped away at your moral and intellectual integrity.
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Type your email…
1984 is a novel which is great in spite of itself and has been lionised for the wrong reasons. The title of the novel is a simple anagram of 1948, the date when the novel was written, and was driven by Orwell’s paranoia about the 1945 Labour government in UK. Orwell, a public school man, had built a reputation for hiself in the nineteen thirties as a socialist writer, and had fought for socialism in the Spanish civil war. The Road To Wigan Pier is an excellent polemic attacking the way the UK government was handling the mass unemployment of the time, reducing workers to a state of near starvation. In Homage To Catalonia, Orwell describes his experiences fighting with a small Marxist militia against Franco’s fascists. It was in Spain that Orwell developed his lifelong hatred of Stalinism, observing that the Communist contingents were more interested in suppressing other left-wing factions than in defeating Franco. The 1945 Labour government ws Britain’s first democratically elected socialist governement. It successfully established the welfare state and the National Health Service in a country almost bankrupted by the war, and despite the fact that Truman in USA was demanding the punctual repayment of wartime loans. Instead of rejoicing, Orwell, by now terminally ill from tuberculosis, saw the necessary continuation of wartime austerity and rationing as a deliberate and unnecessary imposition. Consequently, the book is often used as propaganda against socialism. The virtues of the book are the warnings about the dangers of giving the state too much power, in the form of electronic surveillance, ehanced police powers, intrusive laws, and the insidious use of political propaganda to warp peoples’ thinking. All of this has come to pass in the West as well as the East, but because of the overtly anticommunist spin to Orwell’s novel, most people fail to get its important message..
As with other work here, another good review. I’m also fascinated that Orwell located the government as prime problem, whereas Huxley located the people as prime problem, two sides of the same coin.
Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.
Continue reading
Our activity
Finished orders
Professional writers
Writers online now
Operators are online
Of 5 average writers' score
One of the most iconic books of the 21st century, George Orwell’s 1984 has long been a staple of English Language classrooms for many years. The novel was a dystopian story by writer George Orwell and was published in June 1949. Most of the themes in the novel are about the risk of government, totalitarianism and repressive regimes of all people, colours and creeds within society. The novel is set out in a dystopian future world in 1984 where much of it has fallen victim to oppressive government surveillance, perpetual war, propaganda and an extreme form of communism.
Throughout the novel, the reader is taken on a journey throughout airstrip one (Great Britain) which has become the head of state in the province called Oceania. Everything is ruled by ‘the Party’ who carry out their oppressive rule along with the thought police, a sub-branch of government that persecute any independent or individual thoughts that citizens may have. The leader of the party is something or someone called Big Brother , therefore the novel is about a cult of personality. Nobody even knows who or what Big Brother is or if it exists. The main protagonists, Winston Smith, is a party member who is diligent, intelligent and a skilful worker, however, he secretly despises the party and everything that it stands for. Smith tries to rebel against Big Brother and enters an exciting and forbidden relationship with his friend Julia. The novel takes us on a journey of hiding, running away and defying the government, with some pretty dire consequences for the characters involved.
There are numerous 1984 essay themes that one can write about and used to think of a topic. Let’s take a look at some of the major themes in the novel.
Totalitarian rule – this is a major theme and presents the kind of government that is unknown to the public. It is a warning to people to believe in all of the lies presented by the government. There is no actual proof of Big Brother throughout the novel, gets the party still manages to exercise control over their citizens.
Subverted reality – most people live in poverty within the novel and many people work against each other. There are spies everywhere and people are actually even told not to enjoy a life of love, only pledge their allegiance to the party. Reality is certainly subverted.
Propaganda – the novel shows how propaganda is used throughout to control its citizens. All well presents this vein through the vehicle of the Ministry of truth, an organisation part of Oceania. All throughout the novel, we are shown how the government uses propaganda time and time again to spread their message. We see slogans such as ‘Big Brother is watching’ everywhere.
Subversion of love the novel paints a dismal picture of how people are not to love each other according to the party. Everything should be a duty to the party and this really plays on people’s minds.
Identity – the loss of identity is a striking theme in the novel. Orwell shows that totalitarianism is able to rip people off their individualism and identity.
Loyalty – political loyalty is all so evident throughout 1984. Winston Smith is an employee that questions politics, however, he does still remain loyal to his job. Everyone in society has to remain loyal to Big Brother otherwise there will be major repercussions.
Class systems – a very prominent theme in the novel is that of class. One can see how Oceania is subdivided into separate classes. The inner party are the elites who have luxury lifestyles and servants around them. Ordinary class members such as Smith live in small apartments and have no permission to enjoy any familial or conjugal life. The poor class live in no-go areas where they are constantly bombarded with propaganda in order to subvert their minds to believe anything as truth. The party has complete control over the class.
The control of information – throughout Oceania, there is only one party and one leader called Big Brother. Everything is completely controlled, from the broadcast to rewriting history. Everything is done with Big Brother and the totalitarian regime in mind. You can see how Winston Smith has a very hard time and why he is struggling in his work.
Technology – the writer shows how technology is used to govern people and subvert their minds. Throughout the novel, the audience is presented with tales that involve terror screens and strange apparatuses as primary tools for controlling the public. There is even torture technology, especially in room 101.
Language – the abuse and the use of language is an important theme throughout 1984. The audience is shown how language is constantly used to exert physical and mental control over citizens. The party employs language and even has its own language called Newspeak which is designed to further harm people and control them.
Argumentative Essay
New Technology: Beneficial or Dangerous?
Academic level: Bachelor
Subject: Communication
Paper format: MLA
Corporate Social Responsibility
Subject: Management
Paper format: Harvard
Master’s Prepared Nurse Interview
Academic level: Master
Paper format: APA
Research Paper
The Maya Tribe
Academic level: Undergraduate
Subject: History
Now that we have touched on the themes, let’s have a look at various 1984 essay topics that you may find useful. With all of these topics, have a look and see what you would be interested in writing. You may want to take one of the topics without rephrasing or you can use them to formulate your own ideas. Let’s take a look at all the great topics and 1984 essay ideas that you can use!
Compare 1984 and Kite Runner – what are the different themes?
Compare and contrast 1984 with Huckleberry Finn. How does reading 1984 help understand all of the fields in Huckleberry Finn?
Make comparisons and contrast between George Orwell’s piece and Communist party in China. Are there some differences and similarities?
Compare 1984 with the movie, the lives of others. What kind of similarities are there?
What differences in technology are there between 1984 and V for Vendetta?
How does Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 share point about Marxism?
Compare and contrast 1984 with other dystopian novels.
How are the male characters portrayed in 1984 and in JG Ballard’s high-rise?
Compare and contrast 1984 with a work of JG Ballard.
How does crash by JG Ballard and George Orwell’s 1984 share common themes?
How does society become depicted in 1984 and how is it different from the society depicted in Panopticism by forecourt?
What kind of comparisons and contrasts can one make about 1984 and North Korea?
How are female characters betrayed in 1984 and in Brave New World?
What are some of the ways that the themes can be compared and contrasted between 1984 and The Giver by Lois Lowry?
What are some of the differences between the Shawshank redemption in 1984?
Compare and contrast the movie hunger games and the dystopian novel 1984. Think about all of the characters, ideas, themes and style that the story has been told in. How do you both novels differ in the way that they portray dystopia?
Are there any similarities between Children of Men and 1984?
What are the main ideas and connections between the Shawshank redemption and Orwell’s 1984?
Compare and contrast 1984 with the popular movie, the Truman show. What are the main differences between the plot, motifs, characters and themes?
How does the movie, the propaganda game, differ from 1984?
Is dictatorship amongst us at the moment? Compare current society to the society in 1984. Are there any parallels?
Are there any similarities between Lord of the flies and Orwell’s 1984? Can you see any connections between either of these books?
How does the book into the wild compare with 1984? Are there any similar themes?
Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and almost 1984 compare and contrast.
Compare the ways that police brutality today is similar to how it is in 1984.
How can one compare the book, 1984, to society today? What countries have features that Oceania has in Orwell’s dystopian novel?
How have any of Orwell’s political views had an influence on his work?
The theme of subversion of love in 1984.
Analyse the setting, theme, and all the ways that the author is able to depict characters within the context of political predictions in 1984.
Make an analysis of propaganda use in 1984. How does the government achieve its goals through the use of sponsorship, technology and media?
What role does the Ministry of truth play in the novel? What is the government able to achieve by controlling the truth?
Are the Ministry of truth able to rewrite history successfully?
The theme of totalitarianism in 1984.
What kind of influence does Big Brother have on society?
What does Big Brother say about today’s surveillance and privacy?
What role does Newspeak have in 1984? How can we see language change throughout the story?
In the room above Charrington’s shop, what significance does this have on the story and Winston’s character?
What parallels can we draw between 1984 and racial profiling today
Why have the upper class in 1984 only allowed intellectual freedom to a certain number of people?
The theme of class in 1984.
What kind of dystopia and symbolism is used in 1984 to convey the message?
How has oppression and fear continue to thrive in today’s society? What parallels can you see between today and 1984?
What parallels are there between Carl Jung’s philosophy and the ideas in 1984?
Our Winston and Julia complimentary carriages?
The theme of the subversion of society throughout the novel.
Discuss the theme of technology in 1984.
What are the different views between Winston and Julia on morality, politics, ethics and history?
Make an analysis of chapter 11 in 1984. What kind of serious repercussions will there be for Winston and Julia?
What colour parallels can we draw between consumers and to and 1984 society?
How has 1984 betrayed the theme of alienation?
Can a society survive if it follows the rules of society in 1984?
1984 paint a picture of totalitarianism today. Discuss.
Many of today’s world leaders such as Trump and Marie Le Pen are much like the higher-ups in 1984.
Dehumanisation which is a theme in 1984 is often used today to subvert citizens.
Does 1984 help us to understand more about the popularity of nationalism in the 21st century?
What powers do common people have in 1984? How does Winston think about the higher-ups?
Winston is definitely against Big Brother throughout the whole novel. Discuss.
1984 can teach us many lessons about today’s society. Discuss.
The significance of memory in 1984.
Which parts of 1984 have come true in today’s reality? Were there any things that were exaggerated? Could any things in 1984 not become true in the future?
The social hierarchy of Oceania how does this strange hierarchy come to support the party and all of their goals?
Big ideas: Friedrich Nietzsche and Simone de Beauvoir. Photo / Supplied
Book review: Given that this is a book about philosophers, and nothing makes a philosopher happier than a hypothetical question, here’s one to start with: what would 18th-century thinker Jeremy Bentham make of our modern, digitised world, frantically busy with social media, text messages, email and other electronic distractions?
Would he say it was delivering – in Bentham’s famous phrase – “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”? No, he most certainly would not, reckons author David Runciman, professor of politics at the University of Cambridge. “He would be horrified by it … We are being manipulated for the sake of narrow, private interests, something he railed against all his life.”
Runciman says the simple question Bentham would ask is whether all that digital beeping and flashing is making us better off. And if not, “why are we doing it like this”?
Bentham is one of the big names in this collection of a dozen essays on some of history’s deepest thinkers, in which Runciman describes not only their most important ideas, but also how some of them might be applied in the modern world.
The 12 range from the 18th century (starting with Jean-Jacques Rousseau) to the 1980s (Judith Shklar), and in inclination they run the gamut from Mr “God is Dead” himself, Friedrich Nietzsche, to feminist Simone de Beauvoir, and from US anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass to card-carrying Nazi Carl Schmitt.
In 20 pages or so, each is set in his (mostly) or her (three cases) time and place, and their big ideas are explained. The tone is chatty, down to earth and mercifully free of academic jargon.
New Zealand gets a few pages, in the section on the whimsical Samuel Butler, who gave his philosophical ideas an early airing in the Christchurch Press , and went on to offer warnings about the ever-growing power of machines, which today sound a lot like some of the concerns sparked by the growth of artificial intelligence.
In the modern era, Runciman is much taken with the work of the Latvian-Canadian-American Shklar, who spent a lot of time thinking about human vices. One of her conclusions was that we shouldn’t worry too much about some of the not-quite-so-dreadful vices, such as snobbery and hypocrisy, if that means we don’t worry enough about the supreme vice of all, cruelty.
Runciman illustrates that with the example of Donald Trump, for whom casual cruelty appears to be second nature. But, Runciman argues, at least Trump is not a hypocrite – he is just as nasty in public as he is in private. And it was that openness about his own awfulness that allowed Trump to present himself as being different from your run-of-the mill two-faced politician.
Anyone reading this will have their own favourites. For my money, early-20th century Austrian-American political economist Joseph Schumpeter was dead-on with his realistic, verging on cynical, take on modern democracy. He argued that it is a competition among political elites seeking the voters’ endorsement rather than a way of expressing the will of the people. As Schumpeter saw it, the political advertising and image manipulation isn’t a sideshow; it’s the main event.
Runciman says his theme is “about imagining a better world, which is more fitting for the post-Covid era”, but the Covid reference is a bit of an aside, possibly inspired by the fact that the book is based on podcasts made during and after the pandemic. Really, it’s just about various ways of imagining a better world – at any time.
There’s no burning message, unless it’s that there is more than one way of ordering human affairs, that the status quo may not be the best way of maximising freedom and fairness, and that past thinkers may have some ideas worth heeding.
If it’s not exactly the “mind-bending tour through the history of ideas” that the blurb over-promises, it is at least an intriguing journey.
And here’s one more philosophical question: why buy this book, when the original podcasts are still out there (or were, at the time of writing) and free for the listening?
You can find them by going to talkingpoliticspodcast.com and searching for History of Ideas Series 2. There, you can listen to Runciman expounding on all the philosophers in this book, in the same accessible, conversational way, thus saving yourself $40 ($55 for the hardback) and the trouble of turning the pages.
You may prefer the permanence of print, or feel uneasy about taking something for nothing, but that’s one question you’ll have to answer for yourself.
The History of Ideas: Equity, Justice and Revolution , by David Runciman (Profile Books, $39.99), is out now.
Clos Henri Estate's organic Marlborough savs and pinots bring a touch of the Loire Valley.
Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.
Edwidge Danticat is known for her novels and short stories. But her new book, We're Alone , is a collection of eight wide-ranging essays. These essays touch on intimate and historical topics: Danticat's past and present, the history of Haiti, parenting, migration and the author's connection to her literary heroes. In today's episode, Danticat speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about the complexity of nostalgia and the Haiti she remembers. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
What effect does the book have on Winston? What does he learn from reading it? What is the unanswered question? ... "1984 - Suggested Essay Topics." MAXnotes to 1984, edited by Dr. M. Fogiel, ...
The Three Important Aspects of the Fictional World in "1984" by George Orwell. The Verbal and Situation Irony in George Orwell's "1984". Understanding Dystopia in "1984" by George Orwell and "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. The Government's Suppression of Freedom in "1984" by George Orwell.
Our topics base contains the most diverse topics of 1984 to write about in essays. Choose perfect titles and start to write your paper. search. Essay Samples Arts & Culture; Business; Economics; Education; Entertainment; ... A Review of George Orwell's Book, 1984 . 1 page / 673 words . George Orwell's novel 1984 warns of a totalitarian ...
Writing an essay on George Orwell's 1984 can be hard, especially when you sit down the first time to actually get it done. After all, this dystopian novel is packed with complex ideas about surveillance, freedom, and power. But the key to writing a great essay isn't just summarizing the plot or analyzing the apparent themes—it's about finding your unique angle and interestingly ...
Essays for 1984. 1984 essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of 1984 by George Orwell. The Reflection of George Orwell; Totalitarian Collectivism in 1984, or, Big Brother Loves You; Sex as Rebellion; Class Ties: The Dealings of Human Nature Depicted through Social ...
Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of "1984" by George Orwell. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
As Orwell was writing 1984 in 1948, television was just emerging from the developmental hiatus forced upon the broadcasting industry by World War II. Many people were worried, in the late 1940s ...
We can help you master your essay analysis of 1984 by taking you through the summary, context, key characters and themes. We'll also help you ace your upcoming English assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or online! We've supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students ...
Essays and criticism on George Orwell's 1984 - Critical Essays Select an area of the website to search All 1984 Study Guides Homework Help Lesson Plans Criticism Quizzes
Background. George Orwell's classic 1984 is one of the best known dystopian books, at once an exploration of human nature as well as a warning about the dangers of centralized power. As such, it ...
Essays for 1984. 1984 essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of 1984 by George Orwell. The Reflection of George Orwell; Totalitarian Collectivism in 1984, or, Big Brother Loves You; Sex as Rebellion; Class Ties: The Dealings of Human Nature Depicted through Social ...
In Nineteen Eighty-Four, society is made up of three distinct social classes: the elite Inner Party, the industrious Outer Party, and vast numbers of uneducated proles. When Winston reads Goldstein's book, he learns that the history of humankind has been a cyclical struggle between competing social groups: the High, the Middle, and the Low.
5. Cutting down the choice of words diminishes the range of thought. 6. The "A" vocabulary consists of words needed for everyday life, words already in existence. 7. The "A" vocabulary ...
1984 essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of 1984 by George Orwell. ... The opening of Book Two of 1984, in which Winston meets Julia and begins the erotic affair he has so deeply desired, commences the main section of the novel and strikes an immediate contrast ...
Not only the ideas of 'thought crime' and 'thought police', but even the terms themselves, predate Orwell's use of them: they were first recorded in a 1934 book about Japan. One of the key questions Winston asks himself in Nineteen Eighty-Four is what the Party is trying to achieve. O'Brien's answer is simple: the maintaining of ...
14. Operators are online. 4,9. Of 5 average writers' score. One of the most iconic books of the 21st century, George Orwell's 1984 has long been a staple of English Language classrooms for many years. The novel was a dystopian story by writer George Orwell and was published in June 1949. Most of the themes in the novel are about the risk of ...
Complete summary of George Orwell's 1984. eNotes plot summaries cover all the significant action of 1984. ... Suggested Essay Topics ... Winston's interruption while reading Goldstein's book in ...
Big ideas: Friedrich Nietzsche and Simone de Beauvoir. Photo / Supplied. Book review: Given that this is a book about philosophers, and nothing makes a philosopher happier than a hypothetical ...
Essays and criticism on George Orwell's 1984 - Critical Evaluation ... Orwell knew that most of the people who would read his book would still be alive in 1984. The ideas in this book are ...
These essays touch on intimate and historical topics: Danticat's past and present, the history of Haiti, parenting, migration and the author's connection to her literary heroes.