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1984 Outline Final 3

This essay outline analyzes government control in George Orwell's 1984 and modern society. In 1984, the government maintains power through totalitarian control of ideas, invasion of civilian privacy, and population management. Similarly, current governments exercise increasing control over information, privacy, and individual choices. While modern controls are less extreme, trends mirror Orwell's dystopian vision, including censorship, mass surveillance, cultural repression, and limiting dissent to preserve those in power. The outline argues these creeping controls endanger freedom if left unchecked.

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2K views

1984 Outline Final 3

This essay outline analyzes government control in George Orwell's 1984 and modern society. In 1984, the government maintains power through totalitarian control of ideas, invasion of civilian privacy, and population management. Similarly, current governments exercise increasing control over information, privacy, and individual choices. While modern controls are less extreme, trends mirror Orwell's dystopian vision, including censorship, mass surveillance, cultural repression, and limiting dissent to preserve those in power. The outline argues these creeping controls endanger freedom if left unchecked.

Uploaded by

api-3755299
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Linda Liu

Stewart Wenner
1984 Essay Outline

Thesis:
Though George Orwell’s vision of a totalitarian, dystopian society did not materialize within the
time period that he foresaw, the human greed for power has led to increasing government control of
civilian life – simply visible in a more discreet and subdued form.

Paragraph 1: GOVERNMENT CONTROL IN 1984


- Topic sentence: The government in George Orwell’s 1984 maintained its power through extreme
totalitarianism, including the control of ideas and the truth, invasion of civilian privacy, and population
management.
 control of ideas, truth
 1984: Ministries (i.e. Ministry of Truth) produce and censor all documents; Thought Police
monitors ideas
■ Lack of legal rights
 Ministry of Love: eliminates trials – truth of arrests and crimes hidden
 forces citizens to love Big Brother, betray loved ones
 forcefully, but secretly, eliminates “criminals”
■ manipulation of public opinion
 propaganda: Two Minutes Hate
 doublethink, Newspeak: limits ideas that can be expressed; intended to impose only
positive attitudes upon thinker
 the Party can never be wrong (hold two contradictory thoughts in head)
 promotes anti-solipsism – instead of only believing in one’s self and one’s thoughts,
the population was made to believe in only the Party and the Party’s ideas
 invasion of privacy
 1984: telescreens, bugs and microphones (espionage)
■ purpose: maintain loyalties of all citizens to Party (i.e. Maintain status quo)
■ “’I didn’t want to say anything in the lane,” she went on, “in case there’s a mike hidden
in there’” (Orwell 99).
■ no safe place—even Mr. Charrington’s house (a supposed safe haven) was bugged
■ Thought Police – not even minds are free
■ Young Spies recruits children to help the Party, turn against parents/friends
 population control
 1984: population control to maintain loyalty to Party
■ sex as procreation only – not pleasure
 marriages without children are sometimes separated
 only proles acknowledged to have sexual instincts
 love and eroticism removed from sexual act
■ almost never see citizens of other super-states (other than as political prisoners, slaves)
■ Junior Anti-Sex League/Young Spies
■ People kept busy and distracted with community activities to channel sexual repression
into loyalty to the party
 Literary device: anti-utopian/dystopian
 imaginary place where people lead dehumanized, fearful lives
■ dehumanization: repression and control of natural instincts such as sex, free thought
■ fearful: paranoia pervasive, interminable (“he had set his features into the expression of
quiet optimism which it was advisable to wear when facing the telescreen” (Orwell 8))
 characterized by oppressive state control (i.e. authoritarian or totalitarian government)
■ Party controls all aspects of life through four Ministries

Paragraph 2: GOVERNMENT CONTROL IN MODERN SOCIETY


- Topic sentence: Though modern nations haven’t reached the extremism of Orwell’s
government, many of the controls on information, privacy, and choice initiated by current
administrations mirror dangerously those depicted in his dystopia.
 control of literature/media
■ manipulation of public opinion
 propaganda: political campaigns
 banned books from libraries
 in People’s Republic of China, some of the largest media companies are agencies of
the government (CCTV, People’s Daily, Xinhua)
 certain taboos (ex: not allowed to question Communist Party of China)
 current Cuban regime very restrictive of media
 Castro’s regime maintains monopoly of information, confiscates property of
independent media
 invasion of privacy
■ monitoring of public communication
■ “I Spy”
 purpose: to maintain security of nation (i.e. to maintain status quo)
 government tap into telephone wires, e-mail messages
 “Since 9/11…has eavesdropped—without warrants, or permission from the courts—
on about 500 Americans a day”
 shows less obvious manipulation/control of citizens, but clearly prevalent
■ though not exactly the same as Orwell imagined, technology has progressed to the point
that telescreens and hidden microphones are possible (and do essentially exist) today
 population control
■ cultural stigma against sex: East Asian societies, religious (e.g. Muslim)
■ government control: e.g. China – limit on family size/number of children
■ sexual oppression in Nazi party
 desired population control/modification (to maintain “purity”) --> party remains in
power
■ genocides preserve current groups in power
 Armenian: justification (propaganda) as liability, threat to security
 Rwandan: prevent a rise of power of another ethnic group
 similar controls: Hutu Ten Commandments – no intermarriage, more rights to
one group
 propaganda: hate-radio broadcasts to arouse population to violence
■ “Saboteur”
 Mr. Chiu simply argues with a police officer
 immediately apprehended, thrown in jail
 deprived of a trial, civil rights
 falsification of past/information (seen by witness reports)
 similarly to Winston, Chiu was not killed—only forced to admit he was wrong
Works Cited

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Penguin Books Inc., 1949.

Thomas, Evan and Daniel Klaidman. “I Spy.” Teen Newsweek 23 January 2006: 4-5

Jin, Ha. “Saboteur,” The Bridegroom. New York: Vintage International, 2000.

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