book

Literature and Totalitarianism

21 Pages 651 Words 1557 Views

A Dystopian society is a futuristic and technologically advanced world, unjustly inflicting hardship and constraint with an overbearing totalitarian government who maintain strict authoritarian control over its population. In Orwell's, "1984" and Kurt Wimmer's "Equilibrium," it portrays a form of a totalitarian government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator and has total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of society. Both show similarities to each other such as the figurehead of the government, what control the government has of the society, and Telescreens that monitor every movement. These are well displayed throughout both 1984 and equilibrium In Equilibrium and 1984 both they portray a futuristic totalitarian dystopian society. In Orwell's 1984 he shows Big Brother as the head of the party, no one actually knows in the society of Oceania if Big Brother exists, they think that he will protect them but later on find out that he was made up and was used by the party to enforce laws "who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past" (Orwall 35). The objective of the party is to limit thought and creativity. In the book, the government attempts to control speech and actions, but also the thoughts of its subjects. To entertain unacceptable thought is known as crimethink in Newspeak, the dialect of the party. The totalitarian government in Kurt Wimmer's Equilibrium is known as the "Father." The role of the Father is to distract the public and to imitate a strong powerful leader who everyone can follow, when really the Father is not a real person, which was inspired by Big Brother in 1984. The structure of these governments is also exceedingly similar, with strict social classes and a constant present figurehead, known as the "Big Brother" in 1984 "Father" in Equilibrium. The government always want to know what their people are doing. Oceanians live in a constant s

Read Full Essay