1984 Historical Critique – In his book 1984 George Orwell makes numerous references to the turbulent times he grew up and lived as an adult in. The book reflects almost every aspect of his dark and fearful life. The conditions of Europe and the World that Orwell grew up in most definitely influenced his thoughts on the world he saw in the future. As the world he was living in was dark and gloomy this was the way he envisioned the future being, he conveyed this message in 1984 except it was taken to an extreme.
George Orwell was born on June 35, 1903 in British India; he grew up there but moved to Shiplake, England before the start of World War 1. Orwell lived through World War 1 England and survived to witness the global depression following WW1 as well as the effects of World War 2 on Europe. After the horrifying events of World War 2 perhaps an even greater threat to humanity was the rise of Communism. By the time he wrote 1984 in 1948 Orwell had witnessed the start of a nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union and had seen the effects of Communism on a country. His experiences throughout the wars gave him a vision of a war torn world in the future.
This horrific and turbulent upbringing was the main reason George Orwell wrote 1984. The way he saw the world around him influenced him to write a book about the way he saw the world in the future. Most of the book’s occurrences can be explained by the events prior to and after World War 2 and the rise of Communism. Orwell’s experiences told him that in the future there would be a much more powerful and feared form of Communism running the world.
The way citizens of Soviet countries were treated was a major influence on Orwell’s decision to write 1984. In the Soviet states citizens were only given small rations of food and were blocked from attempting to leave the country. All outside Western and Democratic influences were blocked and anyone attempting to bring Democracy into the area was severely punished. The Iron Curtain that descended on Europe was in a way similar to the way the world was divided in 1984. The citizens inside the Iron Curtain in Soviet States were not allowed contact with the outside world, similar to the way that Citizens of Oceana were not allowed contact with the other warring countries. Orwell based his interpretation of the future on the way citizens of Soviet countries were treated.
The leader of Oceana, Big Brother in 1984 was based on the real life leaders of Hitler and Stalin. By mixing traits from both the Soviet Union’s and Germany’s totalitarian states, Orwell makes clear that he is against any form of governmental totalitarianism, either rightist or leftist. By creating Big Brother similar to Stalin and Hitler, even in appearance; all three have black moustaches and charismatic speaking styles, Orwell is able to make sure the reader does not mistake the intentional similarities between the three of them(Hermanson, NP). This method of comparison means that readers are able to relate more easily to the book.
Orwell also draws ideas from Communism for the creation of the Big Brother character. In 1984 Big Brother is a mysterious and dark character and no one knows if he is a real person or a creation of the party. This was similar to the way average Westerners thought of Communism. They didn’t know exactly why Communism was so bad they were just told by their government that it was and Communists should be avoided. This is what started the red scare in America. Orwell’s experiences with Communism told him that he should relate Big Brother to Communism as at the time of writing Communism was the world’s biggest enemy.
In 1984 the news is brought to the people in similar ways to how people living in Communist countries receive their news. This would have been another one of Orwell’s influences for The Party. In 1984 the citizens of Oceana receive their news directly from the government who are able to change whatever they want in the news. If something happens and they don’t want the people finding out about it they are able to instantly change whatever actually happened to something that will be taken well by the citizens. In Soviet and other Communist countries the government is often in charge of the press and is able to feed whatever information they want to their people. As there is little to no Freedom of Speech or Press, the people are told exactly what the government wants them to know and they are afraid to repeat rumors for fear of prosecution.
In the Soviet Union people living in the Soviet States were told by their government that Democracy was wrong but they never gave any reason for this. This is very similar to the way the people of Oceana were told by The Party that the other countries that they were in a war with were bad but they never gave a reason to the people.
The global attitude at the time of writing is reflected through the way the average citizen of Oceana thinks about the Party. Many of the citizens are just on autopilot, they publically do whatever is necessary to fit in with the rest of the citizens and conform to the Party’s guidelines but they have no real feeling for the party. They could not care less for many of the Party’s principles. Although most of them are too afraid to show their true emotions they are secretly against the Party but just will not share their feelings with others. A similar thing occurred in Soviet States; the citizens had no real love for Communism but would not openly show their dislike for it. They would publicly support in but in their minds, they knew that it was wrong and hated it.
The novel 1984 is heavily influenced by the era the author, George Orwell grew up in. Many events and happenings that occurred during his lifetime made it into the novel in some shape or form. The book just takes the World War 2 and Cold War era feelings and government policies and takes them to an extreme level in the future. This is the way George Orwell envisioned the world to become and this book helped show people what would happen if action was not taken against the Communist political parties growing worldwide.
