While reading 1984, I began to think about real-life totalitarian regimes. Most bear a striking resemblance to Winston Smith's world... that of London, Airstrip One. George Orwell's life coincided with the rise of some of the most terrifying totalitarian nations, such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The beginning of the 20th century marked the birth of totalitarianism. Orwell, in many of his novels, sought to imagine it as he progressed to the end of the century. So, in the late 1940s, his vision of what 1984 would be like was created. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Totalitarianism is when a government or controlling entity seeks to control all aspects of life, both public and private. One of the characteristics of this situation is the repression of ideological opposition. In 1984, the state operated a police force known as the Thought Police. If the Thought Police determine that a person is "unorthodox", that person disappears and is sent either to a forced labor camp or executed. All physical records of the person are eliminated, as if they never existed. Additionally, the state is leading initiatives to prevent unorthodox thinking. Their elimination from the English language, and then its replacement with "Newspeak", aimed to prevent the communication of thoughts going against the state ideology, by removing the words necessary for the formation of such ideas. The Big Brother State appeals to the baser animal impulses of violence and fear to create a society composed of completely obedient members. These means of control may seem impossible to use outside of a fictional framework, but regimes like North Korea actively employ them. In North Korea, if someone is discovered among the anti-state media, they are sent to a prison camp where they must endure appalling conditions. The North Korean state operates a media police force tasked with tracking down citizens possessing foreign material. North Koreans are unfamiliar with the technology available in the Western world, including modern medical technology or the Internet. State media assures North Koreans that they enjoy a much higher quality of life than Americans. In the Soviet Union, Stalin led purges in which large numbers of political dissidents (whom he considered) were sent to Siberian gulags to "experience the joys of socialism through work." The Oceania of 1984 relies on the installation of Big Brother as a charismatic ideological figurehead. Winston's peers love Big Brother and view him as a protector. Almost all totalitarian regimes have a dominant figure. This is often called a “cult of personality.” In North Korea, it is the Kim dynasty. In Nazi Germany, it was Hitler. In the Soviet Union, it was Lenin, then Stalin. In fascist Italy, it was Mussolini. These figures maintain the cohesion of the regime. They are often the creators of state ideology, but no matter what, they are always the ones who guide it. I found the nature of the proletariat in 1984 extremely interesting. In all totalitarian regimes, the proletariat either presents itself as those who run the state, or at least are highly praised by the state as being the backbone of the Company. Yet, in the novel, Syme says that “the proletarians [the proletariat] are less than human.” This is the only example of a totalitarian society that I have seen so far and which does not, at least in ? 1984?