What Future?
Another dreary day begins in the city of New Fargo (population 4 million), 2060 is in full swing, the remnants of a once proud society of technological innovation. Masks are still mandatory and they even have an expiration date in order to make people buy more. The Covid virus while under control became a seasonal thing like the flu. Probably the only good thing that came out of the pandemic was the fact that airlines started to (actually), CLEAN their planes. No seriously, the blankets/headphones given to you are just repackaged and the air vents weren't clean since the plane was bought. On to the political situation, sovereign countries don’t exist anymore and the U.N.S (United Nation States) is in complete control of all nations, since it was deemed unfit for people to have much freedom. In an attempt to solve the issue of terrorism, economic unrest, and steep political disagreement, came true globalism. The things like the Left or the Right became as obsolete as monarchism. Each person has an assigned job from the government, based on a test given to college students (CSAT). Yes, there is a 100% literacy rate and everyone goes to college. According to U.N.S decree 102 section 5 paragraph G, “Education is the best investment opportunity the government can give to anyone”. With my score I was able to go to officers candidate school. I rose to the rank of major, decent enough to be comfortable but not high enough to lose one’s mind. What remains a mystery is who the top generals are. Conflicts are fought virtually in order to make the 30-year olds, who live in their parents’ house, a useful member of the society.
Brick and mortar stores were long gone, and only the online giants like Amazon controlled people’s lives. People have forgotten where food comes from. And oh, cows were banned for consumption because of the new environmental regulations which led to a food crisis for 5 years. Gas automobiles were banned since it was agreed that it would help save the environment (everyone is working from home too). The good thing is, there is no traffic. Since the economy is U.N.S controlled private enterprise was outlawed, and people became utterly poor (anything that was of technological value, ie. Computers and cell phones were government issued). Food lines were so long that people often had to set camp for the night. Only the rich could afford food delivery. Even with complete economic control of the country, three social class existed (III class, II class, I class). This is determined how useful one is to society. The majority of people belong to the third class who often do menial tasks such as operating old robots to take people’s trash, or work at Amazon to process packages (most people work here). There is often a battle on who could process the most orders, with the reward being the first in the food line. The second class of citizens is people who are healthcare professionals, law enforcement (and military), top journalists, engineers etc. This class of people have electric cars issued from the government and often carry-out their food. We are also allowed to go out for other reasons than essential trips, like playing in the park or similar lame activity as that. Each public area has a machine that will scan you and your id to make sure only the right class of people can visit certain areas. The first class of people are very secretive except for celebrities who often make content to maintain the sanity of the
people by entertainment (Tik Tok, YouTube, Facebook and twitter are the only sanctioned sites to post content on). News media are the only way of communication between the first class and the rest of the world. These people are the elites who control many government agencies and organizations. Outside of urban areas are another class of people that we don’t know much about that we couldn’t define them as a class. I was lucky enough to leave city limits on assignment to monitor crop production and metal work in order to set new quotas accordingly. The government only visits once a year to collect crop, read environmental reports and give quotas. Yes, our nation deeply cares about the environment, which was the only accomplishment our predecessors did justice for. (Don’t tell anyone this, but the animals are treated better than the third class). These farmers and metal workers have the most freedoms but keep to themselves.
Since everyone is staying home, Instagram became flooded with food pics. Chefs are now online teachers, but the food is still garbage. My MREs taste better. In terms of social life people are crazy about it, so much so that there is a media police which composes of internet moderators from various websites that band together to “make the internet a safe place”. Those who breach the rules are “cancelled” in which their whole life is discredited, and they go on a bus, never to be heard from again. My friends told me that some people are given new identities and then reassigned depending on if the police are bribed. That’s the worse punishment for Class III citizens. Class II citizens usually don’t spend much time on social media to be monitored by the Media Police. So we have regular police who makes it a point to hide the fact they are police until after someone is arrested. However, these policemen are to be feared especially those from department 3. Class II citizens have more freedom, but with more freedom comes more people watching your every move. All homes are secretly bugged, I managed to find some in my house. I didn’t touch them but made sure to close them off. Department 3 is a section that may or may not exist since everything I know about this is from rumors. It is said that people who are summoned come out totally different, like some kinda zombie. Class I citizens have an unknown punishment, however celebrities can and often do, get cancelled.
In terms of regular life for a class II citizen, we have to line up at the laundromat every weekend to wash laundry since having a washing machine at home was considered wasteful and detrimental to the environment. Refrigerators are half their size, since its expected that people go out and wait for fresh food everyday (protect that ozone layer)link here. However living on a military base is different, since amenities are convenient and readily accessible. The leader(s) of U.N.S take pride in the military and put extensive spending into it. I got lucky picking this career path which is paying serious dividends. Okay, that’s basically the past 40 years of history summed up. I got to get back to work, I just received new orders from an email address that says @Do Not Reply.
Analysis
The previous story is a possible future much like 1984 which I hope won’t happen. But each future is crafted from current situation. The characters in 1984 represent key political figures in the mid twentieth century. Orwell metaphorically creates a future in which people from his time period would act. The fictional story, 1984 was a startling political reminder of what could come; Orwell using many key life and historical experiences carefully extrapolates a world with the rise of totalitarian regimes.
From Goldstein to Winston to Big Brother, each character represents a set of ideals which manifested in various ways for good and for bad. The protagonist Winston, was “named after Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England during World War II”(Stanley 237). Winston Churchill kept the spirits of the British people high even during the trying times of the Blitz in which England was constantly bombed. Orwell took the firmness of Churchill and applied it to his Dystopian
novel. In 1984, the classic question of “How many fingers, Winston?” emerges and Winston’s strong belief in truth which is his main quality said “four” which was the correct answer, however not the one O’Brien wanted. Winston Smith’s admirable courage led him in the right direction. Goldstein is a typical Jewish name which is important to the story, “it is no accident that he is a Jewish intellectual because dictators Stalin and Adolf Hitler deeply feared and hated Jewish intelligentsia”(Stanley 237). Goldstein was once part of the Party and became a traitor sort of how like Leon Trotsky was part of the Bolshevik party and was considered a rival of Stalin. Orwell’s historical personification of each character adds realistic and some what gloomy tone to the story. Many of us know historical figures from history books, however we don’t actually get to know who these people are. In Orwell’s dystopia novel the characters give us a representation of how they might act.
Just like the characters are influenced by real people, the situations that they live in reflect Orwell’s experience growing during a period of turmoil. In 1984 Orwell creates a new language called “doublespeak” which is an easier way of communication and stifles creativity. This actually occurred in 1949 (the publishing year of this book) in the People’s Republic of China. Chairman Mao created a new dialect of Mandarin, called Simplified Chinese. As the name states, this new dialect is a simplified version of Traditional Chinese which is still used in Taiwan. The main reason for this was to appeal to the peasant class ( who were mostly illiterate), the basis for the communist movement in China. Even the national anthem of China is written and sang in Chinese vernacular. However the real reason was to in essence creates new China in which the CPC is in full control of daily life.
(Calligraphy, an ancient Chinese art started to die with this new dialect)Orwell’s military experience played an important role in how he viewed the world. In 1936 Orwell joined the POUM (Partido Oberon de Unificacion Marxista)
and fought in the Spanish Civil war which was a key factor in Orwell’s work. “His experiences in Spain caused him to become disillusioned with the leftist philosophy associated with the Soviet Union”(“Orwell, George” 1184). His distaste for Soviet communism was reflected in 1984 with things like “The Party” and "Big Brother". Orwell initially liked the idea that the common people would have the chance to rule and the idea of wealth being shared with everyone. Many artists, authors and intellectuals fought on the side supported by the Soviet Union since they “had hopes that the great suffering experience by the majority of Russians under Tsarist domination would be alleviated by a pure communist form of government”(“Orwell, George” 1186). This new bandwagon which Orwell was a part of shaped his political philosophy into being a true socialist which he stayed for the rest of his life. However, Stalin’s purge of many high officials and his iron hand on the whole nation, gave Orwell a negative impression of communism as a whole.
There are certain key events an author uses from his/her life to predict a future, for Orwell its World War 2, for me it was the Coronavirus, The clash of capitalism, communism, and fascism was political pot that boiled over. The atrocities of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union helped fuel the fear totalitarianism. Much like the deaths and the spread of the virus created an atmosphere of fear. According to a Nature.com publication back in August 2020, they estimated around 294,000,000 COVID infections. While incorrect, (I hope) the predictions are based on current events. In order to stir up an emotional response from the audience, the author might exaggerate the story. Usually people remember negative events and often use them to sway public opinion. For storytelling purposes, scary things like a deadly pandemic, or a series of murders in a certain area draw readers to know more. Orwell’s masterpiece of 1984 of fearful society in the future made people look at the current society to make the world a more bearable place.
Orwell’s use of major events and people during his time had a profound impact on his work. 1984’s futuristic dystopia had major influences from various wars and international governments. Good story telling revolves around key life experiences which are used to generate interest and an emotional response from the audience. While Orwell and I exaggerated our possible futures, a main theme that occurs in both stories is the fear and uncertainty of what the future might hold. The anxiety of what’s to come is a natural instinct we all share, thus it’s important to appreciate what you have right now.
(Above: Captain Picard was captured by the Kardassian Empire and was interrogated then asked "How many lights?" This pays homage to 1984 when O'Brien asks "How many fingers?". Picard and Winston are very similar in holding heroic qualities and staying true to beliefs)
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