Essay on 1984 II Erika Yoshida

In 1949, when this novel was written, the Cold War had begun between the two superpowers, The United States and the Soviet Union. Because of conflicting ideologies and mutual distrust between them after World War II, the whole world was aligned. Therefore, it is natural to think that Oceania in 1984 is inspired by the Soviet Union, since both of them are communist countries. The Newspeak word, “Ingsoc,” which means “English Socialism,” shows the communist ideology of Oceania. We can see many similar points between them. For example, both of them have a strong leader such as Big Brother in Oceania and Stalin in the Soviet Union. Also, they have similar historical events such as revolution, the Great Purge, and five-year plans. People’s lives are strictly controlled.

One way people’s lives are controlled is though brainwashing. Winston copies down the sentences from children’s history textbook in his diary. It says how terrible the people’s lives were before the revolution. People before the revolution didn’t have enough food, clothing, and housing. It also says that a few rich people called “capitalists” owned everything in the world. This textbook seems to be similar to the one in the Soviet Union. In fact, before the Russian Revolution, most people had little food and few rich people, and the Czar owned almost everything in Russia. Also, both textbooks serve as propaganda vehicle for dictators, for Big Brother in Oceania and for Stalin in the Soviet Union. “Workers with smiles” is the slogan of the Soviet Union.

It is ironic that, in the story, Winston writes in his diary, “If there was hope it must lie in the proles.” It reminds us of the Russian revolution since it was done by proletariat. He believes that they have power to destroy the Party not only because their population is big but also because they have more freedom than party members, including Winston. The Party doesn’t care much about proles, as its slogan for them is “Proles and animals are free.”

Winston goes to the proles’ residential area to find the “hope.” It is very dangerous place to go, but he goes into the pub and finds an old man who looks like at least eighty and seems to know about the life before the revolution. Winston questions him, but the old man is too drunk and senile to give a very exact answer to the question, “Was the life before the revolution better than now?”

On the way home, he happens to meet a young co-worker woman in the street. At first, he thinks she is an agent of the Thought Police and she follows him as he goes to the area for proles. However, he finds that this is a wrong guess when he receives a piece of paper saying “I love you” from her the next day. Winston actually had a wife, Katharine, but she had disappeared eleven years before. She was a loyal member of the Party and the only reason to marry for her was to make a baby as a duty for the Party. She left him because they couldn’t conceive children together. He enters into an affair with that young woman, Julia. She has a free spirit, as she has had affairs with many men. She considers an affair as a rebellion against the Party she hates. She says she is good at spotting a person who does not belong to the Party, and that’s why she chooses Winston. They meet secretly in suburb of London, or in a room in the proles’ area, but their affair seems really hard to continue under the control of the thought police. Love is one area of human life that totalitarian force find threatening, because it is so uncontrollable. Affairs in a communist country under an extreme thought control must be hard to do.

There are so many similar points between Oceania and the Soviet Union. They have a similar dictator, history, and thought control. The Winston’s question, “Was the life before the revolution better than now?” is hard to answer. However, as the Soviet Union collapsed, communist idea is weakened in the real world. It might help us to say that the life before the revolution was better than after the revolution, but it depends on one’s opinion.