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Totalitarianism

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‘Controlling the minds of the people translates to the control of the body’ how far do you agree?

Totalitarianism is a common theme ground between ‘The Colour Purple’ and ‘1984’ where both protagonists seem to be ‘suspended’ and ‘were lost in a period that offered no hope of progress’ George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Alice Walker’s ‘The Color Purple’ have a society where there is complete control and oppression, which eventually translates to the control of the body, we are presented with the party members and the black women protagonists being the proletariat of society, and never truly being free because ‘As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free’ however, we are presented objects and behaviour that can be described as liberating, …show more content…
Although, even with the black community, women are still the proletariat of society and are often forgotten within the narrative of black rights. Alice Walker at the time of publishing was criticised by male critics for her representation of men –Alfonzo, Albert- However, Alice Walker is simply showing the oppression women had to live through every day, a narrative that is often forgotten in history. Through an epistolary form Celie shows us the numerous acts where Celie is forced to do something against her will, at the start Celie herself denies her own existence, she has been oppressed to an extent where she has no self-worth or identity, with the cross out of ‘I am’ she has been lead to think that she …show more content…
It is decided by those in power. Isaac Asimov said the “book described society as a vast world-wide extension of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s” Orwell shows us through his dystopian novel where “two and two could become five if the fuhrer wished it” 1984 warns that totalitarianism essentially will equate to the control of our minds and our bodies he tries “to make Winston understand he has no personal control over his mind.” , through this idea we can see that once our minds are controlled by those in power, this will eventually translate to the control of the body, for example, Winston has a hatred for children ‘Nearly all children nowadays were horrible’ Page 29 children are susceptible to easy manipulation, especially when left in ignorance, therefore, we can see that when proles are both sub literate and verging on ignorance and the vernacular of the society has been changed where they can’t think of words that will go against

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