Would you want to live in a society where you were watched every second, where you didn’t have the freedom to say or think freely, or where “if you wanted to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself”? In the novel 1984 the main theme is this horror of living in a totalitarianism society.
The entire novel paints a horrifying picture of what a fanatical, state-controlled society can do to the individual. Broadly speaking, an authoritarian system is one in which society is governed by a dictator or oligarchy not constitutionally responsible to the people. Totalitarianism is something of a sub-category of authoritarianism where the ruling group has complete and total control over every aspect of life, whether personal or public, and the individual is expected to conform. Totalitarianism differs from dictatorship or tyranny in its mobilization of political participation, its quest for the complete restructuring of both the individual and society, and its aim for unlimited, not just political, control. There are many tools the government employs to create stability, and in the novel the author presents the tools to the reader. The main tools
Physical freedom is the freedom is the freedom over a persons own body. This includes the freedom to move, eat, associate, etc. In the novel people had the freedom to move but only certain movements were allowed. A person had the feedom to go where they wanted but there were always reprocousions for making the wrong movements. In the novel, Winston had the freedom to go into the antique shop but he knew what could happen to him if he was caught buying something unusual. This could be argued as not freedom because he knew he was not supposed to buy a journal, it was like an unwritten law. Winston also knew that if he made the wrong facial movements he could be arrested. He had the freedom to associate but if he associated with the wrong people he would be in danger of being arrested. A person in that totalitarian society was free to make the choice, but could not do it freely.
In the novel emotions cannot be freely expressed because the propaganda directs the feelings the people feel. The daily two minute hate had the power to create hate for Goldstein without any real knowledge of him. Goldstein is a scapegoat to blame all of societies problems on. There is no real co
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