The book Orwell, 1984, published on June 8, 1949, was written in a special context, amidst the ruins, among hungry, tired, and war-weary people. Today, however, the work takes on special relevance for many reasons. The similarities between the fictional world of the dystopia and the present realities are evident on a domestic and ideological level, including the ways of social control of thoughts and actions.
The protagonist Winston Smith works in the Ministry of Truth in the documentation department, which constantly updates history, aligning it with contemporary circumstances and changes in the political arena. He and other employees are relentlessly watched over by Big Brother, who sees everything and knows everything. In 1984, citizens were watched on television screens, each spying on the other. “Always eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or bed- no escape” (Orwell 28). Today, social media watches our every action, purchase, and comment online. They are constantly present in our lives and anticipate our every desire. The consumer’s choices are closely monitored, turning them into marketable commodities. User preferences become the object of political campaigns that distort the principles of democracy. Nowadays, political, religious, and commercial organizations play on the feelings of online users. Orwell quite accurately describes how such actions create in us a thirst to unite in hatred. Orwell’s dictator, full of symbolism, is surprising in its absurdity and horrifying at the same time.
Thus, the writer describes a reality in which the cult of the strong personality and its arbitrariness are brought to absurdity. Similar phenomena occur nowadays; they manifest themselves in other situations and have different ideological content. Nevertheless, they are close to what is described in the novel. Such attributes of a totalitarian world as the control of freedoms and the imposition of a single ideology, remain part of today’s reality.
Work Cited
Orwell, George. 1984. Intra S.r.l.s., 2021.