George Orwell’s 1984 is a novel set in a dystopian society. That is to say a society ruled by the few for the benefit of only themselves. The overwhelming majority of people in Orwell’s Oceania work for the ruling caste in every sense. The masses of the citizens in this dystopia also live their lives under the control of the rulers. Even the reproduction of human beings is done in a controlled environment in a scientific manner.
Orwell’s Oceania is made up of the inner party (rulers), outer party (workers), and the Prols (isolated poor). Winston, the main character, is a member of the outer party in Orwell’s dystopia. He works to maintain the society in which he lives while he despises it. Winston secretly wages a revolution in his mind until it can no longer be contained there. The problem is that in Oceania there is no place to rebel from or rebel to. Winston ends up falling into the hands of the state which attempts to fix him or cure him. Orwell leaves it up to the reader to decide whether the officials of Oceania have won and Winston has changed.
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