Cohere Elliston

English 12

Ms. Rochman

1/3/17

The Controversy Surrounding 1984

In 1984, the dystopian novel by George Orwell, Winston Smith is a proud

citizen of Oceania, a society ruled by the global superpower that openly monitors

all of its citizens. Winston works at the Ministry of Truth, where documents are

edited so that they portray the regime and its ideals in a positive light. As the plot

progresses, Winston starts to dislike the regime more and more and starts to record

all of his feelings into a journal, which is a death sentence if anyone discovers it.

As a result of his budding dissension, Winston also commits the crime of his love

affair with his co-worker, Julia, who shares his growing dislike of Oceania.

Winston and Julia fall deeper and deeper in love until the regime learns of Winston

and Julias dissent. Winston is tortured until he breaks down and betrays Julia. By

the conclusion of the novel, Winston had lost all of his rebel views and his hate for

Oceania. His love for his country is so powerful that he casts aside his love for

Julia. The themes of totalitarianism in 1984 has made it one of the most

controversial works of its time; its themes had been and continue to be so

controversial that it continues to make its stamp on history.

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In 1949, shortly after the novel was published, the Soviet Union banned 1984.

The Soviets feared that its citizens would read the novel and that its story would

incite a rebellion. The Soviets believed that Oceania was just the fictional

representation of the Soviet Union. As a result of the books implications of

totalitarian government and the Soviets reaction George Orwell, the author,

proclaimed that Oceania was meant to be a direct representation of the Soviet

Union in the 1930s (Koga, Ranveer, Abigail). Even if Orwell had not confirmed

the representation, the similarities would have been uncanny. True to its totalitarian

form, Oceania and the Soviet Union use various methods of manipulation to

control its people for their own benefit in order to push their own respective

regimes. For example, in Oceania, their language, Newspeak, is one that is strictly

regulated and controlled by the government in order to limit their citizens

individuality and to prevent rebellion. Also, Oceania has a department that is

known as the Ministry of Truth, and the ministrys job is to alter past documents so

that they better reflect on the regime. In order to manipulate the truth, Oceania

and the Soviet Union both alter the past as they see fit. By doing so, the populace

cannot find inspiration from history to rebel against the government (Koga,

Ranveer, Abigail). Even though, the book was banned and the punishment for

owning it was severe, there were a number of dissidents who put their life on the

line just to read the book. The dissidents were impressed with Orwells novel and
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how accurately he describes what it is like to live in a totalitarian government. The

dissidents were so impressed with Orwell and his writing that they wondered why

the words Orwell and dissident were not synonymous (Koga, Ranveer,

Abigail). Viktoriia Chalikova, a Russian dissident wrote about how much she

appreciated George Orwell for his novel.:

And how we used to read Orwell in Russia! In third and fourth typewritten copies
and in pale Xerox copies we read literally close to the text looking around
while we put ourselves at risk, in a tightly closed room, alone or with one other
person, just as in the novel Winston and Julia read the underground book. The book
and life reflected one another as if they were in a mirror! Yes, in spite of the
prohibition against reading him, Orwell forced his way his way through at least to
part of his Russian reading audience, about whom he had dreamed. (Bergman,
Web)

Chalikovas experience shows how the Soviet Union trying to ban the book

backfired on them because people tried harder to get a hold of this book because

they knew that the government banned it and that was enough reason to read it.

Instead of keeping citizens from reading the book altogether, banning 1984 had

the opposite effect and drew attention to what the Soviets were trying to hide.

Getting a hold of this book however was very difficult and very few people were

actually able to get a hold of it. In fact, the few who were able to get their hands on

copies of the book were nuclear physicists; those who were completely isolated

from general society and were left to their own devices. Imagine just how closely

the Soviet Union monitored their citizens to ensure that no one was able to attain

this novel. Only a select few were able to read the novel without worry of being
 Elliston 4

discovered.The threat of being exposed was something that was constantly

looming over the dissidents heads. Very few people believed the novel to be worth

it because of the danger that was around them. If one planned to read the book and

would stop at nothing to do so they could either risk their lives by reading the book

while trying their hardest to make sure no one could find it or they could try to flee

the country. This could prove difficult however because one had to worry about

their family, who may not want to leave their home behind just because a relative

wants to read a book or because they are so brainwashed that they believe the

Soviet Union is the best place for them. The situation that the dissidents were in is

an extreme example of how life imitates art since in Orwells novel 1984, the main

character, Winston kept hold of a journal that held all of his rebellious thoughts,

that could have earned him a death sentence if anyone found it. This is the exact

same situation that the Russian dissidents found themselves in but instead of them

hiding a journal they were hiding Orwells novel 1984 under fear of execution.

Eventually, the Soviet Union realized the error of their ways and saw the chaos

that banning 1984 caused. Again, true to totalitarian form, the Soviets weaved lies

about the novel in a Soviet newspaper, Return to the Homeland, claiming that

Oceania was not actually meant to represent the Soviet Union but was actually

meant to represent the terrible circumstances in the United States (Koga, Ranveer,

Abigail). This newspaper claimed that the different ministries described in the
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story were meant to represent different government offices in the United States.

The article claimed that the ministry for war-mongering or The Ministry of

Peace was the Pentagon and the ministry that altered documents to favor the party

or The Ministry of Truth was the Defense Department. Doing this, helped the

Soviets in two ways because it helped to deny the idea that Oceania was meant to

be the Soviet Union yet it also encouraged Russians who were abroad to return to

their homeland to try to avoid the evils of America. As more time passed, the

Soviet Union started to struggle yet continued to make claims that the United

States were the subject of the book. One of the major parts of the story in 1984 was

how the government manipulates speech to fuel their own goals and the Soviet

Union claimed to have found examples of the same form of speech manipulation in

the United States and even refers to President Ronald Reagan, as Big Brother, the

main antagonist of 1984.

Along with criticizing the Americans, the Soviets spun 1984 to make it seem as

if it favored the Soviet Union. In May 1998 Literaturnaya Gazeta [Literary

Gazette], the organ of the Soviet Writers Union, published a full-page extract from

George Orwells 1984. Beneath the excerpt was a stunning half-page drawing of a

jackboot stamping on Winston Smiths upturned face (Rodden 131). Also, a

Soviet wrote an essay in the New Times, a Soviet newspaper that ridiculed Orwell

and claimed that he was a worker of the people and proceeded to quote from
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Orwells novels selectively to show Orwell as a man who fights for the Soviets.

(Koga, Ranveer, Abigail) The Soviets made 1984 similar to the Devil in an effort to

make sure that no one read it until the Soviets became smarter and turned it around

to make Orwell out as a hero whose enemies were the same as the Kremlins.

(Koga, Ranveer, Abigail)

In 1981, Jackson County, Florida wanted 1984 banned because it was pro

communist and that it contained explicit sexual matter (Baldarasso). This

banning of the book is quite ironic considering how it was banned in the Soviet

Union for the exact opposite.

Between 1965 and 1982, 1984 ranked fifth in the nation for being one of the

most challenged titles for the reasons listed. Many parents take issue with the

relationship between Winston and Julia and claim that it is too gloomy and sad and

how the book does not have a happy ending. Also, there are arguments about the

torture scenes from the book because of how the scenes are known to be graphic.

The torture scenes are often criticised because of how disturbing they are since the

torture scenes include methods such as starvation, brainwashing and even using

rats as a form of torture. By the end of the torture, the main character, Winston is

so changed by the torture that he believes that two plus two equals five.

Also, Amazon removed both of Orwells novels 1984 and Animal Farm without

any explanation in 2009. Many people were upset and claimed that Amazon were
 Elliston 7

trying to censor the masses when really Amazon only took it down because there

were problems between Amazon and the publisher. (Baldarasso) Amazon have

claimed that they would never do anything similar to that again however.

In conclusion, 1984 is one of the most controversial books today because of its

political undertones, dark storyline and gloomy setting. The Soviet Union took the

book 1984 very seriously since they saw it as an attack on their country and tried to

censor it to try to avoid rebellion. However, in the West the book was banned often

for similar reasons yet not as severely. The themes of totalitarianism in 1984 has

made it one of the most controversial works of its time; its themes had been and

continue to be so controversial that it continues to make its stamp on history.

In my opinion, I feel that what the Soviet Union did was incredibly unethical

and that censorship is one of the biggest problems in the first world. The idea that

the Soviet Union went so far to make sure that no one would read a book is beyond

despicable and I think is terrible. The fact that people had to hide their copies of

1984 because of fear of death is disgusting. The only time when people should fear

death is when they did something that causes them to deserve it. Reading is not a

crime, the only reason why someone would limit something like that is because

they are trying to limit the people and trying to make them weak. The people who

tried to limit people because they were afraid are nothing more but cowards who

do not deserve the power that they gained. However, in the United States the idea
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that 1984 is pro communist is idiotic because the whole novel displays the

dangers of communism and infringing on someones rights. The other claims that

were made about this story do make sense however because the book does have

sexual themes and is also very dark. I understand how parents do not want their

children to read a story so dark yet the children need to understand the major

themes that the book is trying to teach. Throughout all my time in school I have

never read a book that has touched me quite like 1984 has and the lessons 1984 has

taught me still stick with me today and help to define who I am. Also, in addition it

is not a good idea to try to shelter your child from the scary world that is around

them. They have to learn about the big dark world around them eventually so it

makes sense for them to be exposed to it in school instead of their adult life. When

I first read 1984 I was excited to see how rebellious Winston had become and I

could not wait to see how he would rebel against Big Brother so I was shocked to

see how Big Brother broke Winston and took away his freedom.
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Works Cited

"Banned Books Week Presents "1984" by George Orwell!" Banned Books Week
Presents "1984" by George Orwell! | Mymcpl.org - Mid-Continent Public Library.
N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Dec. 2016.

Baldassarro, R. Wolf. "Banned Books Awareness: "1984"" World Leading Higher

Education Information and Services. N.p., 18 July 2011. Web. 01 Jan. 2017.

Bergman, Jay. "An Interview with Jay Bergman." Interview by Abel Koga,
Ranveer Uppal, and Abigail Wagner. n.d.: n. pag. The Censorship Files. Web. 12
Dec. 2016.

Bergman, Jay. Reading Fiction to Understand the Soviet Union: Soviet Dissidents
on Orwells 1984. History of European Ideas 23.5-6 (1997): 173-92. Georgia Tech
Library. Web. 9 Oct. 2016.

Karolides, Nicholas J. ,et Al. 120 Banned Books. Checkmark Books, 2005

Koga, Abel, Ranveer Uppal, and Abigail Wagner. "1984." The Censorship Files.
N.p., 29 Nov. 2016. Web. 30 Dec. 2016.

"Links Related to Banned Books Week and Book Burning." ALA | Related Links.
N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Orwell, George. 1984. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Rodden, John. Soviet Literary Policy, 1945-1989: The Case of George Orwell.
Modern Age 32.2 (1988): 131-39. EBSCOHost. Web. 5 Oct. 2016.

Scott, Felicity Capon and Catherine. "Top 20 Books They Tried to Ban." The
Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Staff, TIME. "1984 | Top 10 Censored Books | TIME.com." Time. Time, n.d. Web.
13 Dec. 2016.