Orwell's 1984: Similarities and Difference Between Oceania and the Usa

Similarities and Difference between Oceania and the United States



This paper will discuss the similarities and differences between the Oceanic society of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and the society of the United States. First I will talk about the similarities and then I will finish off with the differences, all of which will be based on factual information that I have gathered both, from the book and the mainstream media. Then I will finish by coming to a conclusion to an opinion I have and whether the government systems are more similar or different.

In order to do so, I had to ask myself some important questions like: Is the telescreen in the book the same as the cameras at work watching us or the satellites the government has in space that can see you move about in your home or record your vehicles license plates? Is this just a mere coincidence or is the story a true telling of what has and is to come in the future? There are things in the book that will not be exactly as something that we have in our country today though it might serve the same purpose and they will be defined through logic and simple explanations. The three most obvious similarities that I will talk about are the classes differences, the slogan “War is Piece” and the fact that even though with different intensity, both governments have their hands and control in every aspect of society’s life. The three differences that I will write about are the legal systems of the societies, the privacy people have or don’t have and love and emotions between people.

The first similarity I would like to discuss is the different classes of people. In the Oceanic society Orwell explained that there were three classes of citizens: the Inner Party members like O’Brien, who had all the power, the Outer Party members like Winston and Julia, who worked for the government in one of the four Ministries and the “proles” the so-called...