Topic: The first 1984 reading journal should deal with the structure of the society by specifically addressing the last slide of the power point (what utopias have in common). It should thoroughly (in multiple sentences and with evidence from the text) address the following:
1. How have they created equality or conformity?
2. How have they reduced conflict, specifically in regards to religion, relationships, and individual rights?
3. How have they created or forced happiness/conformity?
4. Make a claim about this society as either a utopia or a dystopia based the rest of your blog entry.
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The words "Nineteen Eighty-Four" alone are unrivaled in their ability to invoke images of the quintessential dystopian society. The way 1984's society addresses freedom, conformity, social order, and human rights has almost become the standard model for writers trying to make a dent of their own in the "utopian world" genre. The attitude Orwell's fictional society holds towards these topics is the primary basis and subject matter for Part One of the novel.
Equality and liberty are not allies but enemies of the state, as if this were not clearly illustrated enough from the get-go by the Party proclamation that "freedom is slavery". Instead, what the Party truly demands is conformity. Conformity is enforced in no more effective way than by the choking fear that the Thought Police will infiltrate your room at the midnight hour and pack the back of your brain with bullets. Even as tenacious as Winston is in clinging to his unorthodox beliefs and ideology, we can see that the Party has effectively instilled a sense of horror that pressures him to obey and conform at the same time. He still is cautious to guard any potential facial giveaways in the view of the telescreens, gesticulates during Two Minutes Hate, tries his best to falsify history as the Party would want during working hours, and submits to the routines prescribed to him in order not to arouse the suspicion of any higher-ups. Winston, a fully grown man, is reduced to a mere child at the very thought that the dark-haired girl might report him to the Thought Police for his questionable activity in the prole quarters (pg. 101-102). Winston's great outward efforts to please the Party and his paralyzing fear of being captured for thoughtcrime is a great example of how the government manages to pressure the people to conform by purely utilizing fear tactics.
The enforcement of loyalty to the Party gets a backing from the complete and utter elimination of opposing interests. The Junior Anti-Sex League indoctrinates children from a very young age that sexual desire is a conflict of interest to the Party, and that it is best to avoid it altogether and pursue the purer path of celibacy. To parallel the discouragement of sex, the Party also despises the notion of love or any sort of genuine feeling, and as such marriages are selected and arranged by the state. Except among the proles, religion is unheard of; the only permissible "religion" in 1984 is Big Brother himself, and the only mention of prayer or any sort of savior is made when a sandy-haired woman bows before the image of Big Brother, seeking a source of comfort following the dreadful Two-Minutes Hate (pg. 16). Intellectualism is confined to the discussion of the virtue of the principles of Ingsoc, and even as such there is no real "discussion", as there are no opinions to give but favorable ones.
The illusion that abundance characterizes their state of living is the only catalyst continually driving the brainwashed masses to convince themselves daily that the Party is really doing what's best for them. History is "rewritten" to characterize pre-Revolution times as hideously intolerable; the "capitalists" with their top hats were the gods of the earth and the oppressors of the people, while the general masses slaved in crippling poverty day in and day out beneath them. All that was owned was owned by the greedy capitalists, and the common man had no hope of ever seeing a day where he could perhaps live comfortably and have possessions of his own. All that changed, of course, when the Revolution dropped from the sky like a deus ex machina in a classical Greek drama. Suddenly, under the provision of Big Brother, people owned things; never would be there be a day when anybody lacked food, housing, clean clothing, silverware, books, boots, chocolate, or razor blades again. Of course, this was only the reality bolstered by the Ministry of Plenty's astronomical statistics and outrageous claims. In actual reality, people lived shoddy lifestyles where supplies of something or another were short all the time. This is demonstrated by the scene in the dining hall where an announcement via telescreen proclaims the newly released statistics about living standards. The Ministry of Plenty's numbers boasted that standards had improved by at least 20% over the previous year and that rations for foodstuffs such as chocolate had just been increased further, although only the day before an announcement had been issued that chocolate rations had decreased by ten grams. Still, despite the fact that all logic and reason contested the impossible lies and falsified numbers, Winston observed that the people around him still reacted with immediate acceptance and joy at the impostrous claims, citing the generous increase in chocolate allowance as only additional evidence of their "new, happy life". A perfect example of the blind assent the Party aims for, Parsons turns to Winston after the announcement and remarks, "The Ministry of Plenty's certainly done a good job this year. By the way, Smith old boy, I suppose you haven't got any razor blades you can let me have?" (pg. 61). Parsons is an example of the ideal individual the Party wants to breed; he himself is just as lacking in supplies as everybody else, as evidenced by his shortage of the simple household commodity of razor blades, yet he has no problem in the same breath praising the Party for all the good they've done in providing supplies for the population. Like a child, he blindly devours whatever lie the government happens to be serving up at the moment, and if the government's lies are meant to breed enthusiasm, then you can bet he'll be as enthusiastic as they want him to be. This is how the Party manages to create "happiness" among its subjects - by forcing them to suspend their logic and brainwashing them to believe that they're truly living in a well-off world, even when all instinct seems to dispute this notion.
Given all of these aspects of 1984's society, it is hard to see how anyone could characterize it as a utopia. It is the textbook example of a dystopia, a society that was perhaps intended to be a paradise but in practice is truly a hell. Nobody desires to live in a world where they cannot even think their own opinions without essentially signing up to be the next star of the public hangings. No one, when asked about their idea of the essentials of an ideal society, immediately leaps up and says, "Well, if we first just eliminate love and sex, then we'll have gotten off to a good start". It is against human instinct to truly believe that war is a positive endeavor, that slavery means liberty, that lack of knowledge entails strength. Our art, our philosophy, and the humanist and positive psychology movements that sprang respectively in the 1950's and 90's all attest to some common assertions: humans have the potential for intellectual pursuit, are capable of improving, and are capable of bringing good into the world. Even those of us that are somewhat distrustful of human nature all believe in these principles to some extent. 1984 society is the complete antithesis of these ideas, and as such, is not particularly inviting to most as the "ideal society". Therefore, I would characterize 1984 as a dystopia, rather than a utopia.
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