The theme of totalitarianism is a prominent theme in this 20th century novel. 1984 by George Orwell features a futuristic dictatorship where humanity is controlled by the government. In Oceania, The Party is the ruling assembly, whose head is Big Brother, that controls all aspects of human life, from action to thought. Big Brother employs a vast army of informers, called the Thought Police, who monitor the people of Oceania and use devices such as telescreens to detect possible signs of unorthodoxy towards Big Brother and The Party. "Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely." (p. 4).
The Party's aim is to demolish any potential unorthodoxy by destroying the language, history and culture of Oceania so that there will be no questioning of The Party's intentions. " Don't you see that the while aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no works in which to express it there's no excuse for committing thoughtcrime. It's merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. The revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. " (p.55)They even go so far as to destroy words which could express thoughtcrime and change history by way of falsifying documents to extinguish any contradicting information to what The Party is broadcasting at that particular moment. The Party alters the past to deceive its citizens and allow them a sense of utopia. The dictatorship of The Party not only desires to control history, but also the thoughts and feelings of the people. It discourages sex for pleasure, only for procreation. It believes that the sexual act is a way of self expression and can eventually lead to rebellious ideas and actions lashing out against The Party and what it stands for.
