1984 Vs Animal Farm Essay Research Paper

1984 Vs. Animal Farm Essay, Research Paper

1984 vs. Animal Farm

1984, by George Orwell, is a very powerful drama which involves man and

totalitarian society. It is a story of a lonely rebel whose only valuable is his mind and who later conspires with another in an attempt to separate from their increasingly dominant hate-infested society. In 1984, Orwell depicts the susceptibility of today’s society and its possibility of becoming a realm of lies. In it, the masses live in constant fear, being monitored at all times. He also admonishes the fact that this society can be in store for us in the future. The main theme of 1984 is that without independent thought and freedom, corruption can and will transform decent order into unbeatable, truth-hiding oppression.

It is 1984 in London, Oceania, one of the three major super powers of the world. Winston Smith, an Outer Party member (middle class), works in the Ministry of Truth ‘correcting’ the past so as to make it agree with the present. He is totally upset with the government of omniscient, omnipresent Big Brother and so out of despair, he rebels against it by doing everything from communicating with proles (low class-proletariat) and writing in a diary to having an affair with a younger woman. Winston first thought that Julia, the younger woman, was an Inner Party member (high class) and had dreams of her and even had thoughts of killing her, until she took enough initiative and courage to admit her love for him. After making love many times, they decide to rent the basic room from Mr. Charrington, directly above his rubbish shop. The two of them then go to meet O’Brien, an Inner Party member, who has them believe him to also be a rebel with the Brotherhood against Big Brother, giving them an illicit book authored by public enemy Emmanuel Goldstein. After lying in secret for days and weeks, and after feeling trapped by their society (major conflict), the two are arrested at the hands of O’Brien and Mr. Charrington, a member of the Thought Police. Then, each of the two are incarcerated in the Ministry of Love, with O’Brien supervising/torturing Winston in his ’sanitation.’ By means of severe pain and torture, Winston is almost finished with his training and has come to admire O’Brien. After nine months of starvation, neglect, and abuse, the last step requires Winston to go to Room 101, containing Winston’s greatest fear: rats. After finishing, he is released, having lost his diary, memories, personality, and love for Julia; he has, however, attained love for Big Brother (resolution), and is now more useless than ever.

The setting for 1984 is in dirty, dull London, looking more run-down than ever. The Golden Country in Smith’s dream, however, is paradise from the frozen-over hell that is London. It cannot be overlooked that London is full of disease, pests, pollution, and hate; basically, it consists of filth, both physical and spiritual. Like many other books of its time, 1984 mentions the loss of independent thought and its outright effects on today’s society. It is for that loss that Winston most cherishes his thought and reason. Orwell is also trying to drive home the fact that if it happened with Stalin and Hitler, it most certainly can happen with us, with or without Big Brother. Another major point to be looked at is the ‘truth.’ Without everybody thinking for themselves, they all tend to rely on a major source for their info. With the Party being that source, that masses have no other to turn to. Thus, they must believe it for their own good. In effect, the Party can churn out any little lie to the public without any fear of not being believed. Without free thinking, there is also no end to the ‘war,’ yet another Party-fabricated lie. The government has gotten to the point that, without any rules, it can denounce anything and everything it fears as a crime. Anyone seen as independent opposition to the Party’s power is efficiently suppressed. Winston realizes that the paperweight was made in some other time, for it is forbidden in 1984, if it really is 1984, and it is for that reason that he cherishes it. The society that Orwell depicts has nothing more than betrayers and fear of strangers as is evident by O’Brien, Charrington, and the masses. With Big Brother posters everywhere and no freedom of speech, all live in constant fear of detection. All may be under surveillance, giving birth to paranoia and lack of trust. One of the few things admirable about the Party is how they have invented their language for the elite. Newspeak, yet another ingenious idea of Orwell, is the constantly refined version of Standard English, or as the Party calls it, Oldspeak. That is one of the rare success stories of the Party. This work provides an insight into a world lacking free reason, and shows the consequences of it, not to mention the state of oblivion and ignorance in which the people live. 1984, by George Orwell, depicts a lie-making, truth-hiding, corrupt, totalitarian nation lying in ruins, afraid of the truth and consumed with hatred.

All aspects of Orwell’s 1984 are symbolic in one way or another. Orwell undoubtedly based Big Brother on Russian leader Joseph Stalin, whose means concerned sole power and totalitarianism. The description of the steel-faced, black-mustachioed Brother bears a great resemblance to Stalin, whose last name means steel. He also used Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Spani