Nineteen Eighty-Four, a novel written by George Orwell in 1949, is a story about a future country where the population has no hope. A fascist government controls the people. The people of Oceania are constantly being watched and must conform to the government's doctrine. The people of Oceania are not allowed to speak to each other on the street and are not allowed to own anything but the necessities. The government of Oceania controls every aspect of life. This novel is also a critique of various political systems, such as Italian Fascist, Hitler's Nazi, and particularly Russian Stalinist. Nineteen Eighty-Four has a lot of symbols that represent the current situation of certain governments around the world when the text was written. Every aspect of Nineteen Eighty-Four can be compared to the governments of Italy, Russia, and Germany. The methods these governments used to gain control and power will compare to the methods used by Big Brother and his Party.
Big Brother, the figurehead leader known only as Big Brother, has created a governing body simply called "The Party". There job is to maintain a totalitarian control over the people within Oceania. Big Brother and Nineteen Eighty-Four are a representation of the governments ruling Russia, Italy, and Germany. During the time Nineteen Eighty-Four was being written, Joseph Stalin was ruling Russia. Stalin ruled Russia as a dictator from nineteen twenty-two until nineteen fifty-three. Italy was currently being ruled by Benito Mussolini (nineteen twenty- two until nineteen forty-three). Mussolini was the founder and leader of Italian Fascism, Hitler and his Nazi party were still in charge of Germany. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the ever-vigilant eyes of Big Brother are the "Thought Police", who monitor everyone, everywhere through the use of telescreens. Designed to broadcast party propaganda, telescreens also have a video camera which transmits the activities of all those within sight of the screen to the Thought Police.
