Summary

Orwell’s 1984 features a country where citizen’s are constantly surveilled by the government in the country of Oceania. People opposing the government and the party constantly disappear and their existence is erased to make sure citizens know what their fate will be if they try to speak out or create change. The novel criticizes authoritarian governments that were forming when the book was written, such as Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union and Adolf Hitler’s Nazi germany. Orwell uses the surveillance and suppression of the authoritarian government to stress how important free speech and thought is for maintaining a free society where popular sovereignty, a government run by the people is, is maintained.