English Teacher

Julia McCarthy

1984 DCQ

04 March 2014

In George Orwell’s book, 1984, he wrote about his dark vision of society through the eyes of the main character, Winston. Orwell foreshadowed future societies to be controlled by their government, and a lack of privacy throughout the world. He envisioned a world of tension and fear, and individuals constantly on the edge, afraid of completing unlawful actions that are punishable by service, imprisonment or death. Some may agree that Orwell’s dark vision of society has some into existence in more ways than he imagined. Personally, I feel that statement is true in many situations, and false in others. Today’s society may not be exactly what Orwell anticipated, but there are certainly an immense amount of similarities.

Orwell envisioned a society in which individuals could not feel secure enough to form and voice opinions. (Orwell, 1984) In today’s society, in the United States, that is not the case. On many levels, people today have the ability to take a stance, choose a side, and stand up for what they want. First of all, we live in a self- governed democracy. As citizens of the United States, we have the right to vote, and populations have the ability to elect eligible candidates for powerful positions. Secondly, every four years, there is an election for a new President so that an individual does not reign supreme for the duration of his or her lifetime. Lastly, there is not a single “Party” in the United States. Although these terms vary from the “Party” discussed in 1984, there are both Republicans who “believe that each person is responsible for his or her place in society,” (Svgop) and Democrats who “believe it is the responsibility of government to care for all individual rights and subordinating enterprise and initiative” (Svgop) These terms of government are quite unlike Orwell’s vision that he wrote about in 1984.

In 1984, George Orwell wrote about a society in which people were forced to not only speak, but...