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Mastering the Art of Crafting a Powerful 1984 Thesis Statement

In the world of literary analysis, one novel has remained a towering figure for over 70 years: George Orwell’s “1984”. Its chilling portrayal of a dystopian society controlled by a powerful party leaves readers spellbound and sparks endless discussions and studies. However, crafting a strong thesis statement about this masterpiece is no easy task. But fear not, for in this article, we will show you how to create a rock-solid thesis statement that will captivate your readers and set the tone for your entire essay.

Before we dive into the finer details of creating a magnificent thesis statement, let’s step back for a moment and analyze the key themes and ideas that make “1984” such a thought-provoking piece of literature. At its core, the novel is about the controlling power of language and the manipulation of history by the ruling party. As readers, we are forced to confront our own thoughts and confront the terrifying possibility of losing our freedom and identity.

So, how can we craft a thesis statement that captures the essence of this powerful novel? First, it is important to have a clear understanding of the main character, Winston Smith, and his struggle against the oppressive party. Your thesis statement should be able to effectively convey the theme of rebellion and the consequences of individual thoughts in a society determined to suppress them.

To help you on this journey, let’s explore some examples of strong thesis statements about “1984”. Remember, a strong thesis statement gives direction to your essay and leaves no room for weak or mediocre analysis. Here are two examples to get you started:

• “In George Orwell’s ‘1984’, the character of Winston Smith serves as a symbol of resistance against the party’s oppressive regime, highlighting the power of individual thought in a society ruled by fear and manipulation.”
• “Through the character of O’Brien, Orwell explores the sinister motivations behind the party’s control and the dangers of unchecked power in ‘1984’, ultimately illustrating the futility of rebellion against an all-powerful entity.”

As you can see, these examples not only focus on the central theme and character of the novel but also present a clear argument that can be explored and supported throughout your essay. They provide a solid foundation for a captivating and well-structured analysis, keeping your readers engaged from start to finish.

Need help with your thesis statement or writing in general? Kibin is here to lend a helping hand. Our team of experienced editors provides expert advice and guidance to students just like you. Don’t let weak writing spoil your essay; let Kibin help you take it to the next level. Tags: 1984, analysis, essays, George Orwell, literary analysis, thesis statements.

A Sample Weak Thesis

“In George Orwell’s 1984, the party’s use of propaganda is scary-good.”

This weak thesis statement lacks clarity and specificity. It does not provide a clear focus or direction for the essay, making it difficult for the reader to understand what the author intends to analyze.

Another issue with this weak thesis statement is its lack of depth. The statement simply states that the party’s use of propaganda is scary-good without further expanding on this claim. It does not provide any analysis or identify the specific qualities that make the propaganda in 1984 powerful.

In order to create a stronger and more powerful thesis statement, it is important to analyze the language, character development, and historical context of 1984. A rock-solid thesis statement will be able to withstand thorough analysis and provide a clearer and more insightful focus for the essay.

Understanding the Importance of a Strong Thesis Statement

One example of a strong thesis statement for a 1984 essay might be: “By analyzing the character of O’Brien and the Party’s control of language, this essay will demonstrate how the Party seeks to control and manipulate people’s thoughts.” This thesis statement not only identifies the key elements to be discussed in the essay (O’Brien and language control), but also provides a clear focus on the theme of power and control in the novel.

To craft a stronger thesis statement, you may want to consider approaching it from a different angle or focus on a different aspect of the novel. For instance, you could analyze the role of propaganda in controlling the masses or examine the importance of history and its manipulation by the Party.

In order to create an outstanding thesis statement, it’s important to have a solid understanding of the novel and its themes. Take the time to do some close reading and thoughtfully analyze the characters, language, and literary devices used in 1984. This will help you identify the finer details and subtleties that can make your thesis statement even stronger.

Don’t be afraid to check out some sample essays or seek help from resources like Kibin. They’re a great way to get a better sense of what a powerful thesis statement looks like and how it can be supported throughout your essay.

Analyzing the Elements of a Powerful Thesis Statement

Identifying the theme, character, and irony.

In order to create a powerful thesis statement for your analysis of 1984, it is important to first identify the key elements of the novel. This includes understanding the theme of the novel, the development of the main character, as well as the use of irony throughout the story. By focusing on these elements, you can expand your analysis and create a stronger thesis statement.

Analysis of Propaganda and Control

One of the most important aspects of 1984 is its exploration of propaganda and the party’s control over its citizens. A powerful thesis statement will delve into the finer details of how the party uses propaganda to manipulate its citizens and maintain control. By analyzing examples from the novel, you can create a thesis statement that goes beyond a simple observation and provides a deeper understanding of the themes and messages of the book.

The Role of O’Brien and the Father in 1984

Another way to create a powerful thesis statement is to focus on the role of specific characters in the novel, such as O’Brien and the father. By examining their actions and motivations, you can analyze how they contribute to the overall themes and messages of the book. This gives your thesis statement more depth and makes it more engaging for your reader.

Check out this sample thesis statement for a better idea of what a powerful thesis statement looks like:

“In George Orwell’s 1984, the party’s use of propaganda and control tactics, as exemplified through the character of O’Brien, reveals the damning consequences of a totalitarian regime on individual freedom and the human spirit.”

By analyzing the different elements of 1984 and crafting a rock-solid thesis statement, you will be well on your way to writing an outstanding analysis essay that gives justice to Orwell’s magnificent work.

So don’t forget to analyze the history, themes, and literary qualities of the novel, and above all, make sure your thesis statement is strong and powerful. With the help of this guide, you’ll be able to create a thesis statement that is both scary-good and propels your essay to new heights.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the task of writing a powerful thesis statement. With the right approach and a bit of practice, you can master the art of crafting strong and impactful statements. So go out there and create something outstanding!

For more examples and tips on writing a powerful thesis statement, check out the Kibin blog.

Now that you know what makes a powerful thesis statement, 1, 2, 3, get out there and start crafting your own! Good luck!

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Crafting a 1984 Thesis Statement

1. losing focus on the party’s controlling language.

One common mistake is losing focus on the Party’s controlling language. The way the Party uses language to manipulate and control the thoughts of its citizens is a central theme in 1984. When crafting your thesis statement, be sure to address how the Party’s manipulation of language shapes the world of the novel.

2. Crafting Mediocre Statements without Analysis

Another mistake is crafting mediocre thesis statements without thorough analysis. A powerful thesis statement should go beyond stating the obvious. Instead, it should offer a unique perspective or interpretation of the novel. Be sure to analyze the text and provide evidence to support your claims.

For example, instead of a statement like “1984 is about the dangers of totalitarianism,” try something more specific and engaging like “In 1984, Orwell uses the character of O’Brien to symbolize the Party’s absolute control and the loss of individual freedom.”

3. Ignoring the Father-Son Relationship as a Key Theme

Many writers overlook the importance of the father-son relationship in 1984. The strained relationship between Winston and his own father serves as a symbol for the Party’s ability to destroy familial bonds and control the emotions of its citizens. Don’t miss the opportunity to explore this theme in your thesis statement.

For example, you could craft a thesis statement like “In 1984, the Party’s control over the father-son relationship reveals the devastating effects of totalitarianism on familial connections and personal identity.”

4. Failing to Craft an Outline before Writing

One mistake that can lead to a weak thesis statement is failing to craft an outline before diving into the writing process. Without a clear plan, your ideas may be scattered and your thesis may lack coherence. Take the time to outline your main points and the evidence you will use to support them. This will help you create a stronger and more focused thesis statement.

Remember, the purpose of a thesis statement is to guide the direction of your essay and provide a clear argument. Don’t rush through this step!

Why is a strong thesis statement important in an essay?

A strong thesis statement is important in an essay because it gives the reader a clear understanding of the main point or argument of the essay. It helps to provide direction and focus to the essay, making it easier for the reader to follow and comprehend the content.

What are the key characteristics of a powerful thesis statement?

A powerful thesis statement should be clear, concise, and specific. It should clearly state the main point or argument of the essay and provide a roadmap for the reader to follow. Additionally, a strong thesis statement should be arguable, meaning that it can be supported or refuted with evidence and analysis.

How can I craft a powerful thesis statement for an essay on the novel “1984”?

To craft a powerful thesis statement for an essay on the novel “1984,” you can focus on a specific theme or aspect of the novel and make a strong argument about it. For example, you can argue that the manipulation of language and the control of information are powerful tools of oppression in the novel. Your thesis statement can then outline the evidence and analysis you will use to support your argument.

Can a thesis statement be longer than one sentence?

Yes, a thesis statement can be longer than one sentence. While it is generally recommended to keep the thesis statement concise, sometimes a more complex argument may require multiple sentences to fully articulate the main point or argument. However, it is important to ensure that each sentence contributes to the overall clarity and coherence of the thesis statement.

What should I do if I’m struggling to come up with a powerful thesis statement?

If you’re struggling to come up with a powerful thesis statement, it can be helpful to first brainstorm and gather your thoughts on the topic. Consider the main points or arguments you want to make in your essay and try to identify a central theme or focus. From there, you can draft a few different versions of a thesis statement and then choose the one that best captures your main argument and provides a clear roadmap for your essay.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement is a concise and clear statement that presents the main argument or point of view of an essay or research paper. It is usually placed at the end of the introduction and serves as a guide for the reader throughout the entire piece of writing.

By Alex Koliada, PhD

Alex Koliada, PhD, is a well-known doctor. He is famous for studying aging, genetics, and other medical conditions. He works at the Institute of Food Biotechnology and Genomics. His scientific research has been published in the most reputable international magazines. Alex holds a BA in English and Comparative Literature from the University of Southern California , and a TEFL certification from The Boston Language Institute.

Doublethink Is Stronger Than Orwell Imagined

What 1984 means today

No novel of the past century has had more influence than George Orwell’s 1984 . The title, the adjectival form of the author’s last name, the vocabulary of the all-powerful Party that rules the superstate Oceania with the ideology of Ingsoc— doublethink , memory hole , unperson , thoughtcrime , Newspeak , Thought Police , Room 101 , Big Brother —they’ve all entered the English language as instantly recognizable signs of a nightmare future. It’s almost impossible to talk about propaganda, surveillance, authoritarian politics, or perversions of truth without dropping a reference to 1984. Throughout the Cold War, the novel found avid underground readers behind the Iron Curtain who wondered, How did he know?

It was also assigned reading for several generations of American high-school students. I first encountered 1984 in 10th-grade English class. Orwell’s novel was paired with Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World , whose hedonistic and pharmaceutical dystopia seemed more relevant to a California teenager in the 1970s than did the bleak sadism of Oceania. I was too young and historically ignorant to understand where 1984 came from and exactly what it was warning against. Neither the book nor its author stuck with me. In my 20s, I discovered Orwell’s essays and nonfiction books and reread them so many times that my copies started to disintegrate, but I didn’t go back to 1984 . Since high school, I’d lived through another decade of the 20th century, including the calendar year of the title, and I assumed I already “knew” the book. It was too familiar to revisit.

Read: Teaching ‘1984’ in 2016

So when I recently read the novel again, I wasn’t prepared for its power. You have to clear away what you think you know, all the terminology and iconography and cultural spin-offs, to grasp the original genius and lasting greatness of 1984 . It is both a profound political essay and a shocking, heartbreaking work of art. And in the Trump era , it’s a best seller .

The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 , by the British music critic Dorian Lynskey, makes a rich and compelling case for the novel as the summation of Orwell’s entire body of work and a master key to understanding the modern world. The book was published in 1949, when Orwell was dying of tuberculosis , but Lynskey dates its biographical sources back more than a decade to Orwell’s months in Spain as a volunteer on the republican side of the country’s civil war. His introduction to totalitarianism came in Barcelona, when agents of the Soviet Union created an elaborate lie to discredit Trotskyists in the Spanish government as fascist spies.

Left-wing journalists readily accepted the fabrication, useful as it was to the cause of communism. Orwell didn’t, exposing the lie with eyewitness testimony in journalism that preceded his classic book Homage to Catalonia —and that made him a heretic on the left. He was stoical about the boredom and discomforts of trench warfare—he was shot in the neck and barely escaped Spain with his life—but he took the erasure of truth hard. It threatened his sense of what makes us sane, and life worth living. “History stopped in 1936,” he later told his friend Arthur Koestler, who knew exactly what Orwell meant. After Spain, just about everything he wrote and read led to the creation of his final masterpiece. “History stopped,” Lynskey writes, “and Nineteen Eighty-Four began.”

The biographical story of 1984 —the dying man’s race against time to finish his novel in a remote cottage on the Isle of Jura , off Scotland—will be familiar to many Orwell readers. One of Lynskey’s contributions is to destroy the notion that its terrifying vision can be attributed to, and in some way disregarded as, the death wish of a tuberculosis patient. In fact, terminal illness roused in Orwell a rage to live—he got remarried on his deathbed—just as the novel’s pessimism is relieved, until its last pages, by Winston Smith’s attachment to nature, antique objects, the smell of coffee, the sound of a proletarian woman singing, and above all his lover, Julia. 1984 is crushingly grim, but its clarity and rigor are stimulants to consciousness and resistance. According to Lynskey, “Nothing in Orwell’s life and work supports a diagnosis of despair.”

Lynskey traces the literary genesis of 1984 to the utopian fictions of the optimistic 19th century—Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward (1888); the sci-fi novels of H. G. Wells, which Orwell read as a boy—and their dystopian successors in the 20th, including the Russian Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We (1924) and Huxley’s Brave New World (1932). The most interesting pages in The Ministry of Truth are Lynskey’s account of the novel’s afterlife. The struggle to claim 1984 began immediately upon publication, with a battle over its political meaning. Conservative American reviewers concluded that Orwell’s main target wasn’t just the Soviet Union but the left generally. Orwell, fading fast, waded in with a statement explaining that the novel was not an attack on any particular government but a satire of the totalitarian tendencies in Western society and intellectuals: “The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one: Don’t let it happen. It depends on you .” But every work of art escapes the artist’s control—the more popular and complex, the greater the misunderstandings.

Lynskey’s account of the reach of 1984 is revelatory. The novel has inspired movies, television shows, plays, a ballet, an opera, a David Bowie album , imitations, parodies, sequels, rebuttals, Lee Harvey Oswald, the Black Panther Party, and the John Birch Society. It has acquired something of the smothering ubiquity of Big Brother himself: 1984 is watching you. With the arrival of the year 1984, the cultural appropriations rose to a deafening level. That January an ad for the Apple Macintosh was watched by 96 million people during the Super Bowl and became a marketing legend. The Mac, represented by a female athlete, hurls a sledgehammer at a giant telescreen and explodes the shouting face of a man—oppressive technology—to the astonishment of a crowd of gray zombies. The message: “You’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’ ”

The argument recurs every decade or so: Orwell got it wrong. Things haven’t turned out that bad. The Soviet Union is history. Technology is liberating. But Orwell never intended his novel to be a prediction, only a warning. And it’s as a warning that 1984 keeps finding new relevance. The week of Donald Trump’s inauguration, when the president’s adviser Kellyanne Conway justified his false crowd estimate by using the phrase alternative facts , the novel returned to the best-seller lists. A theatrical adaptation was rushed to Broadway. The vocabulary of Newspeak went viral. An authoritarian president who stood the term fake news on its head, who once said, “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” has given 1984 a whole new life.

What does the novel mean for us? Not Room 101 in the Ministry of Love, where Winston is interrogated and tortured until he loses everything he holds dear. We don’t live under anything like a totalitarian system. “By definition, a country in which you are free to read Nineteen Eighty-Four is not the country described in Nineteen Eighty-Four ,” Lynskey acknowledges. Instead, we pass our days under the nonstop surveillance of a telescreen that we bought at the Apple Store, carry with us everywhere, and tell everything to, without any coercion by the state. The Ministry of Truth is Facebook, Google, and cable news. We have met Big Brother and he is us.

Trump’s election brought a rush of cautionary books with titles like On Tyranny , Fascism: A Warning , and How Fascism Works . My local bookstore set up a totalitarian-themed table and placed the new books alongside 1984 . They pointed back to the 20th century—if it happened in Germany, it could happen here—and warned readers how easily democracies collapse. They were alarm bells against complacency and fatalism—“ the politics of inevitability ,” in the words of the historian Timothy Snyder, “a sense that the future is just more of the present, that the laws of progress are known, that there are no alternatives, and therefore nothing really to be done.” The warnings were justified, but their emphasis on the mechanisms of earlier dictatorships drew attention away from the heart of the malignancy—not the state, but the individual. The crucial issue was not that Trump might abolish democracy but that Americans had put him in a position to try. Unfreedom today is voluntary. It comes from the bottom up.

We are living with a new kind of regime that didn’t exist in Orwell’s time. It combines hard nationalism—the diversion of frustration and cynicism into xenophobia and hatred—with soft distraction and confusion: a blend of Orwell and Huxley, cruelty and entertainment. The state of mind that the Party enforces through terror in 1984 , where truth becomes so unstable that it ceases to exist, we now induce in ourselves. Totalitarian propaganda unifies control over all information, until reality is what the Party says it is—the goal of Newspeak is to impoverish language so that politically incorrect thoughts are no longer possible. Today the problem is too much information from too many sources, with a resulting plague of fragmentation and division—not excessive authority but its disappearance, which leaves ordinary people to work out the facts for themselves, at the mercy of their own prejudices and delusions.

During the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, propagandists at a Russian troll farm used social media to disseminate a meme: “ ‘The People Will Believe What the Media Tells Them They Believe.’  — George Orwell.” But Orwell never said this. The moral authority of his name was stolen and turned into a lie toward that most Orwellian end: the destruction of belief in truth. The Russians needed partners in this effort and found them by the millions, especially among America’s non-elites. In 1984 , working-class people are called “proles,” and Winston believes they’re the only hope for the future. As Lynskey points out, Orwell didn’t foresee “that the common man and woman would embrace doublethink as enthusiastically as the intellectuals and, without the need for terror or torture, would choose to believe that two plus two was whatever they wanted it to be.”

We stagger under the daily load of doublethink pouring from Trump, his enablers in the Inner Party, his mouthpieces in the Ministry of Truth, and his fanatical supporters among the proles. Spotting doublethink in ourselves is much harder. “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,” Orwell wrote . In front of my nose, in the world of enlightened and progressive people where I live and work, a different sort of doublethink has become pervasive. It’s not the claim that true is fake or that two plus two makes five. Progressive doublethink—which has grown worse in reaction to the right-wing kind—creates a more insidious unreality because it operates in the name of all that is good. Its key word is justice —a word no one should want to live without. But today the demand for justice forces you to accept contradictions that are the essence of doublethink.

For example, many on the left now share an unacknowledged but common assumption that a good work of art is made of good politics and that good politics is a matter of identity. The progressive view of a book or play depends on its political stance, and its stance—even its subject matter—is scrutinized in light of the group affiliation of the artist: Personal identity plus political position equals aesthetic value. This confusion of categories guides judgments all across the worlds of media, the arts, and education, from movie reviews to grant committees. Some people who register the assumption as doublethink might be privately troubled, but they don’t say so publicly. Then self-censorship turns into self-deception, until the recognition itself disappears—a lie you accept becomes a lie you forget. In this way, intelligent people do the work of eliminating their own unorthodoxy without the Thought Police.

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Orthodoxy is also enforced by social pressure, nowhere more intensely than on Twitter, where the specter of being shamed or “canceled” produces conformity as much as the prospect of adding to your tribe of followers does. This pressure can be more powerful than a party or state, because it speaks in the name of the people and in the language of moral outrage, against which there is, in a way, no defense. Certain commissars with large followings patrol the precincts of social media and punish thought criminals, but most progressives assent without difficulty to the stifling consensus of the moment and the intolerance it breeds—not out of fear, but because they want to be counted on the side of justice.

This willing constriction of intellectual freedom will do lasting damage. It corrupts the ability to think clearly, and it undermines both culture and progress. Good art doesn’t come from wokeness, and social problems starved of debate can’t find real solutions. “Nothing is gained by teaching a parrot a new word,” Orwell wrote in 1946. “What is needed is the right to print what one believes to be true, without having to fear bullying or blackmail from any side.” Not much has changed since the 1940s. The will to power still passes through hatred on the right and virtue on the left.

1984 will always be an essential book, regardless of changes in ideologies, for its portrayal of one person struggling to hold on to what is real and valuable. “Sanity is not statistical,” Winston thinks one night as he slips off to sleep. Truth, it turns out, is the most fragile thing in the world. The central drama of politics is the one inside your skull.

This article appears in the July 2019 print edition with the headline “George Orwell’s Unheeded Warning.”

​When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

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George Orwell

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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Dangers of Totalitarianism

1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers in the West of the dangers of totalitarian government. Having witnessed firsthand the horrific lengths to which totalitarian governments in Spain and Russia would go in order to sustain and increase their power, Orwell designed 1984 to sound the alarm in Western nations still unsure about how to approach the rise of communism. In 1949, the Cold War had not yet escalated, many American intellectuals supported communism, and the state of diplomacy between democratic and communist nations was highly ambiguous. In the American press, the Soviet Union was often portrayed as a great moral experiment. Orwell, however, was deeply disturbed by the widespread cruelties and oppressions he observed in communist countries, and seems to have been particularly concerned by the role of technology in enabling oppressive governments to monitor and control their citizens.

In 1984 , Orwell portrays the perfect totalitarian society, the most extreme realization imaginable of a modern-day government with absolute power. The title of the novel was meant to indicate to its readers in 1949 that the story represented a real possibility for the near future: if totalitarianism were not opposed, the title suggested, some variation of the world described in the novel could become a reality in only thirty-five years. Orwell portrays a state in which government monitors and controls every aspect of human life to the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law. As the novel progresses, the timidly rebellious Winston Smith sets out to challenge the limits of the Party’s power, only to discover that its ability to control and enslave its subjects dwarfs even his most paranoid conceptions of its reach. As the reader comes to understand through Winston’s eyes, The Party uses a number of techniques to control its citizens, each of which is an important theme of its own in the novel. These include:

Psychological Manipulation

The Party barrages its subjects with psychological stimuli designed to overwhelm the mind’s capacity for independent thought. The giant telescreen in every citizen’s room blasts a constant stream of propaganda designed to make the failures and shortcomings of the Party appear to be triumphant successes. The telescreens also monitor behavior—everywhere they go, citizens are continuously reminded, especially by means of the omnipresent signs reading “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU,” that the authorities are scrutinizing them. The Party undermines family structure by inducting children into an organization called the Junior Spies, which brainwashes and encourages them to spy on their parents and report any instance of disloyalty to the Party. The Party also forces individuals to suppress their sexual desires, treating sex as merely a procreative duty whose end is the creation of new Party members. The Party then channels people’s pent-up frustration and emotion into intense, ferocious displays of hatred against the Party’s political enemies. Many of these enemies have been invented by the Party expressly for this purpose.

Physical Control

In addition to manipulating their minds, the Party also controls the bodies of its subjects. The Party constantly watches for any sign of disloyalty, to the point that, as Winston observes, even a tiny facial twitch could lead to an arrest. A person’s own nervous system becomes his greatest enemy. The Party forces its members to undergo mass morning exercises called the Physical Jerks, and then to work long, grueling days at government agencies, keeping people in a general state of exhaustion. Anyone who does manage to defy the Party is punished and “reeducated” through systematic and brutal torture. After being subjected to weeks of this intense treatment, Winston himself comes to the conclusion that nothing is more powerful than physical pain—no emotional loyalty or moral conviction can overcome it. By conditioning the minds of their victims with physical torture, the Party is able to control reality, convincing its subjects that 2 + 2 = 5.

Read more about the control of bodies in dystopian literature in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale .

Control of Information and History

The Party controls every source of information, managing and rewriting the content of all newspapers and histories for its own ends. The Party does not allow individuals to keep records of their past, such as photographs or documents. As a result, memories become fuzzy and unreliable, and citizens become perfectly willing to believe whatever the Party tells them. By controlling the present, the Party is able to manipulate the past. And in controlling the past, the Party can justify all of its actions in the present.

Read more about the theme of controlling history in Lois Lowry’s novel, The Giver .

By means of telescreens and hidden microphones across the city, the Party is able to monitor its members almost all of the time. Additionally, the Party employs complicated mechanisms ( 1984 was written in the era before computers) to exert large-scale control on economic production and sources of information, and fearsome machinery to inflict torture upon those it deems enemies. 1984 reveals that technology, which is generally perceived as working toward moral good, can also facilitate the most diabolical evil.

Language as Mind Control

One of Orwell’s most important messages in 1984 is that language is of central importance to human thought because it structures and limits the ideas that individuals are capable of formulating and expressing. If control of language were centralized in a political agency, Orwell proposes, such an agency could possibly alter the very structure of language to make it impossible to even conceive of disobedient or rebellious thoughts, because there would be no words with which to think them. This idea manifests itself in the language of Newspeak, which the Party has introduced to replace English. The Party is constantly refining and perfecting Newspeak, with the ultimate goal that no one will be capable of conceptualizing anything that might question the Party’s absolute power.

Interestingly, many of Orwell’s ideas about language as a controlling force have been modified by writers and critics seeking to deal with the legacy of colonialism. During colonial times, foreign powers took political and military control of distant regions and, as a part of their occupation, instituted their own language as the language of government and business. Postcolonial writers often analyze or redress the damage done to local populations by the loss of language and the attendant loss of culture and historical connection.

In 1984 , the Party seeks to ensure that the only kind of loyalty possible is loyalty to the Party. The reader sees examples of virtually every kind of loyalty, from the most fundamental to the most trivial, being destroyed by the Party. Neighbors and coworkers inform on one another, and Mr. Parson’s own child reports him to the Thought Police. Winston’s half-remembered marriage to his wife fell apart with no sense of loyalty. Even the relationship between customer and merchant is perverted as Winston learns that the man who has sold him the very tools of his resistance and independence was a member of the Thought Police. Winston’s relationship with Julia is the ultimate loyalty that is tested by the events of the book. In Book Two: Chapter VII, Winston tells Julia, “if they could make me stop loving you—that would be the real betrayal.” In the end, the Party does make Winston stop loving Julia and love Big Brother instead, the only form of loyalty allowed.

Resistance and Revolution

In 1984 , Winston explores increasingly risky and significant acts of resistance against the Party. In Book One: Chapter VII, Winston observes that “rebellion meant a look in the eyes, an inflection of the voice; at the most, an occasional whispered word.” Winston builds up these minor rebellions by committing personal acts of disobedience such as keeping a journal and buying a decorative paperweight. Eventually he escalates his rebellion through his sexual relationship with Julia. The relationship is a double rebellion, as it includes the thoughtcrime of desire. Winston doesn’t believe his actions or the actions of others will lead to the destruction of the Party within his lifetime, but before he is caught by the Thought Police he holds out hope that in the future someone will be able to look back at Winston’s time from a world that is free.

Read more about the theme of revolution in Charles Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities .

Winston’s most concrete hope for actual revolution against the Party lies with the social underclass of the city, called the proles. He observes that the proles already have far greater numbers than the Party and that the proles have the strength to carry out a revolution if they could ever organize themselves. The problem is that the proles have been subject to such serious poverty for so long that they are unable to see past the goal of survival. The very notion of trying to build a better world is too much for them to contemplate. All of these observations are set against the backdrop of the Party’s own identity as the product of revolution. According to Winston, the Party was created during the mid-1960s during a revolution that overthrew the existing British social order. The Party claims that the Revolution has not yet ended and that it will be fulfilled once they have complete control.

Independence and Identity

While the Party’s primary tool for manipulating the populace is the control of history, they also control independence and identity. For example, the basic traits of establishing one’s identity are unavailable to Winston and the other citizens of Oceania. Winston does not know how old he is. He does not know whether he is married or not. He does not know whether his mother is alive or dead. None of his childhood memories are reliable, because he has no photos or documents to help him sort real memories from imagined ones. Instead of being unique individuals with specific, identifying details, every member of the Outer Party is identical. All Party members wear the same clothing, smoke the same brand of cigarettes, drink the same brand of gin, and so forth. As such, forming a sense of individual identity is not only psychologically challenging, but logistically difficult.

Most of Winston’s significant decisions can be interpreted as attempts to build a sense of identity. His decision to purchase a diary and begin recording his thoughts is an attempt to create memory and history. His decision to purchase the paperweight is driven by a desire to have something of his own that represents a time before the Party. Winston’s sexual relationship with Julia and their decision to rent an apartment where they can spend time together represent dangerous crimes in the world of 1984 . In deciding to pursue a relationship with Julia, Winston asserts his independence and further establishes his identity as an individual who resists the Party’s control. Ultimately, though, Winston’s attempts to maintain his independence and create a unique identity are no match for the Party. Winston’s experiences in the Ministry of Love represent the complete disassembly and destruction of all aspects of his individuality. When he is returned to society he has lost all independence and uniqueness, and has become part of the Party’s faceless collective.

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You are at: Thesis Writing Thesis Statements Articles 1984 Thesis Statement

1984 thesis statement.

It will not be difficult to make thesis statement once you have gone through the novel 1984 carefully. All it takes is to mark out the important events and character descriptions. Later on you can develop thesis statements by focusing on the important selected areas.

Thesis Statement For 1984 #1

In the novel 1984, there is a description of a society which is controlled in almost every sense; even the most innate impulses like sex and love too. It is all caused by a system created through a variety of types of media in society which broadcasts distrust and suspicions strongly among people that even the blood relatives don’t believe in one another. This shows how natural impulses are controlled and oppressed in the society. Your thesis statement could revolve around this oppression and its effects and consequences.

In this novel, you will observe that everybody in the whole society is watched and has no privacy in whatsoever conditions. Every individual is constantly under surveillance. This makes people frustrated who want to live a free and individual life but it seems to be an impossible task to accomplish to lead to individualism. Here you can focus that in what ways this constant watch affects the life of every individual as well as the whole society.

Thesis Statement For 1984

Another focused area in the novel to write the thesis statement is about the role of women. In the tyrannical and oppressive society, there is no significantly romantic role of women in the novel 1984 like other literature works. Examine the role of women paying attention the issues like Winston’s Wife, the Junior Anti-Sex League, and other women’s role. Develop your thesis statement focusing how the role of women differs from the other novels in 1984.

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Writing help, paraphrasing tool, george orwells 1984 - free essay examples and topic ideas.

1984 is a dystopian novel by George Orwell that explores the dangers of totalitarianism and surveillance. Essays on this topic could delve into the themes of surveillance, truth, and totalitarianism in the novel, discuss its relevance to contemporary societal issues, or compare Orwell’s dystopian vision to other dystopian or utopian literary works. A substantial compilation of free essay instances related to George Orwell’s 1984 you can find at PapersOwl Website. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Dissecting Dystopia: George Orwells 1984 and the World of Oceania

George Orwell's "1984", a terrifying portrayal of dictatorship seen through the prism of a made-up superstate called Oceania, is still regarded as a classic piece of literature. Examining how Orwell's dystopian picture of the world mirrors larger concerns of power, surveillance, and the human spirit under authoritarian control, this article explores the complex world-building of Oceania. In the film "1984," Oceania is shown as an authoritarian society marked by ongoing conflict, constant government monitoring, and widespread public manipulation. Orwell painstakingly […]

1984 and Brave New World Comparison

As years pass by, human society has advanced in very unpredictable ways due to the evolution of ideas and technologies. It is somewhat cloudy to forseek what new advancements that may arrive in the future. In the 20th century, two dystopian writers had predicted the fate of the world that we live in today. The novels Nineteen Eighty-Four written by George Orwell and Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley both envisioned how society would end up as a dystopia. […]

1984 Compared to Today

In the world today, the internet is at the center of our actions. The internet and technology enable the recording of everything we do, which can be accessed by millions of people within a short time. This leads to the question of privacy in this age. In the novel "1984" by George Orwell, the main character, Winston Smith, and the rest of the population in Oceania are being surveyed. All their moves are followed with the help of telescreens purposed […]

Winston against the Party in the Novel 1984

In 1984, the main character, Winston Smith goes through moments where he is in need; His needs consist of physiological needs, safety, and security needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Winston is the main character in his novel it follows his around during this time. In 1984 Winston has his physiological met. These physiological needs include; water, pleasure, and food. Winston had taken up his spoon and was dabbling in pale-colored gravy that dribbled across the […]

1984 the Soviet Union the Parallels

George Orwell is an author who wrote the book 1984 and Animal Farm, two famous Dystopian novels. But what is a dystopian novel? A dystopian novel is where the author writes about a society being oppressed or terrorized from a group of people or person(Jennifer Kendall). Typically in dystopian novels, we are shown a character who don’t agree with the government structure and tend to rebel against them. Although dystopian novels are fictional, it doesn’t mean that it can’t happen […]

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1984 Surveillance Essay

George Orwell's 1984 writes of a dystopian society that has become severally oppressed by the methods ‘The Party' uses to control its society. The people do not think for themselves, and there is no independence from the government’s rules. One form that the party has control over everyone is with mind manipulation and constant surveillance, watching people actions and reactions to their messages that ‘The Party’ shares via the ‘telescreen’. A ‘telescreen’ is a two-way connection screen that people watch […]

Lack of Privacy in 1984 Essay

Privacy is a loose term in our world today because no one abides by it and the privacy of many people is invaded every day. People don’t even think about being watched when they’re posting personal experiences in their life on social media. Invasion of privacy is a serious issue concerning the Internet, as e-mails can be read and/or encrypted, and cookies can track a user and store personal information. Lack of privacy policies and employee monitoring threatens security also. […]

Main Themes in 1984

There are many Themes in 1984 however there are two that show themselves as the most important throughout the story: The disastrous effects of both the control of information and complete and total domination of the people, or Authoritarianism. These two themes show themselves many times throughout the entire story. The main Villain of the novel, Big Brother, exists to show the reader what will happen when one single organization or entity controls all information, and every other facet of […]

Nature and Animals 1984 Essay

In George Orwell's 1984, the reader follows a middle-aged man named Winston Smith. In Winston's society, people can be under surveillance at any time, in any place. The reader follows Winston through his affair with a woman named Julia, and the consequences that they face after. Throughout 1984, many motifs are represented, one of them being nature and animals. The motif of nature/animals demonstrates how Orwell connects characters in his book to animals. In 1984, the first time the reader […]

Parallels between a Novel 1984 and Soviet Union

George Orwell is a politically charged author who writes novels as warning issued against the dangers of totalitarian societies. The novel is dystopian literature. A dystopian society is the not so good version of an utopian society which is pretty much a perfect world. While an utopian society IS a perfect world, a dystopian society is the exact opposite as it is dehumanizing and unpleasant in regards to trying to make everything ideal. The novel 1984 by George Orwell is […]

1984 Literary Essay

In the novel 1984 war ment peace, freedom ment slavery, and ignorance ment strength. This novel very intriguing yet dark and twisted, the novel all began with an average man with an average job and an average life named Winston Smith, but what you don't know is how unruly the government is. The government believes everyone they have in their grasp they completely and utterly control, they have dehumanized humans to the point where they can't hardly think for themselves […]

Current Events Shaped Themes in 1984

Throughout history there have been dozens of examples of how the book 1984 relates to current events. A Prime example of this is Fidel Castro and 1960's Cuba, Throughout his rule he was responsible for housing many soviet missiles, and limiting the freedoms of his people. The only news allowed in cuba was the news that was verified by either castro himself or his higher up officers. This is an example of censoring/controlling the media. Throughout the book there are […]

George Orwell’s Fiction Novel 1984

With new technology and advanced programs, the government is gaining more power than one may realize. George Orwell’s fiction novel 1984, depicts Oceania’s control upon it’s party members thoughts and freedom showcasing the harsh effects that it had on its population. Too much control can often lead to social repression, Winston being a product of this repressed society. The cruelty Winston is faced with serves as both a motivation for him throughout the novel and reveals many hidden traits about […]

The Party and Power 1984

William Gaddis once said, “power doesn’t corrupt people, people corrupt power”; a truth that perfectly articulates the relationship between man and power. George Orwell’s prose novel, 1984, and James McTeigue’s theatrical film, V for Vendetta, are such quintessences of power abused by those in pursuit of reaching authoritative domination. They differ in textual form and perspectives however at their core, both texts are works of dystopian fiction and juvenalian satire against authoritarian style leaderships, depicting their respective protagonists as victims […]

A Political Novel 1984

1984 is a political novel composed for the humans below a totalitarian authorities and to give consciousness for the feasible dangers of it. George Orwell, the author, purposefully created the e book give emphasis to the rising of communism in Western countries who are nonetheless uncertain about how to approach it. He additionally wrote it due to having an insight of the horrendous lengths to which authoritarian governments that ought to possibly go beyond their power such as Spain and […]

The Power of Words and Rhetoric in 1984

In a lucid moment Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the ring of his chair (Orwell 14). Winston Smith is an average man in the world of 1984, at least that is what readers believe at first glance. However, there is a hidden life under the surface of his skin, this being the brewing hatred he feels for the, otherwise, worshiped Big Brother. Smith meets an unlikely companion in a young […]

About the Hazard of Controlling Governments in 1984

Dystopian literature has been around for quite some time, shaping the minds of young readers. However, in the course of recent decades, it has turned out to be increasingly popular, especially after the turn of the century. In a time of fear and anxiety, the dystopian genre has become more popular in pop culture, in that they provide audiences with a different aspect of entertainment, while offering a sense of comfort and control. The world that young adults of today […]

The Tools and Actions of Totalitarianism in Cuba and “1984” by George Orwell

George Orwell’s book 1984 displayed an example of a real-life dystopia. Totalitarianism is shown in this communist-based society so ghastly that it coined its own term “Orwellian” in the dictionary. However, a country living in full surveillance with extremely nationalistic views in cookie-cutter world is not entirely fictional. Historical dictatorships are similar to Orwell’s telling of Big Brother, the man in control of Oceania’s economy and strictly enforced values. An example of such was the Cuban regime under control of […]

Wake up its 1984 again

War is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength In the book 1984 by George Orwell, Big brother is an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent dictator of Oceania. Big Brother symbolizes the face of the Party and its public manifestation, which controlled people's thoughts, actions, knowledge and way of living. By using secret police, surveillance, torture, propaganda, misinformation, and corrupted languages to control all aspects of one's life. Even though the book was meant to be fictional, there is some elements […]

The Parallels of 1984 and the Soviet Union

George Orwell, a pen name for the author’s real name Eric Arthur Blair, is a man that had multiple professions, such as an essayist, imperial police officer, and a critic. However, he is best known as a novelist, writing such stories like Animal Farm, Burmese Days, and the main focus novel that will be talked about today, 1984. 1984 is the story about a man named Winston Smith, a man that lives in a totalitarian society where no one is […]

What did 1984 Steal from 1922

There have been many dictators in the history of the world. They have been mostly bad for the people of the society, reducing their ability to stand up for them self. Most dictators used fear and intimidation to scare their opponents into complying with them, but in 1984 they limited their vocabulary (newspeak) and twisted what they were saying to make it sound nicer (doublespeak) to get the people to comply with the rules. The Party in 1984 is influenced […]

The Party Control in 1984

1984 is a story of tragedy and warns of a dystopian future, which day by day looks like it is becoming closer to a reality. The story starts out with Winston Smith, a member of the Party, living inside the conglomerate super-nation Oceania. Everywhere Winston goes, he is being watched by the Party's leader, Big Brother, who is constantly monitoring to stop any and all rebellion. The Party controls everything and are trying to indoctrinate people, inventing a brand new […]

My 1984 Story

INTRODUCTION The Party did the people wrong and treated them poorly because the Party wanted them to do what they asked for and manipulating their minds. Orwell wanted to tell people how the Party treated other people and what they had to sacrifice in order to do what was told. For it to be one of the most powerful warnings that ever happened in the totalitarian society. George Orwell’s 1984 is a interesting and constructive book that is filled with […]

Dystopian Literature – 1984

The destruction of history causes people to obey the party more and become mindless objects to the party. The party imposed if all records told the same tale then the lie passed into history and became truth. Who controls the past ran the party slogan controls the future who controls the present controls the past And the through of its nature alterable never has been altered{ Orwell p.31}. It represent imagery and talks about how the party controls them and […]

1984 and Brave New Word: Literary Criticisms

Although they seem to portray two completely opposite dystopias, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 are two sides of the same coin, as they both warn of the dangers of an all-powerful government. Both their personal lives and the social climate in which they lived in contributed in the shaping of their novels into the disturbingly brilliant pieces of literature that are praised today. Huxley’s childhood provides great insight into some of the many influences of his […]

The Shadow of 1984

When people read dystopian text they often include topics with darker views of our political structures. George Orwell's novel 1984 is about a place named Oceania in which the main character Winston, a member of the outer party,journeys into his end. He finds himself with these viewpoints no one else seems to have of how Oceania is runned and only continues to question and dig further until he is put to stop by the party. Although Orwell’s work is fiction […]

George Orwell’s 1984 Oppression

After reading and discussing the outcomes of high tech policing, I strongly take a stand with the critics of it. This is not only opinion, the data received by high tech policing technologies distort the true meaning of privacy and is a form of biased policing against poor and minority communities. Police are using high tech policing to target poor and minority communities. The main facts that support my claim are how high tech policing results in biases against minorities […]

What does the Paperweight Symbolize in 1984: Metaphor for Loss of Individuality

Introduction “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows” (Orwell 81). George Orwell wrote a book called 1984 about Winston and how he lives in an oppressive government. The government manipulates them so much that they have no freedom and no way to express themselves. They cannot even say 2+2=4. Imagery, symbolism, and figurative language are used to convey the theme of the loss of individuality by totalitarianism. Metaphor […]

Related topic

Essays About Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell Few argumentative essay examples leave an outstanding remark in the footprints of history like 1984 by George Orwell. Although the author wrote the novel in 1949, most scholars still see it as an important piece in our day. This is probably due to the manner it predicted the totalitarian government whom he said would leverage on the media and manipulate technology to exploit and control people. In this book, George Orwell provided an analysis of London, but not as a part of England. Instead, ‘<em><i>London</i></em>’ in the 1984 novel was a part of Oceania. Oceania was regarded as one of the vast governments in the book’s world. The author described the region as being under the critical influence of a dictatorship and powerful government forces. In this exciting piece, the government was described as ‘<em><i>big brother</i></em>.’ and that it uses cameras and other gadgets to observe the behavior of its citizens. Why should this novel be of much significance to you? In college, it forms the basis of research and essay writing for many students. Therefore, reading and understanding the book will help you to write effective essays on it as part of your exam or a test. Those searching for research paper topics to write can draw inspiration from the essay on 1984. Whether you’re writing your paper yourself or outsourcing it online, we have a lot of essay examples on George Orwell’s 1984 novel to help you.

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Thesis Statements

What is a thesis statement.

Your thesis statement is one of the most important parts of your paper.  It expresses your main argument succinctly and explains why your argument is historically significant.  Think of your thesis as a promise you make to your reader about what your paper will argue.  Then, spend the rest of your paper–each body paragraph–fulfilling that promise.

Your thesis should be between one and three sentences long and is placed at the end of your introduction.  Just because the thesis comes towards the beginning of your paper does not mean you can write it first and then forget about it.  View your thesis as a work in progress while you write your paper.  Once you are satisfied with the overall argument your paper makes, go back to your thesis and see if it captures what you have argued.  If it does not, then revise it.  Crafting a good thesis is one of the most challenging parts of the writing process, so do not expect to perfect it on the first few tries.  Successful writers revise their thesis statements again and again.

A successful thesis statement:

• makes an historical argument
• takes a position that requires defending
• is historically specific
• is focused and precise
• answers the question, “so what?”

How to write a thesis statement:

Suppose you are taking an early American history class and your professor has distributed the following essay prompt:

“Historians have debated the American Revolution’s effect on women.  Some argue that the Revolution had a positive effect because it increased women’s authority in the family.  Others argue that it had a negative effect because it excluded women from politics.  Still others argue that the Revolution changed very little for women, as they remained ensconced in the home.  Write a paper in which you pose your own answer to the question of whether the American Revolution had a positive, negative, or limited effect on women.”

Using this prompt, we will look at both weak and strong thesis statements to see how successful thesis statements work.

While this thesis does take a position, it is problematic because it simply restates the prompt.  It needs to be more specific about how  the Revolution had a limited effect on women and  why it mattered that women remained in the home.

Revised Thesis:  The Revolution wrought little political change in the lives of women because they did not gain the right to vote or run for office.  Instead, women remained firmly in the home, just as they had before the war, making their day-to-day lives look much the same.

This revision is an improvement over the first attempt because it states what standards the writer is using to measure change (the right to vote and run for office) and it shows why women remaining in the home serves as evidence of limited change (because their day-to-day lives looked the same before and after the war).  However, it still relies too heavily on the information given in the prompt, simply saying that women remained in the home.  It needs to make an argument about some element of the war’s limited effect on women.  This thesis requires further revision.

Strong Thesis: While the Revolution presented women unprecedented opportunities to participate in protest movements and manage their family’s farms and businesses, it ultimately did not offer lasting political change, excluding women from the right to vote and serve in office.

Few would argue with the idea that war brings upheaval.  Your thesis needs to be debatable:  it needs to make a claim against which someone could argue.  Your job throughout the paper is to provide evidence in support of your own case.  Here is a revised version:

Strong Thesis: The Revolution caused particular upheaval in the lives of women.  With men away at war, women took on full responsibility for running households, farms, and businesses.  As a result of their increased involvement during the war, many women were reluctant to give up their new-found responsibilities after the fighting ended.

Sexism is a vague word that can mean different things in different times and places.  In order to answer the question and make a compelling argument, this thesis needs to explain exactly what  attitudes toward women were in early America, and  how those attitudes negatively affected women in the Revolutionary period.

Strong Thesis: The Revolution had a negative impact on women because of the belief that women lacked the rational faculties of men. In a nation that was to be guided by reasonable republican citizens, women were imagined to have no place in politics and were thus firmly relegated to the home.

This thesis addresses too large of a topic for an undergraduate paper.  The terms “social,” “political,” and “economic” are too broad and vague for the writer to analyze them thoroughly in a limited number of pages.  The thesis might focus on one of those concepts, or it might narrow the emphasis to some specific features of social, political, and economic change.

Strong Thesis: The Revolution paved the way for important political changes for women.  As “Republican Mothers,” women contributed to the polity by raising future citizens and nurturing virtuous husbands.  Consequently, women played a far more important role in the new nation’s politics than they had under British rule.

This thesis is off to a strong start, but it needs to go one step further by telling the reader why changes in these three areas mattered.  How did the lives of women improve because of developments in education, law, and economics?  What were women able to do with these advantages?  Obviously the rest of the paper will answer these questions, but the thesis statement needs to give some indication of why these particular changes mattered.

Strong Thesis: The Revolution had a positive impact on women because it ushered in improvements in female education, legal standing, and economic opportunity.  Progress in these three areas gave women the tools they needed to carve out lives beyond the home, laying the foundation for the cohesive feminist movement that would emerge in the mid-nineteenth century.

Thesis Checklist

When revising your thesis, check it against the following guidelines:

• Does my thesis make an historical argument?
• Does my thesis take a position that requires defending?
• Is my thesis historically specific?
• Is my thesis focused and precise?
• Does my thesis answer the question, “so what?”

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1984 And George Orwell's Thesis For Modern Culture

Show More The basis for human knowledge revolves around stories and lessons passed down over time, and many novels throughout history have both stood the test of time as well as sparked conversation within the present. One such novel 1984 written by George Orwell made a significant impact for its time and is still alluded to today. Orwell’s novel was one of the first dystopian stories that made waves in regards to society’s future. His book revolves around an unbiased and connectable character named Winston Smith, who finds himself questioning the validity of the government and its concern for the well-being of its people. Other novels that follow Orwell’s precedent are series such as The Hunger Games and Divergent as well as other media. Many works …show more content… A seemingly innocent children’s movie may be revealed to share similar characteristics to Orwell’s darker version of an oppressive society. Parallels are drawn between the main characters of both pieces. In the film, “When the main character Emmet goes missing, his "friends" are interviewed on television about him and none of them know anything important about him. He simply exists as another face in the crowd”, this indicates that in Emmet’s society individualism does not exist. (qtd. in Hanlon) Present culture shares this issue as seen throughout history that the battle to have a public identity, and for it to be recognized by both society and the government has remained a daily struggle. In that way both the movie and the novel share a society where being ordinary and plain gets a thumbs up from the government. Orwell writes, "You did not have friends nowadays, you had comrades” (66.) The fact that both characters have no significance to other people within their worlds brings up the lost connection to their own humanity. This note which Orwell emphasizes has rooted itself in present culture. As technology and media grow they place barriers between people limiting human connection. This also connects to peoples distrust in the government and how influential it is in the everyday lives of the people. Another allusion in the Lego movie to 1984 deals directly media …show more content… For instance another allusion to 1984 was made in the Muse’s album The Resistance which is based on Orwell’s book; most notably the song “Resistance” itself takes direct quotes from the novel. With Lyrics like, “Kill your prayers for love and peace; You’ll wake the thought police; We can 't hide the truth inside” there is no doubt of the connection being made between both pieces. In the book “Thought Police” are the ultimate arms of justice and convict people based on “Thoughtcrime”: or the action of even thinking about rebellion, etc. These excerpts add strength to the song and make the message more easily understood. As a whole this song of forbidden love and rebellion coincides with aspects of modern society. Only a short while ago same sex and interracial couples were not recognized by the government, yet people still tried to find ways around it. Segregation shows just how far the government was willing to go to keep people apart. Other sections of the song such as “Its time to run; Take us away from here; Protect us from further harm; Resistance” mirror Julia and Winston’s conversation, “You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn about what they suffer. All you care about is yourself” (Orwell

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• How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

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Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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Essays on 1984

Subcategories.

1984 Essay Physical Mental Changes

1984 Essay People have changes that occur to them all the time whether they are physical or mental changes. These changes can be for better or worse. Changes are a result of an experience faced by one. 1984 is a book all about changes and that occur and how people react or transform from these changes. Winston is a different type of person from who he is after his pivotal experience. Winston changes from a rebel who is trying to […]

Critical Lens Essay with 1984

Martin Luther King Junior stated that, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. ” In other words you never really know a true person until they are put in an unwanted, hard situation. A person could state their values and opinions, but you can never really truly know how they feel until they are put in a hard “live or […]

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1984 Comparison with the Soviet Union

1984 Comparison With The Soviet Union George Orwell, also known as Eric Arthur Blair, is the writer of 1984. Orwell wrote many other well-liked fictional and nonfiction books such as; Coming Up for Air,animal farm ,and many more. 1984 takes place in a dystopian society. According to Vocabulary.com a dystopian society is, “ imaginary society that is as dehumanizing and as unpleasant as possible”(Vocabulary.com). The unpleasant world in 1984 is about how the people are controlled by their government. The […]

1984 Compared to Today

1984 by George Orwell, written in 1948, is one of the most influential political novels of our century. The novel is Orwell’s warning about what would happen if totalitarian government has too much power. The dystopia society in the novel shows us a horrible living environment where individualism and freedom of thought no longer exist. Compare it to our society today, you would be surprise that many of the things Orwell wrote in the novel actually existed and continue to […]

1984 Surveillance

When it comes to the topic of hate and deception in 1984 by George Orwell most of us will readily agree that is a totalitarian society run by the leader known as Big Brother. They monitor and control every aspect of its people from physical to emotional. Big Brother deceives its people through the use of surveillance cameras, Newspeak, and The Thought Police. With this technology, the people fear Big Brother. Where his agreement usually ends, however, is on the […]

1984 Totalitarianism

Do you ever feel like your privacy is being encroached upon? Almost everyone uses a cellphone or a computer. Some may not know that cellphones and computers are constantly being monitored. How do you personally value your privacy? In George Orwell’s 1984, the people live in a place where the Party inspect all human actions with the watchful eye, Big Brother. George Orwell arose political turmoil in 1984 through the lives of the characters Winston and Julia regarding the totalitarian […]

1984 Technology

Have you ever felt like your being spied on your phone, being watched through your camera or heared on your microphone on your phone? Privacy is a big issue in the United States of America today since mostly everyone has a mobile phone or any other electronic devices, hackers or even the government could assess our personal lives. When comparing the book 1984 by George Orwell to today, society face some of the same privacy issues as in Orwell book. […]

1984 Themes

Despotism is one of the significant subjects of the novel, 1984. It presents the kind of government where even the top of the public authority is obscure to people in general. This topic fills in as a notice to individuals on the grounds that such system releases purposeful publicity to cause individuals to trust in the falsehoods introduced by the public authority. All through the novel, there is no evidence of Big Brother’s presence in Oceania. The Party practices unlimited […]

1984 Biography of George Orwell

Written by George Orwell, 1984 is a classic literature novel that has been a phenomenon through the years. 1984 is a highly known book for its show on society with major political flaws. This fictional story takes place in Oceania. In 1984, Winston Smith lives in a dystopian society, where the Party shames the thought of individuality. With a totally new language, Newspeak, and an all-controlling leader, Big Brother, this society seems to lack all individual freedoms. Winston Smith defies […]

1984 by George Orwell Book Review 

It is set in a dystopian London where it is ruled by a tyrannical styled government that is known as “The Party”. The story takes place after a calamitous nuclear war that devastated the planet. The Party creates a chilling (to some) living environment for its inhibitors in which it is virtually impossible to have any privacy and enforces its will through the use of various forms of technology. In every home, office, bar and other locations there is a […]

Is 1984 Relevant Today

Books are often a way of communication from author to reader. The dystopian society portrayed in 1984 by George Orwell is one of the multifarious settings in many fictional and historical fictional pieces of literature. This genre uses a form of social order propagandized as utopian despite the extreme flaws beneath the surface of the attempts to make the perfect society. Although these plots are fabricated through the author’s imagination, they are often based off of historical events, composed of […]

Utopia in 1984 by George Orwell

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Civilization in 1984

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What is 1984 About?

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Totalitarianism in 1984

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Symbolism in 1984

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Manipulation in 1984

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Censorship on 1984 by George Orwell

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A Dystopian Novel 1984

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Role of Woman in 1984

Living in a world where as a woman, you are were used only to reproduce and populate the party would have been terrible, but that is what all the women in 1984 experienced. 1984 is set as a dystopian society where the Party sees all, and controls all. Winston Smith, the main character, often wonders what the point of him living is, because he does not believe in the Party and hopes to someday rebel against them. In this society […]

Famous George Orwell Novel 1984

Imagine a society where the thoughts, emotions, and actions of every human are supervised by the government, and there is absolutely no freedom. This is a common theme for a dystopian society, as represented in the famous George Orwell novel, 1984. The Party had the power to control all humanity inside of Oceania. Winston Smith and his beloved coworker, Julia, are against them in light of the fact that they feel discontent about the oppression and inflexible control of the […]

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In today’s day in age, everything we do or say can be upload to the internet and seen by millions in minutes. The good and the bad is seen throughout the world once it is uploaded. Having many question their privacy in today’s world. In the novel titled, 1984 by George Orwell the main character, Winston Smith along with the rest of the nation of Oceania are being watched through telescreens in hopes of preventing political rebellious and gaining power. […]

Lack of Privacy in 1984

In George Orwell’s novel 1984, there was a device called telescreens watching everything the citizens did. The government of Oceania, or Big Brother, forced the citizens to do what they want or they will be tortured and one day killed. Today, all Americans experience similar privacy invasions. Like The Party surveillance in 1984, the United States government watches and listens to citizens through technology such as Amazon Alexa devices, cell phones, and some computer monitors and cameras. The American government […]

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The slogan “two plus two equals five” is a common phrase used in various systems of media especially in chapter seven of the novel 1984 of George Orwell. The slogan is used in the novel as a false dogma that people might be required to believe. From the novel, we learn that the party is so powerful such that if it says 2+2=5, the citizens believe. People do not perceive the contradictions to be enslavement but let the party tell […]

Consciousness & Language in George Orwell’s 1984

Newspeak is the official language of Oceania. It is the depletion of words. The Party wanted to make it impossible to commit thoughtcrimes by literally erasing all of the negative words that one would use. Oldspeak is what Winston and the proles spoke in. By 1984, most people had abandoned Oldspeak. The Party did not bother teaching the proles the new language because they didn’t care about them. The proles have a conscience but they are not conscience of their […]

Role of the Government in 1984

Many writers when writing a dystopia write about things that they would never want to happen, but many of these scary, predicted things have. Winston Smith is a lower party member in the capital of Oceania who has no privacy anywhere he goes because the thought police watches him. He also cannot go anywhere without seeing the party’s leader big brother. The Party also has rules against thought crime (committing thoughts against the party) and eventually creates a new language, […]

Essay Introduction

Research paper on 1984, thesis statement for 1984.

In today’s society, many would believe they have acquired the natural right of freedom; however, people can easily be subject to a totalitarian command which would allow a loss of independence. In George Orwell’s famous dystopia, 1984, he styles a world in which the Inner Party perpetuates absolute power in the nation of Oceania using tactics to assure authority over the Outer Party, like Winston Smith. By removing individual reasoning, disrupting the capacity to comprehend, and camouflaging the past, the Inner Party is guaranteed total control.

By physically controlling the Outer Party, The Inner Party extracts rational and independent thought from the citizens of Oceania to regulate absolute power. In a crucial scene, O’Brien threatens Winston with a cage full of rats–his worst fear–to indoctrinate the victim’s loyalty to Big Brother. When the rats are near Winston’s face, he screams, “Do it to Julia! Not me! Tear her face off [and] strip her to the bones!” (286). The interrogation highlights how torture is used as a device to force citizens to submit to the government’s authority because once Winston’s body was restrained and faced with terror, his mental capacity was blocked. Now, Winston’s interests are not to fashion a rebellion since the fear of rats dominates his extent to reason, and he becomes a servant to the state.

In addition, stigmatizing sex and redefining it as essential for reproduction constricts emotion because it eliminates loving another individual. In return, the Outer Party remains loyal to the Inner Party because each individual will only adore Big Brother, stripping logical thinking. Furthermore, nationalistic propaganda constantly reminds the citizens that the Inner Party surveys its surroundings: “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston’s own” (2). Big Brother symbolizes how a dictator in a totalitarian government is superior by practicing absolute power through supervising citizens’ lives. Since the Outer Party is in a state of danger from the surveillance, the member’s human reasons are shadowed with anxiety and suspicion. Therefore, the Inner Party thrives off of vulnerability to gain authority because they can exploit individual minds to distract the people’s rational comprehension.

Argumentative Essay Examples on 1984

The Inner Party is able to maintain its authority by distracting individual thought. For instance, Oceania is part of an everlasting war with Eurasia or Eastasia to divert any ideas of rebellion by keeping the citizens in constant fear: “Suddenly the whole street was in commotion. There were yells of warning from all sides. People were shooting into the doorways like rabbits. A young woman leaped out of a doorway…grabbed…a tiny child…whipped her apron round it, and leaped back again” (83).

The Inner Party uses warfare as an essential mechanism because the citizens will submit to the dominant power by instilling terror. Also, this terror would prevent rebellious thought by establishing an enemy. Additionally, Newspeak–the official language of Oceania–limits ideas and expression to effectively have influence over individuals’ minds. Furthermore, The Inner Party disapproves of solitude because isolation can breed independent thought. When Winston was alone, he thought of planning a rebellion with O’Brien to stop the Inner Party’s oppression; however, no other individual paralleled his reasoning because “In principle, a Party member had no spare time, and was never alone except in bed” (81). Moreover, the Inner Party distracts the Outer Party’s minds by simulating paranoia and keeping everyone in a social environment.

By altering warfare and social conditions, the Inner Party prevaricates the truth and conceals the past to sustain supremacy. The totalitarian state of Oceania rations necessities and goods to its inhabitants and publicizes that the food quantities are substantial: “The Ministry Of Plenty [said] that there would be no reduction of the chocolate ration during 1984…Actually, the chocolate ration was to be reduced from thirty grams to twenty by the end of the present week” (34). As the Inner Party becomes a powerful government, the citizens of Oceania adapt to the limitations of daily commodities, like coffee or sugar. This aids in the reduction of memory because the Outer Party Members will normalize their circumstances, unwilling to rebel from the apparent oppression.

Ideas: The Inner Party’s tactics to maintain power

In addition, Winton’s occupation at the Ministry of Truth is to rectify historical documents and revise articles to initiate and prolong the Party’s principles. In doing so, Winston must embrace doublethink–accepting that two contradictory beliefs both obtain the truth. In one scene, the Party proclaims Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and not Eastasia, making the past changeable and not definite. Winston reassured, “Oceania was at war with Eastasia: Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia. A large part of the political literature of five years was now completely obsolete” (182). Now, any history confronting the latest Party ideals has to be redefined. In return, the Inner Party benefits because if the government can mandate the past, they have the capacity to compose a fitting future. Overall, the Inner Party disguises the truth to perpetuate its interests.

The Inner Party’s tactics to maintain its position as a high power reflected totalitarian methods through implementing fear or stripping away any perspective. They use the citizen’s emotions to withdraw logical thinking. In addition, the Inner Party disconcerts thought by limiting private communication. Lastly, the government conceals legitimate truths and recreates its goals. Without these methods, the Outer Party would be able to be the masters of their minds and creates a mass revolt against the Inner Party.

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Government Surveillance in 1984 by George Orwell: Bogus Security

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Published: Nov 22, 2018

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Works Cited

• BBC. (2013, June 7). NSA Prism program taps into user data of Apple, Google, and others. BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-22837105
• Greenwald, G. (2014). No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State. Metropolitan Books.
• Lyon, D. (2018). Surveillance as Social Sorting: Privacy, Risk, and Automated Discrimination. Routledge.
• McQuade, B., & Phillips, B. J. (Eds.). (2018). Surveillance and Society Reader. Oxford University Press.
• Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four. Secker & Warburg.
• Rosen, J. (2012). The Unwanted Gaze: The Destruction of Privacy in America. Vintage.
• Solove, D. J. (2013). Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff Between Privacy and Security. Yale University Press.
• Vaidhyanathan, S. (2011). The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry). University of California Press.
• Warren, I., & Brandeis, L. D. (1890). The Right to Privacy. Harvard Law Review, 4(5), 193-220.
• Westin, A. F. (1967). Privacy and Freedom. Atheneum.

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1984 Essay Topics

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One of the most iconic books of the 21st century, George Orwell’s 1984 has long been a staple of English Language classrooms for many years. The novel was a dystopian story by writer George Orwell and was published in June 1949. Most of the themes in the novel are about the risk of government, totalitarianism and repressive regimes of all people, colours and creeds within society. The novel is set out in a dystopian future world in 1984 where much of it has fallen victim to oppressive government surveillance, perpetual war, propaganda and an extreme form of communism.

Throughout the novel, the reader is taken on a journey throughout airstrip one (Great Britain) which has become the head of state in the province called Oceania. Everything is ruled by ‘the Party’ who carry out their oppressive rule along with the thought police, a sub-branch of government that persecute any independent or individual thoughts that citizens may have. The leader of the party is something or someone called Big Brother , therefore the novel is about a cult of personality. Nobody even knows who or what Big Brother is or if it exists. The main protagonists, Winston Smith, is a party member who is diligent, intelligent and a skilful worker, however, he secretly despises the party and everything that it stands for. Smith tries to rebel against Big Brother and enters an exciting and forbidden relationship with his friend Julia. The novel takes us on a journey of hiding, running away and defying the government, with some pretty dire consequences for the characters involved.

There are numerous 1984 essay themes that one can write about and used to think of a topic. Let’s take a look at some of the major themes in the novel.

Totalitarian rule – this is a major theme and presents the kind of government that is unknown to the public. It is a warning to people to believe in all of the lies presented by the government. There is no actual proof of Big Brother throughout the novel, gets the party still manages to exercise control over their citizens.

Subverted reality – most people live in poverty within the novel and many people work against each other. There are spies everywhere and people are actually even told not to enjoy a life of love, only pledge their allegiance to the party. Reality is certainly subverted.

Propaganda – the novel shows how propaganda is used throughout to control its citizens. All well presents this vein through the vehicle of the Ministry of truth, an organisation part of Oceania. All throughout the novel, we are shown how the government uses propaganda time and time again to spread their message. We see slogans such as ‘Big Brother is watching’ everywhere.

Subversion of love the novel paints a dismal picture of how people are not to love each other according to the party. Everything should be a duty to the party and this really plays on people’s minds.

Identity – the loss of identity is a striking theme in the novel. Orwell shows that totalitarianism is able to rip people off their individualism and identity.

Loyalty – political loyalty is all so evident throughout 1984. Winston Smith is an employee that questions politics, however, he does still remain loyal to his job. Everyone in society has to remain loyal to Big Brother otherwise there will be major repercussions.

Class systems – a very prominent theme in the novel is that of class. One can see how Oceania is subdivided into separate classes. The inner party are the elites who have luxury lifestyles and servants around them. Ordinary class members such as Smith live in small apartments and have no permission to enjoy any familial or conjugal life. The poor class live in no-go areas where they are constantly bombarded with propaganda in order to subvert their minds to believe anything as truth. The party has complete control over the class.

The control of information – throughout Oceania, there is only one party and one leader called Big Brother. Everything is completely controlled, from the broadcast to rewriting history. Everything is done with Big Brother and the totalitarian regime in mind. You can see how Winston Smith has a very hard time and why he is struggling in his work.

Technology – the writer shows how technology is used to govern people and subvert their minds. Throughout the novel, the audience is presented with tales that involve terror screens and strange apparatuses as primary tools for controlling the public. There is even torture technology, especially in room 101.

Language – the abuse and the use of language is an important theme throughout 1984. The audience is shown how language is constantly used to exert physical and mental control over citizens. The party employs language and even has its own language called Newspeak which is designed to further harm people and control them.

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Now that we have touched on the themes, let’s have a look at various 1984 essay topics that you may find useful. With all of these topics, have a look and see what you would be interested in writing. You may want to take one of the topics without rephrasing or you can use them to formulate your own ideas. Let’s take a look at all the great topics and 1984 essay ideas that you can use!

Compare and contrast topics

Compare 1984 and Kite Runner – what are the different themes?

Compare and contrast 1984 with Huckleberry Finn. How does reading 1984 help understand all of the fields in Huckleberry Finn?

Make comparisons and contrast between George Orwell’s piece and Communist party in China. Are there some differences and similarities?

Compare 1984 with the movie, the lives of others. What kind of similarities are there?

What differences in technology are there between 1984 and V for Vendetta?

How does Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 share point about Marxism?

Compare and contrast 1984 with other dystopian novels.

How are the male characters portrayed in 1984 and in JG Ballard’s high-rise?

Compare and contrast 1984 with a work of JG Ballard.

How does crash by JG Ballard and George Orwell’s 1984 share common themes?

How does society become depicted in 1984 and how is it different from the society depicted in Panopticism by forecourt?

What kind of comparisons and contrasts can one make about 1984 and North Korea?

How are female characters betrayed in 1984 and in Brave New World?

What are some of the ways that the themes can be compared and contrasted between 1984 and The Giver by Lois Lowry?

What are some of the differences between the Shawshank redemption in 1984?

Compare and contrast the movie hunger games and the dystopian novel 1984. Think about all of the characters, ideas, themes and style that the story has been told in. How do you both novels differ in the way that they portray dystopia?

Are there any similarities between Children of Men and 1984?

What are the main ideas and connections between the Shawshank redemption and Orwell’s 1984?

Compare and contrast 1984 with the popular movie, the Truman show. What are the main differences between the plot, motifs, characters and themes?

How does the movie, the propaganda game, differ from 1984?

Is dictatorship amongst us at the moment? Compare current society to the society in 1984. Are there any parallels?

Are there any similarities between Lord of the flies and Orwell’s 1984? Can you see any connections between either of these books?

How does the book into the wild compare with 1984? Are there any similar themes?

Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and almost 1984 compare and contrast.

Compare the ways that police brutality today is similar to how it is in 1984.

Analytical topics

How can one compare the book, 1984, to society today? What countries have features that Oceania has in Orwell’s dystopian novel?

How have any of Orwell’s political views had an influence on his work?

The theme of subversion of love in 1984.

Analyse the setting, theme, and all the ways that the author is able to depict characters within the context of political predictions in 1984.

Make an analysis of propaganda use in 1984. How does the government achieve its goals through the use of sponsorship, technology and media?

What role does the Ministry of truth play in the novel? What is the government able to achieve by controlling the truth?

Are the Ministry of truth able to rewrite history successfully?

The theme of totalitarianism in 1984.

What kind of influence does Big Brother have on society?

What does Big Brother say about today’s surveillance and privacy?

What role does Newspeak have in 1984? How can we see language change throughout the story?

In the room above Charrington’s shop, what significance does this have on the story and Winston’s character?

What parallels can we draw between 1984 and racial profiling today

Why have the upper class in 1984 only allowed intellectual freedom to a certain number of people?

The theme of class in 1984.

What kind of dystopia and symbolism is used in 1984 to convey the message?

How has oppression and fear continue to thrive in today’s society? What parallels can you see between today and 1984?

What parallels are there between Carl Jung’s philosophy and the ideas in 1984?

Our Winston and Julia complimentary carriages?

The theme of the subversion of society throughout the novel.

Discuss the theme of technology in 1984.

What are the different views between Winston and Julia on morality, politics, ethics and history?

Make an analysis of chapter 11 in 1984. What kind of serious repercussions will there be for Winston and Julia?

What colour parallels can we draw between consumers and to and 1984 society?

How has 1984 betrayed the theme of alienation?

Argumentative topics

Can a society survive if it follows the rules of society in 1984?

1984 paint a picture of totalitarianism today. Discuss.

Many of today’s world leaders such as Trump and Marie Le Pen are much like the higher-ups in 1984.

Dehumanisation which is a theme in 1984 is often used today to subvert citizens.

Does 1984 help us to understand more about the popularity of nationalism in the 21st century?

What powers do common people have in 1984? How does Winston think about the higher-ups?

Winston is definitely against Big Brother throughout the whole novel. Discuss.

1984 can teach us many lessons about today’s society. Discuss.

The significance of memory in 1984.

Which parts of 1984 have come true in today’s reality? Were there any things that were exaggerated? Could any things in 1984 not become true in the future?

The social hierarchy of Oceania how does this strange hierarchy come to support the party and all of their goals?

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