A Warning to America?

A Warning to America?

Do people really want an absolutely unrelenting government? It may be hard to believe that George Orwell wrote the book 1984 as a warning to future societies, due to the fact that it was written 63 years ago. Although, after examining the facts it becomes slightly clearer. No matter what Winston Smith attempts to do, or not do, the government continues on. The society continues on. The government in this story has a total and supreme reign on anything it is above.

In the story, Orwell offers the idea of "the book," this is written and distributed by the brotherhood. This book offers the idea that war is a constant, something necessary for a society to continue and be brought together as a whole. As an example of how plausible this is, America has been in a war almost consistently since 1949 when the book was written. War is a constant, not the extreme that is portrayed in 1984, but to an extent.

Posters depicting a Joseph Stalin related man, are plastered throughout the entire settlement of Oceania. This face is "Big Brother" and members of the outer party are to know that they are constantly being observed by him. The face of someone is almost their entire key to intimidation. With the tearing down of Saddam Hussein's statue, the soldiers had broken his head off and paraded it down the street. This was to demonstrate that the face of Saddam would no longer appear in Iraq. (Maass, 2011)

Mob mentality is something that is illustrated perfectly in 1984. Members of the outer party believe everything that is told to them by the party. Simply because is it what everyone around them does as well. In the Solomon Asch experiments, mob mentality is presented as "Social Conformity" (Asch, 2011) and is tested. They manage to present that 37 of the 50 trials resulted in the test subject changing their answer to that of the group.

George Orwell's 1984 is a warning to future societies of what not to become. Big brother has a complete rule over Oceania, and due to mob mentality, he is allowed to continue. Orwell is showing us how dangerously close we are to becoming such a society. We are within reach of communism.

Works Cited

Asch. (2011, FEBRUARY 29 ). Solomon asch experiment (1958). Retrieved from http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/asch_conformity.

Maass, P. (2011, Janurary 10). The toppling. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/10/110110fa_fact_maass