Christopher Sanchez INTL 3111 Mr.

Robert Arnold 28 February 2012 Microtheme 4 George Orwells 1984 was a narrative like no other that exposes how much a government can control ones individuality if they really wanted to. The setting takes place in Oceania which contained provinces like London. The Society of Oceania is run by INGSOC, which stands for English Socialism, and the leader of this Socialist regime is known as Big Brother. Big Brother in the novel is known to be constantly watching you telescreens and hidden microphones in numerous locations. He has help from people in his inner party and a band of officers known as Thought-Police who investigates, incarcerates and exterminates people of outer party that commit either Thought-Crime or Face-Crime. These crimes are committed when one practices things such as family, freedom, or partnership within their culture that is not of the party; basically saying that all culture has to be part of the party. The use of propaganda and the control of history is a prime way the government retained its power over the people of the outer party. This I felt had a parallelism with Russias Revolutionary Iconoclasm. The main point Lenin wanted to get across with this was that the past didnt matter, only the future. It provided vandalism that pertained going out and tearing down statues, and the renaming of certain cities such as Petrograd became Leningrad. Even old holidays and festivals about saints became about Saints of the Revolution, and also created the new red calendar, that contained no more saints days, and now about revolutionary figures. Churches were still using old calendar, which made the communists look as if they were two

weeks ahead. The INGSOC did things similar to this by creating a language called Newspeak which was going to become a substitute to Oldspeak, deteriorating the English language. There was also an elimination of churches, which both governments share a common reason for it. They wanted the people to concentrate on their loyalty to the party and not on a God. Its as if they want to be that God and you shall praise him instead. The way I see it, its the same as it says in the Bible, one must fear God. In the novel the word love has a different meaning than what it is commonly known for; such as it can be seen as equivalent to fear. The love for Big Brother means fear of him. Another parallelism I noticed that the Regime of INGSOC had with the USSR was the perception in the role for art. After WWII, or commonly known as the War to end all wars, there was a period called High Stalinism. In this period Writing took on a rigid formal style, not much different from propaganda. All books and poems required the authors to write about lavish praises of the soviet system; for example, the praising of its achievements, the applauding of Stalin and talking down upon non-Soviet society. Cultural works had to be optimistic during this period and the worst fear a writer could have was to be called pro-western. New style was also reflected in postwar architecture and art. Stalin became the central figure for art, looking almost Godlike in his many pieces created by everyone. This last part reminds me of the art mentioned in the novel. That the art doesnt have to have a significant meaning, it just has to be beautiful and have a relation to Big Brother. Making him Godlike and having those of the outer party fear him and help reduce the act of a rebellion. In Conclusion, I found that the INGSOC regime reflected much of what happened in Russias rise in communism. They both had similar ideologies and related tactics of keeping

people dedicated solely to the goals of their parties, while at the same time ignoring the actions of other opposing countries.