REVIEW: The relationship between 1984’s dystopia and The present day

“Nineteen eighty – four” (1949), is a dystopian novel written by George Owrell where society is totally dominated by The State. The main character is Winston, a man almost of 40 years old, who lives alone and he is arrested by State domination. He engages with a Fiction Depertment’s member, which is totally prohibited. People could not have relationships. In this novel we can observe how powerful is the power of persuasion and how dangerous is the power in wrong hands.

Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, this ministry is responsible for disprove any situation that the party wants to be true. Even living in a society where all people are watched 24 hours a day and hating the System. Winston (apparantly) can do this well. But, he is frustrated with his real situation: he does not agree with the actions promoted by Big Brother. We can observe this frustration when he starts to deviate from the telescreen’s look to write his memories on a daily.

Julia is characterized by Winston as a beautiful woman, bold appearance, apparently 27 years old, had a dangerous air and she wore chastity belt and she did Winston feel bad.

O’Brien is Internal Party's member and he is charactezied as a big man, funny and rude. He had the habit of pinching the glasses position. Despite the fact of having a rude appearance and fearsome, he was a man in different ways.

The great dystopia of the book is the Party’s slogan "the Big Brother cares for you". We can observe a little of irony, they understand care like to monitor and to control. On the contrary, they do not watch the people, because in the novel we have the proles (people who have been totally abandoned by the State).  We can compare our current situation, the current government says care for all, but the white and the rich are the only ones who were beneficiaries. Many actions that were aimed at disadvantaged were cut, and the government to pass a good image.

Who does not support the government's lies are like Winston, who finds himself suffocated and suffer the consequences. In the novel, Winston was tortured to be convinced that everything was imposed by Big Brother was good. In our reality, we suffer similar persecution: we have death threats, beatings and hatred among people.

Orwell in his dystopian novel shows a real dystopic, because all theses things really happens, people are placed against each other, rights are cut, as real dictatorship. He shows the truth of a totalitarian state in which people are led to believe in lies. His book is a critique of oppressive government.

Nineteen eighty – four shows a formal language, but it is not dense and it is not complicated, with irony and sarcams in government speeches and its members and even the author, and also shows an imperative tone.

If we continue to compare Nineteen eighty - four to the present day, we  will observe other similarities: (1) The government creates other problems for the real problem to be hidden. In the book it happens when the State says “War is Peace!”. In our current days, the gorvermment says a similar thing: “Do not think in crisis, work!”; (2) people come to hate each other; (3) people are alienated by the system and close their eyes to reality.

The book is an x-ray of a society controlled by Communism and its totalitarianism. It also describes the use of force, torture and the lack of privacy. The great System trick is use of catchphrases: “War is peace”, “Freedom is Slavery”; “Ignorance is strength”, the goal is make a brainwash. The System also use a new talk and the thought police.

References:

ORWELL, G.1984. São Paulo: Companhia das letras, 2009.