In the story ‘1984’, it discusses this dystopia that the author, George Orwell, believes will eventually become a reality. The government, also is known as Big Brother, watches everyone in the city of Oceania and controls everything everyone does. The government decides where people live, work, what they eat, what they drink, who they can have babies with, etc. The Party had created a language called Newspeak. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania. The main character, Winston, is an older guy who has a mind of his own. He has a diary that he secretly writes in to get all of his thoughts out about the Party and Big Brother. Winston doesn’t like Big Brother and does everything in his power to try to bring them down. He even tries to dig dirt up on Big Brother to try to bring them down. Unfortunately, while trying to accomplish this he ran into obstacles with a dark-haired girl named Julia, who he had feelings for. They arranged secret meetups so they could see each other. They had to do it secretly because the Party wouldn’t allow them to be together. Big Brother and the Party doesn’t want people together unless they can have babies. They want babies so they can brainwash them, as well to spy on their parents and others when they get old enough to know how to. After Winston and Julia were caught by the Party, they both were taken to a prison called the Ministry of Truth. Winston was physically abused and tortured into believing that Big Brother wasn’t the bad guy. One of the themes that was common throughout the entire novel was totalitarianism and communism. One place this theme was common after the book was released was in Cuba during the ruling of Castro.
Totalitarianism and communism, a dictatorial government system ruled by only one person, who controls the entire country. In the book, ‘1984’, Oceania was run by Big Brother and in Cuba, they were run by Fidel Castro. The Castro family has been running Cuba for almost 61 years now. The way the Castro family ran Cuba is very similar to how Big Brother ran Oceania. This is confirmed by the quote from the book ‘1984’: “There was a direct, intimate connection between chastity and political orthodoxy. For how could the fear, the hatred, and the lunatic credulity which the Party needed in its members be kept at the right pitch, except by bottling down some powerful instinct and using it as a driving force?” (Orwell, 133). This quote came to life in Cuba because the quote explains how propaganda from Big Brother shaped Oceania and how Castro’s use of propaganda made the citizens of Cuba believe everything he said. Castro’s use of propaganda was shown in books, cartoons, posters, newspapers, shows, etc. Big Brother’s use of propaganda was the same on pages 39 and 40, which reads: “The process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, soundtracks, cartoons, photographs—to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance” (Orwell, 39-40). This explains the same thing from Castro’s use of propaganda in Cuba. They each tried to use as much as they could to demonstrate the propaganda that was needed for the citizens in Cuba and Oceania to know.
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The citizens of Oceania and Cuba are also both being brainwashed into believing everything their ruler says. There is a specific quote that says: “The portrait hypnotic eyes gazed into his own. It was as though some huge force were pressing down upon you—something that penetrated inside your skull, battering against your brain, frightening you out of your beliefs, persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses. In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it” (Orwell, 80). And this means that the thought of Big Brother scares the people. They don’t want to see Big Brother or even feel that Big Brother would be coming to get them. So, they are brainwashed to be these ‘perfect’ people in the eyes of Big Brother. This relates to the life in Cuba because there was a time when the trade unionists wanted to stop a strike or attack, but because Castro was the head of the organization and he wanted it to go on, the people were scared so they didn’t say anything. People tend to be intimidated by people of higher power than them, and do not want to speak their minds due to the fact they may believe that something bad will happen to them (The Editors of Encyclopedia). Also, the book states: “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing” (Orwell, 263). This implies that the Party, who are controlled by Big Brother, don’t care about anything except power. This relates to Cuba during the ruling of Castro because he also didn’t care about much except power and controlling Cuba.
Another way Cuba demonstrated an act of totalitarianism and communism that is similar to the book ‘1984’ is that Castro killed people who did not obey him. Big Brother had people vanished, as it states in this quote: “The terrible thing that the Party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account, while at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world. When once you were in the grip of the Party, what you felt or did not feel, what you did or refrained from doing, made no difference. Whatever happened you vanished, and neither you nor your actions were ever heard of again” (Orwell, 164-165). While Fidel Castro didn’t have people being able to vanish into thin air, he did have people killed and they were most likely never talked about again. Also, the book says: “To die hating them, that was freedom” (Orwell, 281). And this is also just like the citizens in Cuba. They felt free when they died due to the harsh living from Castro.
As stated before, in ‘1984’, Big Brother watched over the citizens of Oceania through telescreens. The telescreens were used to spy on people and to show them propaganda. Big Brother also used children to spy on their parents. Castro was also a great spy himself. Nobody knew he was a spy until he admitted on television. Castro was also a great liar. He told so many lies that believed that he was a really good person and everything he said was true. This relates to this quote from the book: “She thought it over. ‘They can’t do that’, she said finally. ‘It’s the one thing they can’t do. They can make you say anything-anything-but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you’” (Orwell, 166). And this quote came to life because the citizens of Cuba also were told how to think and some things to say by Castro. He was the Big Brother of Cuba.
Two quotes from the book that goes with the previous quote are: “‘Sometimes’, she said, ‘they threaten you with something—something you can't stand up to, can't even think about’” (Orwell, 292) and “And perhaps you might pretend afterward, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn’t mean it. But that isn’t true. At the time when it happens, you do mean it. You think there’s no other way of saving yourself, and you’re quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about it yourself” (Orwell, 292). The first quote explains how Big Brother forces people to say things they don’t want to say or things they don’t mean. The acts that Castro repeated from the book are harassing the citizens of Cuba by the use of propaganda and forcing them to believe certain situations. The second quote explains how Winston and Julia both were so concerned about their well-being that they sold each other out to Big Brother. This is similar to Castro when he is so self-concerned that he didn’t care about the well-being of his citizens. They all, Winston, Julia and Castro, are selfish and do anything in their power to make sure they remain themselves.
The book ends with these words: “He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (Orwell, 297-298). This explains how after everything Winston went through, he eventually loved Big Brother and realized that Big Brother wasn’t the bad guy in Oceania. This relates to the life in Cuba because Castro’s face is in every corner, reminding people of the great work he has done, and that his legacy needs to remain in Cuba. This use of propaganda will explain to citizens that he was a great leader, as well as that he will continue to impact Cuba in this current day and time.
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