For more than two hundred years, The Declaration Of Independence continues to speak for people worldwide who are in favor of democracy. "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" are undeniable rights of people in a free society. Meanwhile, totalitarian regimes, such as Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Stalin Soviet Union in the first half of twentieth-century, try to control every aspect of lives of their citizens by establishing absolute power (The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern History 1789-1945). Then entered George Orwell. As an authentic writer full of hatred of authority, he was so concerned with the damage had been done by totalitarian doctrine that he armed himself with words and ideas and condemned it severely in his widely acclaimed satirical novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
The world portrayed in 1984 is a horrifying place where people are deprived of every rights claimed by The Declaration Of Independence. By using the word victory repeatedly in the novel, Orwell successfully brings out "the opposite effect from what is intended or presented" (A Handbook of Literature), to satire the totalitarian regime. The following parts will emphasise on several of the victories to find out how the effect is achieved.
By first comparing living conditions in Oceania, the totalitarian state in the novel, the hidden truth behind the word victory is that ordinary people, who live in poverty are the real loser, while the mere winner is the ruling class, who wins absolute control over its people and so the resources.
Winston Smith, the protagonist of 1984, lives in Victory Mansions, forty-five year old flats with everything falling to pieces. The smell of the place is foul, and the plaster, the pipes, the roof, and the heating system are all out of order constantly. A typical kind of "home" of the Outer Party members, is as though hasĀ just been visited by some large violent animal" (23).
