Orwell's book, 1984 - Essay Example

Orwell’s Book, 1984 Introduction George Orwell, 1984 is dystopian and satirical in nature. Orwell uses deep satire in his language to express the nature of the tyrannical rule exercised by the people of Britain after emerged from the Second World War. Orwell’s main intention in writing this book like in many of his books such as animal farm is to criticize the tyranny of the ruling governments in Britain as well as the various ills that are constantly taking place in the current world. Orwell addresses a wide range of these ills in the society resulting from the dictatorial nature of the ruling governments and their actions to help them maintain their super superiority over their subjects. Various themes have been highlighted in George Orwell’s book, 1984 among them those of war and technology. For instance, the Oceanian province is portrayed as a war- torn province and is constantly at war with Eurasia and Eastasia[Geo49]. War in the region is taken as a tool for bringing peace in place of its usual known effects of death and the fear infliction among the people. Evidences of war are dominant in the entire text, for instance, a film is shown which portrays a sheep, symbolizing peace as the ministry of peace among the subjects but instead replaced by a soldier surging with a fearful armory in order to make people fearful of the all powerful and totalitarian Ingsoc party leaders, the Big Brother. Besides, Orwell narrates the war nature in his text as he sympathetically expresses the evils committed and those intended by the ruling party-Ingsoc. “The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering — a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons — a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting — three hundred million people all with the same face.” [Geo49] Another theme that is eminent in the entire text is that of technology. Technology is used as a key method in exercising the tyrant rule of the Big Brother over her subjects. Maximum surveillance of the people is ensured both in private as well as in public places. Anything done by anyone anywhere is finally captured by the big telescreens deployed everywhere in the empire and the penalties for some crimes such as thought crime or death[Geo49]. With the help of the telescreens, the thought police are able to execute their duties and constant supervision is ensured on every citizen for the spread of propaganda. For instance, Winston narrates the unease created by the telescreens on the people, “Life, if you looked about you, bore no resemblance not only to the lies that streamed out of the telescreens, but even to the ideals that the Party was trying to achieve.” [Geo49]. Further, reflection of today’s United States of American government and the spirit that drives their rule not only in the entire world but also for the American citizens emanate in the book as well. This essay explores the relationship between the themes of war and music evidenced in George Orwell’s book,1984 and the current American political arena. Over a long period, the American continent has been languishing in war both internally and externally. The external wars that the American government has subjected herself into being evidence to date, for instance, the war with Afghanistan and Iraq in the later years are clear evidence of the tyrannical rule of the American government in the entire world given her position as the world’s superpower. The wars fought between America and the rest of the world can be symbolically equated with that which is fought in George Orwell’s in Nineteen Eighty Four between the three states, Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia in a bid to exercise superior control over the European continent. Like in Orwell’s book, the American government has been fighting an unjust war with the entire world. With the claim of enforcing a ban on nuclear weapons and nuclear bombs that most countries of the world are pursuing today and which they claim to be dangerous. It is ironical to note that America herself has quite a number of manufactured nuclear bombs that she harbors within her territorial boundaries as she goes out to destroy the same possessed by other countries around the world. The tyrant rule of the American government over the whole world is clearly pictured in this book in a rather small sphere of the British Empire at the times of George Orwell. It is sad to notice, that as America claims to be involved in keeping the world peace and engaging herself in destroying all the harmful weapons possessed by other countries, her mission is surely not in line with her commission. Like in George Orwell’s, America is simply a tyrant government over the world and wants to exercise her full authority on the global population using wars and threats to inflict fear and discontent among the earthly population. Her self-proclaimed peace keeping duty is actually Orwell’s Big Brother’s mission portrayed in the slogan “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”. While keeping everybody ignorant of her hideous missions around the globe, America has constantly been involved in shedding the blood of the innocent just like the Big Brother’s rule did to the people under its rule. It is certainly not peace that the American government is involving herself into keeping but exercising her power and strength and firmly establishing her tyrant rule over the world by denying peace and freedom to the world through wars and technological advancement. The current development in the field of technology in America has reached the level that has enabled them to monitor the whole world and control what is going on in the entire globe. With this, the American government has succeeded in exercising her full control over the whole world. The use of space satellite images is of great importance to the American government to monitor the various and numerous operations of all people in the entire world. This can be compared to the technological development assistance used by the government of the Big Brother to monitor the movements made by her subject populations. Just as it was easy for the Ingsoc government to ensure the strict rule of the people under her rule using her highly developed technology, in the same way, it has been very possible for the American government to execute surveillance operations in the whole world using her technology and ensure a lasting dynasty over the entire globe. The American government has also deployed persons (Ambassadors) in almost all countries of the world to monitor the operations of most governments and relay back the information collected using her highly developed technology just as the Big Brother’s government used other people to spy on others. Conclusion To conclude, it is worth noting that the blend of technology and war used by the two governments, the Ingsoc government in George Orwell’s book, 1984 and the current American government have enabled the duo to have lasting domination over their subjects. Fear is inflicted on the people by exposing the current developments and advances made in war on screens to scare the world population of the wonderful and mighty powers of their governments at war. On seeing these, fear grips the entire world so that no one is willing to wage war against them. The same mechanisms were used by the big brother’s government in Orwell’s book when he stationed big telescreens everywhere in the country where the events of success in war were publicly screened for people to watch. The resulting effect was that no man would be left with courage to think of overthrowing the Big Brother government. “Then the sheep-face melted into the figure of a Eurasian soldier who seemed to be advancing, huge and terrible, his sub-machine gun roaring, and seeming to spring out of the surface of the screen, so that some of the people in the front row actually flinched backwards in their seats.” [Geo49] Reference Geo49: , (Orwell, 1949), Geo49: , (Orwell, 1949, p. 42), Geo49: , (Orwell, 1949, p. 8), Read More