Comparative Essay, 1984 Vs Equilibrium

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as a klerk is highly conjectural. The quote below is from the scene where he attempts to help a group of sense offender escape. It shows how he instead of doing his job as a cleric chooses to put his emotions first and do what feels right.

“If I was gonna shoot you, I’d shoot you in the face. Now go.”

(Kurt Wimmer, Equilibrium, 2002)

Workplace

The both work for their leaders, the disparity is the different levels and tasks. Winston has no power as he is only a minor member of the Party. His assignment is always the same, to rewrite historical events.

“Who controls the past controls the future.

Who controls the present controls the past.”

(George Orwell, “1984”, page 33)

This quote is a slogan from the Party. Former party members whom has been executed for opposing Big Brother and the Party is deleted from the history books for example. This is done in order for the Party to appear as cogent as possible.

John works as a cleric and prospects Libria rigorously to find sense offenders, different forbidden objects and later on to locate the Underworld. He has been trained hard both mentally and physically to manage his assignments flawlessly.

Relationship to other characters

Compared to Winston Julia is quite different. She does not feel the same level of hatred towards the Party and has no need of rebellion. Instead, she is more optimistic and accepts the way things is. However she finds circumventing the Party and sexual relations amusing. As sexual repression is used by the Party as a tool to control the people Winston believes that having sex with Julia is a supreme way to defy them. On account of Winston’s personality with a fatalistic attitude he sees his and Julia’s relationship as only temporary.

John has one son and one daughter and is a widower since his wife was a sense defender and therefore got executed. He is negligent toward his children. The movie focuses on the relationship between his son blabla and John himself. They treat each other as acquaintances and their few conversations is short and unbiased. John also indicates that he is afraid that Matthew will discover that he has started to feel. In the ending however a new era of their relationship can be anticipated as Matthew helps John and simultaneously tells him that he has not taken Prozium since his mother died.

Criticism towards society

The way both Father and the Party control their societies and people may seem hyperbolized and not so realistic. Is the dystopias described incredibly far from our reality? NSA in the United States of America has received and abundance of criticism for recording and listening to phone calls. This is one type of control which is stretched to supervise people’s private life. Another example is that couples in China is only allowed to have one child, a way for the government to control the size of the population. Already in 1949, when George Orwell wrote 1984 there was signs that we are moving towards a more controlled future. BBC News argue that Orwell’s volition with 1984 was to show the terrifying reality of a totalitarian ruled society. The time shortly after World War II was predominated by political chaos. The Holocaust was the genocide of nearly six million jews, which was led by Adolf Hitler. It’s a intimidating example of the consequences when a government misuses its power. That the Holocaust was where Orwell derived much of his inspiration is a plausible analysis.

Conclusion

At the first glance 1984 and Equilibrium seem to be copious similar but in actuality, there are plenteous of differences. In this paper I have considered both the differences as well as the similarities, mainly between the two characters Winston and John. The most important similarity is that they both have an intense repugnance for their leaders. They dream about a world there they would be free and feels that it is their obligation to do something. How they choose to do it is one thing that separates them. Winston strives towards breaking as many rules as possible, and doesn’t care about being careful as he believes that he will be captured anyway. John is not sure that he will succeed but doesn’t let this prepossess his approach. He stays focused on what he wants to achieve and is more organized than Winston. Their personalities is not analogous to each other either. Winston has a low self esteem and never thinks that he has a chance, but John is valorous and confident.

Conclusively they are not so similar as they appear to be. Personally I prefer John because he prosecutes his contention even though he could fail, instead of doing as Winston and surrender before trying for real. Winston is although an intriguing example of how a regular working class person would react to an oppressing government, and how helpless the situation is. Since John has a highly ranked work with more power, it’s logically more easy for him to make a change.

Comparing the two stories to our reality, most people directly think that this could never happen. How true is that statement? North Korea is one example of a society where the government exercises totalitarian power. It is happening, today, in 2014. So, how far away is truly these dystopian futures?

Source criticism of BBC News’s article “1984: George Orwell’s road to dystopia”

BBC News is responsible for the article, but the author is David Aaoronovitch.

The strengths of the source is that it has much information of Orwell’s life.

The weaknesses of the source is for example that it has a personal view, Aaronovitch writes from his own point of view which can lead to a less based on facts.

The things that is based on facts, for example some of the main events in Orwell’s life, I believe can be trusted. Mostly because it’s published by BBC News, and they are responsible to be sure that everything on their site is correct. BBC is a serious and respected news source and I therefore see the source as trustworthy. It is also only a one year old source, and as it is a internet article they can edit it if they find out that some information isn’t