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Julia Mayberry
Professor Batty
English 114B
11 March 2014
1984: Totalitarianistic Government
As human beings, we are bound to make mistakes. Being a famous actress or actor, one
could only imagine the pressure placed upon them to be perfect due to the amount of cameras on
them every second. When famous people make a mistake, society scrutinizes them to no end.
This is similar to the government in the book, 1984 by George Orwell. In this book, the citizens
were under some sort of surveillance every minute, weather spies were watching them, or the
thought police were plugged in, the government is always invading every aspect of the people's
lives. Not only was every perspective of their lives controlled, but they really did not know what
information given to them by Big Brother was true or false. Stories and facts were created to
have the people believe what Big Brother wanted them to. History was incredibly distorted in
this world, the people just had to accept the Information that was fed to them. This Big Brother
government is a Totalitarianistic government because they imposed and exercised absolute
control on all aspects of these citizens lives. The world that these citizens live in is incredibly
dystopian and as a result, no government should become Totalitarian because their thoughts are
monitored, they are not aloud to engage in intercourse for pleasure, and because the government
controls history and Information.
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In Oceania, the country in which these humans inhabited, secret police known as thought
police would invade their personal thoughts. In this dystopian and totalitarianistic world, their
job is to arrest citizens for violating any thought crimes. They used special surveillance to catch
anyone disobeying the thought laws. This is considered a dystopian world because everyone
should feel safe in their own thoughts. The mind is one place no one should be able to intrude or
make one feel scared. People may disagree that this is an over controlling government and say
this is a truly helpful way for any government to cut back on crime. If the government could read
someone's mind, they could predict and prevent crime. Once again, a thought is only a thought,
any human can have a thought about any subject, but it only matters if they start acting on their
thoughts, keeping in mind that these actions are considered wrong in that society. If someone
keeps a thought to themselves, they should never feel threatened for that. The thought police
really helped define this book as a dystopian story and reminds authoritarians why
Totalitarianism is an inadequate way to govern a society.
Sex is one of the most independent and natural forms of self that anyone can express to
another person. It is one of the most human and instinctive acts one could engage in. The
government does not want the citizens having any sense of self, thus, people are not permitted to
have sexual intercourse for pleasure. Sex is limited to the sole purpose of creating offspring that
will eventually become spies for the government. [The] Anti-Sex League... was an organization
set up to take the pleasure out of sex, and to make sure that it was a mechanical function used for
procreation only, (CNN). This is explaining that the league is attempting to prevent the most
human component of life to occur and takes all the pleasure out of it. Although Winston, the
main character wishes to have one amazing sexual experience, he is very unlikely to unless it is
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for the sole purpose of creating offsprings, and if that happens, that does not guarantee pleasure.
Some people do not believe this to be Considered dystopian because sex should only be used to
populate the world, Organizations that promote abstinence-only sex education, or want to ban
artificial birth control, are the modern versions of this, (CNN). In todays world, we have
organizations that are trying to limit sexual pleasure and trying to create a sense of dystopia in
our world. These are the activists promoting abstinence. Although, they may have a point, it is
only natural for one to have sex and enjoy it in any form they find to be satisfying. Controlling
sexual pleasure is undoubtfully considered dystopian and is a result of a government ruling by
the ways of Totalitarianism.
As a government, if Big Brother did not like the way history was played out, they simply
rewrite history to fit their idea of how it should be remembered. Big Brother is able to
manipulate the people into believing that that what they prefer to actually happened. For
example, if the government told the people that two plus two equals four, they become so
confused and eventually believe any idea they can grasp onto. Memories become distorted from
confusion resulting in the party manipulating the people because they are willing to believe
anything so they can feel a sense of normalcy. The book's hero, Winston Smith, works in the
Ministry of Truth rewriting and falsifying history. The Ministry writes people out of history --
they go 'down the memory hole' as though they never existed. The Ministry also creates people
as historical figures who never existed, (Bennett). Winston's job is to Ve write hissing the way
Big Brother wishes it to be. Not only has the citizens rewrite history, but those workers also
believe their own lies. They crave normalcy and will believe what they need to for a normal life.
People may disagree that this is a dystopian government and argue that they do it to protect the
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people of Oceania. Although protecting citizens is important, it is more efficient to teach people
the truth and learn from it instead of confusing them and produce the same mistakes again. This
world is undoubtedly distopian in every way, and changing the past for the governments own
pleasure is wrong on many levels. Giving the government too much power can result in a
Totalitarian government.
Overall, the government ran by 'Big Brother' is not only a totalitarianistic government,
but it is Considered dystopian because they manipulate people's thoughts, sexual experiences,
and rewrite history and information. They use their power for evil and do not think of the greater
good for the people. Preventing every government from becoming a ruling government, similar
to Big Brother should avoid giving the government too much power to the point where it turns to
Totalitarianism. The government rules as they please and overall, they destroy the essence of
being human and having that freedom.

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Works Cited
Beale, Lewis, and The Opinions Expressed in This Commentary Are Solely Those of Lewis
Beale. "We're Living '1984' Today." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 22
Mar. 2014.
"INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEW." Orwell's 1984: Was Orwell Right? N.p., n.d.
Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984: A Novel. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1961. Print.
"1984! by George Orwell." Readerscornerblog. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.