Metacognitive Journal 4- 1984

"1984" was written to illustrate how the idea of communism/totalitarianism and democracy co-existed in society. George Orwell writes in an omniscient perspective where he portrays views from both sides, however. He narrates this novel through Winston, the main character of this novel who appears to be a democrat. With reference to Orwell's work, he wrote "Animal Farm", satirizing communist leaders as corrupted pig leaders that deceive fellow animals in the farm. Although Orwell did not attack those Communist Leaders in his time directly, he humiliates these manipulative leaders by making them animal caricatures in his novel. He compares the Communist parties in Russia that overthrew the monarchy to the animals in the story that overthrew the Jones or the owner governing the farm. Animal Farm is an effective piece of writing that inspires the readers to hold on to a bias view of the political world as well as entertains the readers.

In this case, I think that "1984" is also another piece of work that Orwell intends to persuade contemporary readers to believe in democracy. He depicts a society with no freedom where there is a telescreen that capture people's actions and voices all the time. Orwell represents Winston's perspective where he does not like how the government invades his privacy by using the telescreen but he omits about how other people in society feels about it. However, Orwell did point out the fact  points out the fact that the public was okay with Big Brother doing the Two Minutes Hate and that the public roared and growled supporting the Party's side. 

Orwell wrote this novel during the time period when society was much influenced by Communist ideas.  However it has shift over centuries and communist ideas have been reduced. Although democracy appears to dominate the world today, Communism still exist in countries such as North Korea. If I could choose between being communism and democracy, I would choose democracy just like Winston. I feel that being governed under democracy allows people freedom. I believe that people will benefit when they have the rights to make choices for themselves and shape their own lives. Not only that, the economy will also grow when people are governed under capitalism and not collective farms.