1984: The chronicle of a foretold present

In order to make my point clear, it is important to start by defining the concept of dystopian novel. The dystopian genre was developed mainly in the 19^th century as an analytical reaction to utopian fiction, thus, it is an antithesis of it. The word derives from Greek and it means “bad place”, consequently, it describes a utopian organization with one or more than one deadly and serious flaw and it shows how that utopia goes wrong and has a negative end. In spite of the fact that it is conceptualized as the polar opposite of utopia, they shares a lot of elements, however, the main difference is in the outcome of the utopia, which is in the case of the dystopia is a negative one.  (Gerhard, 2002:1)

George Orwell’s 1984 is a dystopian novel which narrates the story of Winston Smith living in Oceania, a state in which a totalitarian party is in control of everything, not only in terms of action but also of thought. In spite the fact it was written after the Second World War in 1948 (the title was an inversion of the two last numbers), we can notice that a lot of the elements represented by Orwell in his novel more than 60 years ago are still present in our society nowadays.

The dystopian novel and 1984

Moreover, the main purpose of the dystopian writer is to uncover and warn us the consequences of a utopia when it breaks down and goes wrong, either with a dystopian inhabitant who is disconformed with the system, the party or the government because it is untrustworthy and corrupt, showing the huge gap between the individual identity and the objectives of the government or party, as in the case of 1984, which controls and supresses the freedoms of the citizens and their expressions (Gerhard, 2002:14). That was exactly what happened with the novel 1984, because in 1949 it was received as a response to the “political, economic and social changes after the World War II and a warning of their possible consequences” (De Fays, 2004).

What’s more, those aspects in Orwell’s 1984 are presented in the sense that there’s shown only one party and a personality cult, represented with Big Borther, which represses and controls the whole society through the implementation of a totalitarian system in which the Thought Police and the Thought Crime manipulates, monitores and controls all the citizens for the sake of achieving the party goals, therefore, their lives are quite surveilled and dominated (Utopia and Dystopia, 2000;  Gerhard, 2002:15)

1984 and today’s society

Furthermore, if we pay attention to our society, we can notice that there’re stricking similarities that cannot be denied and that the analogies made by Orwell in his novel related to the surveillance and controlled society are highly accurate for nowadays and, in fact, we may be living in a highly regulated and monitored society, in the world that George Orwell had already presented in 1984 (Beale, 2013).

For instance, the TV screens play a key role in the novel since they show propaganda from the government, news and entertainment that is previously allowed by the party and they also are ways of “spy” on people’s lives. Consequently, nowadays, we are full of propaganda in TV, big buildings, posters wherever we go, which show us what it is convenient for them, and the social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter are the perfect way in which the government, hackers and everybody who wants to know can track everything we do and get the necessary information easily. Moreover, thanks to technology and its advances, nowadays, satelites, streets and even buses are equiped with surveillance cameras which monitored our daily routine, hence, we are actually more controlled than we might thought (Beale, 2013).

In addition to this, the other parallel that I would like to draw between our actual society and 1984 is the endless war which in the novel is a never ending one. First, there’s war with Eastasia and then, with Eurasia, and so on, which gives a constant sensation of fear among citizens (Beale, 2013). Thus, nowadays, we have the global war against terror, a not quite defined enemy that can be anywhere and anything. Besides, it is endless, causes the suspension of some freedoms and produces  fear among us for the sake of keeping us under control.

In a nutshell, we are not that far from the society shown in 1984, in fact, we are living it and the most striking of all is that it seems that we are so willing and inclined to give away all kind of information to everyone through social media and other ways and it seems that we are convinced that it is cool and great to do it and it is maybe one of the most alarming feature of our society. Maybe we all are in a certain way Smith, aren’t we? Do you think there’s a turning back? 

References

Beale, L. (2013, August 3rd). We're living "1984" today. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/03/opinion/beale-1984-now/

De Fays, H. (2004). From 1984 to Sueños digitales: The dystopian novel in the age of Globalization. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from North Carolina State University - Chapel Hill: http://www.ncsu.edu/acontracorriente/fall_05/de_Fays.pdf

Gerhard, J. (2002). Control and Resistance in the Dystopian novel: A comparative analysis. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from California State University. CDR: Chico Digital Repository: http://csuchico-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.4/434/4%2018%202012%20Julia%20Gerhard.pdf?sequence=1

Utopia and Dystopia. (2000). Dystopian Elements and Characteristics - Basic Building Blocks of Dystopia. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from Utopia and Dystopia: http://www.utopiaanddystopia.com/dystopia/distopian-elements-and-characteristic/