
In “1984” by George Orwell, the main character, Winston Smith fights against “Big Brother” to try to remain human under inhuman circumstances. His every move is monitored. There is no such thing as privacy. There is no safe place. George Orwell uses a very unique writing style in 1984. Orwell is very straight forward so the main themes are easy to pick up on. The stories use of detail, basic vocabulary, and an ending where the main characters are changed for the worst are all used to try to inform the readers about the risk of a complete totalitarian government.

George Orwell uses a very basic style of vocabulary in 1984 to try to get the readers to fully grasp just how dull and unsatisfying live is under Big Brother. He constantly uses descriptors like “grey” or “flat to describe the environment of Oceana. This is extremely effective in creating a feeling of unease and sorrow, which the novel thrives off of. Orwell’s goal was to be as dreary and dull as possible with his writing so the reader truly realizes the consequences of a totalitarian government. Orwell had observed the widespread cruelties and tyrannies that were taking place in communist countries in the nineteen-forties. The concern for Orwell was that in the nineteen-forties is that the Cold War hadn’t escalated yet, and many American philosophers actually supported communism. The Soviet Union was often depicted as a great moral experiment in American press. Orwell was also particularly concerned with the role that technology was playing in communism countries at the time. Technology was allowing the government to monitor and control their citizens like never before. Orwell even makes technology a huge part of 1984. On page 3, the line “You had to live–did live, from habit that became instinct–in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinized,” not only introduces just how invasive Big Brother is of their citizen’s privacy, but also about how important technology is in allowing the government to do this. Big Brother allows their citizens zero privacy. Technology, specifically telescreens, is what allows them to do this. “Except in darkness” actually alludes to the place where there is no darkness, Oceana.

George Orwell also goes into amazing detail when he’s describing anything and everything. He works to create an image in your head of the scene he is describing to you in all those details. Orwell still uses short sentences and basic vocabulary when going into detail, but he keeps adding sentences until he has fully painted the picture of the scene to the reader. When Orwell describes the scene where Mr. Charrington first lays eyes on Winston after he has been caught, you can perfectly see Orwell’s style and how he likes to use detail. Orwell writes, “Mr. Charrington was still wearing his old velvet jacket, but his hair, which had been almost white, had turned black. Also he was no wearing his spectacles. He gave Winston a single sharp glance, as though verifying his identity, and then paid no more attention to him. He was still recognizable, but he was not the same person” (Orwell, page 282). Orwell not only went into great detail when describing any scene or character throughout the novel, but he also used other writing techniques to pound the dull and depressing images into the reader’s head. 

Orwell goes into great detail about everything in the novel because he wants the readers to understand just how concerned the population at the time should’ve been with communism. As mentioned earlier there was a general non concern about communism in the early nineteen forties. It wasn’t until the early nineteen fifties that the American population started to become concerned with the spread of communism throughout the eastern hemisphere. During the Great Depression many Americans actually found communist ideology appealing. By nineteen thirty-five, there was an estimated fifty-five thousand Americans apart of the United States Communist Party. A number that had grown from seven thousand five hundred since nineteen thirty. This is what concerned George Orwell the most, because he had experienced communism first hand and saw all the damage that a full totalitarian government could cause. Every US Communist Party member like the image the media painted of communism, but in reality they had no idea what a communist government actually stood for. So Orwell goes into great detail about every little thing throughout 1984 just so the reader can hopefully understand just how gloomy and dangerous live could be if the communist party every gained majority power. 

George Orwell uses the ending of 1984 as a last pitch to show the reader the dangers of a totalitarian government. After Winston and Julia are caught and tortured for months on end to try to change their mindset and get them to follow Big Brother both finally cave. Winston is a changed man when he is released, a full believer and follower of Big Brother and the communist party. In the end Winston loves Big Brother. Orwell was trying to say that something needed to be done before it was too late, because if the Communist party gained majority power they would never lose it because they would have complete control over everyone. With the advanced technology and telescreens, the government would be able to track their citizens every action and their thoughts. Before the title 1984 was confirmed, the original title was going to be “The Last Man in Europe,” which is exactly what Winston was. He was the last free thinking man in the Oceana region. The Communist party had manipulated the entire Oceana population into believing in communism and loving Big Brother. Orwell knew the same could happen in real life if the spread of Communism wasn’t controlled. 

George Orwell had seen the destruction that communism could cause first hand. He saw that when communism took over a countries government, they weren’t losing control. They slowly started to control everything, even the citizens themselves. If they gained complete control of the country the citizens were completely helpless, just like Winston and Julia. They could try to fight back, try to resist, but in the end it was pointless. If a group of people control everything down to the media, and then have eyes on you at all times, you’re helpless. 

“War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength” (Orwell, page 4). Big Brother’s ultimate goal was to achieve total control over the people, and more importantly, over their minds, and you can look no farther to see this then the party’s political slogan. Orwell uses Big Brother to accurately depict the ultimate goals of a totalitarian government. The “double-thinking” principle of the slogan was used to control the countries citizens and keep them under check. If they government got the population to truly believe that war was the best way to keep peace, then you can get the population to make sacrifices they wouldn’t normally make. Freedom is slavery stops any citizens from trying to achieve freedom. Ignorance is strength gets the citizens to believe anything they hear from the government. To get a population to believe in the three parts to Big Brothers political slogan, is psychological manipulation, resulting in the government having complete control over their citizens minds and bodies.

George Orwell wrote “1984” not as a fictional piece, but as a warning to the rest of the world. Communism was a major problem and it was only growing. Even some Americans were becoming blinded to the underlying evils that Communism would bring. Orwell uses a very original writing style to try to get the reader to fully imagine the consequences that a totalitarian government would have. At first glance, you would assume Orwell wrote this just as a fictional piece, but after seeing that even many Americans were starting to fall to Communism you can see he was writing this as a warning to all. If the rest of the world allowed Communism to continue to spread without stepping in, the world would cease to exist how we knew it.
