Orwell 1984

The Utopian thriller 1984, written by George Orwell gives the term “Utopia” a twist because the journey he takes the reader on is a place of perfection, but not the type of perfection that one wants to partake in. The tone of the author towards the society that they live in is a very negative one and makes it really clear that the idea of perfection can’t take place without execution, pain, suffering, isolation, and numbness of all kinds of emotions and thoughts. While reading the novel, I found myself getting really distressed and thinking to myself how inhumane people could be. Orwell describes how children would look forward to attending the events where executions would take place. This shows how the innocence of children, which is so innate, is diminished by this system called “Big Brother”- who is obsessed with controlling all the people in society every second of the day. Society has corrupted the people to a point where they even have their preferences as to how an execution takes place. This is revealed when Syme says, “it spoils it when they tie their feet together. I like to see them kicking…tongue sticking out- and blue” (Orwell 49-50). It makes you think, how inhumane a person has to be for them to enjoy the site of someone getting executed. This indicates how society has completely taken charge of their emotions and thoughts and replaced it with illiterate logic. “Big Brother” seemed like a very powerful influence, which reminded me of the same influence religion has in society. Most religions have the tendency to want to make all people as “good” or as “perfect” as possible. With these intentions comes control, consistency in structure, and the desire to be close to perfect beings. The intentions of “Big Brother” and religion now days is very parallel, only contrasting in how extreme their beliefs are when it comes to the concept of utopia.