In the science fiction text “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell, it takes place in the year 1984 and it revolves around a character by the name of Winston. The setting of this story takes place in Oceania and the government of that area is divided into four ministries which are the Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Peace, Minister of Plenty and Minister of Love andĀ each of these four ministries performsĀ and are involved with different functions which plays a role in their societies.
In this story, there is a slogan that represents that society which would be “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”. In this society, there are certain things that are not allowed like thinking bad thoughts about the government or leaderships. According to the book it says: “Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.”(page 19). The society has something called the Thought Police and there duty is to get rid of the people who would have ill thoughts or did something that opposed what is called “Big Brother”. They would be able to catch a person that did that even though it might seem they did not commit whatever was done and they would be removed from the society as a way to preserve it. Also these types of acts are known to be thought crimes which is a form of treason and opposition.
In Oceania, the adults who have children are actually known to be more fearful of their kids. According to the book it says: ” What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the party.”(Page 25). This describes how the children are important in the society because they can be of use and also as they would grow older they would not have thoughts in terms of opposing the government but rather be an asset and make society better for them. Also regardless of the facts that they have parents they can still turn them in and make them get punished by the thought police which shows that many of the children are dangerous in a way.
The society seems to happen during dark times because of these various concepts and the norms that goes on around. There are also conflicts like wars with other nations as well but also the people living within seems to be facing hardships because of what can happen. According to the book it says: “Asleep or awake, working orĀ eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubicĀ centimeters inside your skull.”(Page 27). This shows that there is not actually freedom in this society since they are being monitored regardless of what actions they perform, they can still be seen in various ways. It could mean that they are actually trappedĀ within and the only way they feel free is with just living even though the society does not really provideĀ for that.
Overall this text is interesting because of the type of society and timeframe that it takes place in.
