Nabeel Utopias Blog

I recently realized that in the background of the overall plot of 1984 , world wars seem to be constantly going on. They have no impact on the plot whatsoever, but seem to always be there. I'm not sure how they started or how they're going, which makes me unsure why Orwell incorporates them. The Party might see them as a way to make their citizens embrace nationalism, but in my opinion there are many other ways to do this. Is Orwell simply adding to the pessimistic vibe of Oceania, or is there something more going on? 

In yet another scene of Winston's private life that Orwell allows us to observe, Winston is writing in his diary about a past sexual encounter he had with a prostitute. He recalls the Party's views about sex: that it should only be done for the purpose of producing a child and never for pleasure. And until Winton knows Julia, he is one of the many people manipulated by the government by this message. At the beginning of the novel, Winston's sexual fantasies were strangely wicked and immoral. I think this is due to the repression of his own sexuality. It makes him have violent impulses but he never lashes out, which is enough for the Party. 

A prevalent theme throughout 1984  is the totalitarian future where society lives under extreme government surveillance. At the time of the release of the novel, this idea probably seemed outlandish. But over time, due to the digital age, some of these ideas don't seem too far from reality.  Something I remember learning about before high school was PRISM, a government surveillance program controlled by the National Security Agency. It became known that they collected information and communications from various internet companies and its general existence was leaked to the public by Edward Snowden. He claimed PRISM was dangerous and was associated with criminal activities. This scandal had drastic effects on companies and websites that were part of the rise of the internet age. Google, for instance, constantly denied being used by the government to steal information from users. When does security become too much? Do you think we have to worry about reports such as this?

As I read through the beginning of 1984  I immediately found many similarities to Huxley's Brave New World. The first and most obvious to me was how both societies share the goal to remove all individuality from their citizens by conditioning them to be content with what they have been given. In the World State of Brave New World , this conditioning occurs as soon as they are born and in some cases even before. They are brainwashed into liking what society wants them to like, making them unable to form their own personality traits. In the world of 1984 , posters of Big Brother are everywhere. This, along with the oversight of the Thought Police, condition people to "stay in their place" and to not act against authority in any way. The telescreen in Winston's room makes him act a certain way, but he is aware of this. No one born in the World State of  Brave New World is ever aware of how society controls them, which is why I believe that Winston will eventually rebel ...

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