Essays on Totalitarianism

The French Revolution was an effort to transform France from an unequal rule by the monarchy into an ideal republican form of government that was based on Enlightenment concepts such as natural rights and legal egalitarianism. In its ambitious attempt to do so, it disregarded...

A totalitarian form of government is one which tries to control every aspect of life including a person’s private life, how people spend every minute of their time even in private, who they can associate with or what they are allowed to say. A totalitarian...

Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, is a political novel which draws attention to the consequences of a totalitarian regime. It depicts the struggles of young adult, Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a disadvantaged province, or ‘District’, and her journey as an advocate of freedom and...

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) is a science fiction novel based in a critical dystopia, written at the end of the Second World War. The start of the twentieth century brought about advancements in technology and was a catalyst for a new modern society. However,...

“When you give the government the power to control the money supply, it grows like a tumour until it extinguishes society itself” (Stephen Molyneux). In George Orwell’s novel 1984, it is evident Orwell is trying emphasize the dangers of having a totalitarian government, which can...

The Land of Green Plums, by Herta Müller, is a novel arguably as defined by its language as its content. There are many interpretations of Müller’s literary style, and one of the most cogent is that it serves to show the reader how indirect, and...

In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell uses several literary techniques to develop the theme that totalitarianism is destructive. He does so by using extensive imagery, focusing on the deterioration of the Victory Mansions, the canteen where the Party members eat lunch and the general discomfort...

Following the political upheaval and struggle for power after the second world war, George Orwell’s novel 1984 cautions against the dangers of oppression and exemplifies the consequential nightmarish world of the near future. The plot traces the struggles of the main character, Winston Smith, as...

In order for one to exist in a totalitarian society whose government is successful in its control, one must deal on a day-to-day basis with strong persuasion and propaganda. These totalitarian societies have an iron grip on their people, leaving their citizens with absolutely no...