True Totalitarianism

Oceania, is a true totalitarian state. By every meaning of totalitarian standards, Oceania meets and surpasses all of the totalitarian principles. As the citizens of Oceania know all too well, they are not a part of the system, they are the system. Whereas in Animal Farm the reader sees the transition into a totalitarian state but sees that the rule of the pigs is not as heavy as that of the Party in 1984. In Oceania , The Party is everything. It is absolute and is every shape or form a menace that has not only injured mankind but has also tarnished his future and his past. To break the will and to stamp out the spirit of all people, The Party has made sure to have broken all bonds and have made sure that the only bond a person has is to The Party. There are no family bonds, children spy on their parents and report them to the police, there are no friends, everyone is too paranoid to leave themselves vulnerable to have any, there are no couples or lovers because no one can marry only in the exception where The Party decides who you marry. In page 65 Winston refers back to The Party's marriage arrangements “All marriages between Party members had to be approved by a committee appointed for the purpose and – though the principle was never clearly stated- permission was always refused if the couple concerned gave the impression of being physically attracted to one another”.By doing this no one trusts no one, they are all too afraid if to let their true feelings be known , because everyone hates The Party but no one has the courage to stand up to it. No one has the will to fight, this lack of rebellion is what gives The Party absolute power, The Party has intimidated everyone so profoundly that the very idea of speaking out is reprehensible.

Winston's Home

Winston Smith, a thirty-nine year old member of the Outer Party, is going home from work. The building he enters is his apartment building and it is a decrepit and worn out Victorian structure. As Winston enters his apartment, the reader is shown how Winston and everyone else in the Outer Party is deprived from any luxuries or leisurely delights. All Winston has for furniture is a mat for a bed, a single table and a cabinet to hold his Victory Gin (which tastes awful), a mandatory telescreen, and a forbidden journal. By just having this journal within his apartment, Winston is guilty of a number crimes but Winston is so desperate for any feeling he is willing to risk death just to have something to speak his mind. To even speak ill of the The Party and its doings is punishable by death and to take this further Winston wrote in page 18 “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”. By writing this, Winston has just signed his own execution but knowing that he was able to speak his mind gave Winston all the satisfaction he needed. The journal, although it is only a temporary sanctuary, is only one of two places where Winston can have privacy. The other place being his mind but even the privacy of his own head is being pried into by The Party. That “telescreen” is just like a television but in reverse, you don't watch the telescreen, the telescreen watches you. The telescreen is a finely tuned machine that can effectively read your heart rate, your breathing patterns and even your facial expressions. If a person does anything that is considered “strange”, as in speaking in your sleep or have some physiological reaction to The Party's propaganda then the police will be there immediately to question you. Not many come back from these questionings and those who are not immediately killed spared long enough for them to admit their crimes to lie of a courtroom and then publicly executed. With the constant surveillance, it is apparent that all of the Outer Party members are despairing for any relief but knowing they have no place to turn to their spirits are broken and they have lost all hope. Its exactly what The Party wants.

The Party's Foothold

1984 is everything that democracy stands for. The appalling and brutal foothold “The Party” has on the citizens of “Oceania” or what was London. This domineering group of oppressors has split their nation into three groups. The “Inner Party” is at the top of the chain and they receive all the luxuries and pleasures that Oceania has to offer, then come “Party Members”, the middle class of this negative utopia. This class does all the administrative work and they are the backbone of Oceania, and the last and certainly the least comes the “Proles”. The Proles are the lowest of the low, in this society they are at the same level as animals as in page 72 says “Proles and animals are free” but ironically, they are the only class that is given any real freedom. The Proles inhabit the deteriorating slums of Oceania but they avoid the constant oppression because “The Party” rarely puts up cameras or have any police patrol the area. Although “The Party” usually ignores the Proles, the have complete control of everything else, literally, from the time the people go to sleep, to the time they wake up, to whom you marry, and they have the last say when it comes to sex. “The Party” has taken such extensive measures to control everyone that they have banned sex, “The Party” has created a branch of young adults who are celibate but who force celibacy on all others, this branch is called “The Junior Anti-Sex League”. This league was created to bar everyone from sex because in the eyes of “The Party” sex is only meant for creating more Party members, besides that sex has no other use. With such extreme tactics, “The Party” has managed to become absolute, and to “The Party” there is no such thing as freedom.

An Introduction to 1984

The book 1984 was written by George Orwell in 1948 and was published in 1949 by Secker and Warburg. The book takes place in an absolute and totalitarian government that is suffocating its people by its many rules and guidelines. “The Party”, as it is known, is in completely control of everything. They have the final say in all aspects of politics, economy and daily life. This control over the people has only pined for more power and control up to the point where the government prohibits all forms of rebellion. Thinking of rebellion is the worst of all crimes, the constant vigilance and spying has the protagonist, Winston Smith at the edge of madness where he doesn't care whether he rebels or not, just to feel as if he had some freedom is what he wants and so do the people who live under “The Party's” rule.

The Oppressed become the Oppressors

Out of all the Communist regimes that have risen, the leaders have of the Communist movement are usually driven to bring equality and to stop the abuses of the last government. Sadly though, when these leaders concentrate their power they do the same as the old leaders and oppress the people. This is the terrible irony to all Communist regimes, the Commies always preach for the freedom of the people and the equality of all of its citizens but in the end all the people get is brutal suppression and subjugation. As in all regimes, Animal Farm has undergone the transitions of a oppressive government. Like all other Communist leaders, they take up the lifestyle of the old leaders and forsake their misguided but noble values. The pigs who once were repulsed by the idea of an animal behaving like a man are now learning how to read, write and have taken on human vices such as smoking, drinking and gambling. In page 139 the animals were looking in a card game between the pigs and neighboring human farmers and both parties caught each other cheating “Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from to pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which”. This shows just how the cycle of the angered and vengeful oppressed come back to oppress the people.

The Gullible Class

One of the most dangerous aspects of how Communism begins to set its foundations is how it fools and deceives to get into a position of power. No matter which group was oppressed by the foothold of a Communist regime, the people always seemed to have turned the other cheek and seem to be completely ignorant of the injustices that were happening. Although Napoleon has blatantly defied the Seven Commandments, no one has stepped up to name the injustices the system has committed . The other animals do not know of the abuses Napoleon's rule has done but their naivete has prevented them from pointing out how the whole system has gone awry. The other animals done question but support and through this blind ambition of making their farm great, they fuel Napoleon's thirst for more power and furthering his grip on the farm. In page 126 the loyal but naïve Boxer says “Comrade Napoleon is always right” and Boxer says this constantly. No matter what Napoleon does, Boxer says he is always right, and the same could be said about the animals in general. Napoleon has irrefutably abused his power and he has taken measures to protect his own power at the price of the other animals' welfare. Yet, no animal has said anything, Napoleon's public relations aid, Squealer comes to soothe over any qualms and feeds the other animals a load of lies on how if Napoleon and his inner circle were to come to any discomfort then the whole farm will collapse. These kinds of lies are constantly thrown at the animals and it always works.