A utopia is an ideal or perfect community. While some writers have createdfictional places that embody their ideals societies, other writers have writtensatires that ridicule existing conditions of society, or anti-utopias, which showpossible future societies that are anything but ideal. In 1984 , George Orwellpresents a terrifying picture of future as life under the constant surveillance ofBig Brother. This book 1984 is an anti-utopian novel. The main character Winston Smith lives in the large political countryOceania, which is eternally at war with one of two huge countries, Eurasia andEastasia. At any moment all existing records show either that Oceania has alwaysbeen at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, or that it has always been atwar with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia. Winston knows this, because his workat the Ministry of Truth involves the constant correction of news. Who controlsthe past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past, the partyslogan reads. Basically, Winston takes real news and twists it to what BigIn the grim city and terrifying country, where Big Brother is alwayswatching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind, Winston is aman in great danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Heknows the party controls people by feeding them lies and taking away theirimaginations. The Party forbids thought, love, and relationships. Drawn into asecret love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionaryorganization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his lover Julia, he puts his life on the line in a deadly match againstGeorge Orwell creates an anti-utopian society in the novel 1984 . Thesociety involves monitors called telescreens watching you every step you take, loveis forbidden, conformity, and your assigned to work at one of four ministries. Inthis society you cant enjoy life or have any fun. After reading the novel you hopethat the future wont be dreadful. When 1984 was new, and 1984 far in the future,the novel struck its most responsive readers as an unprecedented torment, anextreme and intolerable vision that stood out (Miller 19). The book makes the reader put their head up and question if this is how ourtime will end. Orwell creates a book where being different is illegal. In 1984Orwell is trying to present the kind of world in which individuality has becomeobsolete and personality is a crime (Howe 322). Imagine living in a societywhere if you expressed your own opinions or ideas you would be sent to a Ministryof Love where you would be tormented and corrupted. Living in Oceania doesntIn 1984 you see the Party kill Winston Smiths individuality. WinstonSmith, the hero of the novel, is shown arming himself with ideas against the Partyand defying it by forming a sexual relationship with Julia: but from the first weknow that he will not escape the secret police, and after he is caught we see himundergoing a dreadful metamorphosis which burns out his human essence, leavinghim a wreck who can go on living only by becoming on of them (Rahv 313). It issad that Winston cant overcome the power of the Party. It seems all faith in apleasant future will be stopped by the Party.
1984 s anti-utopian society is a horrible one. If the future is as dark asGeorge Orwell portray, lets hope we have individuals that will fight for a betterworld. Anti-utopian novels open up peoples eyes about life and existence.Howe, Irving The fiction of Anti-Utopia1984 (New York: Harcourt Brace Javonovich, Inc., 1982)Irving Howe. 1984 Revisited (New York: Harper and Row, Inc.,1983) Rahv, Phillip The Unfuture of UtopiaIrving Howe. 1984 Revisited (New York: Harper and Row, Inc.,1983)Bibliography:
