Essay Preview: 1984
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Have you ever thought about what life would be like if Hitler had won WWII? Just think about not being able to choose the job of your choice or not being able to express your feelings about the government. Those are just two of the many freedoms that would have been lost if the U.S. would have lost the war. The book 1984 gives a view of what life would be like if we lived under a totalitarianism government.
The story 1984 is about Winston Smith an average person who lives on airstrip one in Oceania, which used to be London, England. The ruling government of Oceania is IN SOC, which is a totalitarianism government. The author George Orwell wrote this book to warn people about the negative effects of a totalitarianism government.
In the first section of the book, it tells about Winstons job changing the past and present news for the government. Winston belongs to the outer-party and is suppose to love Big Brother who is the ruler of Oceania. The official language developed by the government, which is spoke in Oceania is Newspeak. Oceania is constantly at war with the brotherhood, which allows Big Brother to stay in power. Winstons rebellion against Big Brother starts in section one with him writing in a diary, which is not allowed in Oceania. Later in section one he has sex with Julia who is also an outer-party member and having sex is also illegal in Oceania.
In the second section of the book Winston has a love affair with Julia. The two of them continue to break the laws of Big Brother and the thought police, which is the police core of Oceania, begin to catch on to Winston and Julia. Winston also meets OBrien who works for Big Brother and is spying on Winston and Julia.
In the third section of the book is when the climax of the book takes place. Winston and Julia were caught by the Thought Police because of their acts against Big Brother. OBrien then takes Winston to room 101, which contains in it a persons worst fears. For Winston his worse fear is rats because when he was a kid he saw his mom lying dead in a field with rats all over her. In room 101 is where the climax of the book takes place when Winston yells out, “do it to Julia.”
One conflict that takes place in this book is Winston against the government. Winston believes that the totalitarianism style of government is not fair for the people under its rule. Winston shows his dislike for the government by disobeying many of the laws of the government. Two ways that he does this is by writing a diary expressing his feelings and by also having sex with Julia.
The second conflict in this book was Winston verses the rats. When Winston was a child the government killed his mom and dragged her into a field to dispose of her. Winston later found her body lying dead in a field, with rats covering her. Rats then became Winstons worst fear, which is shown when he is taken to room 101 where he is to be tortured.
As a third conflict I chose Winston verses OBrien. Winston did not know whether or not if he could trust OBrien. OBrien acted as if he was a friend to Winston but in the end he ended up working for the government and turning Winston and Julia in for not obeying the laws of the government.
In this book there is an overall feeling of depression. The churches are old, junky and all bombed out. The churches in general give a dark and gloomy feeling just by the looks and the descriptive words the author chose to write. The authors overall attitude toward totalitarianism is that it is a very bad form of government and does not give people fair freedoms and rights that we are accustom to. Another example of his dislike for totalitarianism is that he wrote the book Animal