Similarities of Injustices: Our World and 1984

Surprisingly, 1984 shares many social injustices with our world today. Simply because our world is modernized and has incredible technology doesn't mean that it is an utopia. Actually, far from it, our world has a very uneven wealth distribution and quality of life differs significantly from each group of people.

For example, in America, the minority upper class, contributing less than 2% of the population, holds immense amounts of money and enjoy lives of prosperity and luxury. These people are the ones that have large influence on the government, and therefore  direct government policies. Meanwhile, the rest of the population perform the manual labour in the industry and perform most of the bureaucrat work in the government. The rest of the population have significantly lower wealth, live lives of economic hardship (Especially during recessions and depressions) and do not enjoy luxurious qualities of life. They also do not have as much influence in government decisions as the upper class. Does this remind you of the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the Proles in 1984?

Secondly, there are many countries in our world with totalitarian, oppressive governments. One such country is North Korea- the government controls all aspects of the country, including the freedoms of its people. In fact, similarly to Oceania in 1984, no citizen of North Korea is allowed to leave the country without official permission. Most of the citizens live lives of hardship, and it is not uncommon for famines to occur. The government oppresses its citizens and sends rebellious individuals to political prison camps. This is just one example of oppressive governments and the injustices they commit.

Lastly, the idea of freedom being taken away from you is a major point of George Orwell's novel, as well as a major issue in today's world. In many countries and societies, people are denied the freedom to have their own political/religious beliefs, or the freedom to say what they want. In 1984, any sign of disobedience  no matter how insignificant, could result in arrest and torture by the Thought Police. In many countries in the world, having different political/religious beliefs or sexual orientation results in your privileges taken away, and etc. The freedom to write and say what you want, the freedom to believe whatever you want, is nonexistent in many societies today.

By using different elements of the story, George Orwell used his society of Oceania in 1984 to raise awareness to readers of the social injustices in our world today.