In the imaginary world he created, Oceania, the Party controls past, present and future,  controls every word and every action of the population through television screens that monitor people even in their homes. The Party keeps people in the dark about history and what happens in contemporary society, destroys human feelings, except hatred and fear, because it is emotions and feelings such as love, friendship and generosity that they make people individuals and threaten the power of the Party .  The Party wants to have two powers: the external power that implies physical control of other people and the internal power that implies control  of feelings and beliefs of that people.

Everyone must look the same for this they wear the uniform of the Party and it is impossible for the inhabitants of this country to express their ideas, especially those concerning the concepts of democracy and freedom. For this purpose, a Newspeak is created , characterized by a very poor vocabulary, which by 2050 will supplant the traditional English language. Another control and coercion tool is the doublethink ( Doublethink ), the ability to sustain two contradictory ideas at the same time, this allows the Party to erase the past, consciousness and rationality of men. 

The novel's protagonist, Winston Smith , is the last man who believes in human values in this oppressive world, which has failed to completely erase his individuality . He hates the Party and rebels, but is forced to surrender, he is tortured and after brainwashing, he is reduced to the condition of a passive being, without personality and submissive to the Party and Big Brother who sees everything and knows everything. 

The name Winston Smith has a symbolic meaning: " Winston " refers to the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill ; the surname " Smith ", on the other hand, the most common English surname, evokes the common man who represents not only the typical English man, but the whole of humanity.

“1984”, George Orwell's “Animal Farm” and Huxley's “Brave New World” are considered “dystopias”, so novels in which the future is shown as distorted, catastrophic and unpleasant. The historical events of the twentieth century such as wars, revolutions, civil wars and totalitarian regimes had weakened the illusions of men about the perfectibility of mankind. This is why among the aspects of dystopias that we are going to analyze mainly emerge the control by politics, technology, fanaticism and the dehumanization of society.Dystopian societies are often described as flat and leveling down, their aim is to suppress the individual, religion and family which tend to be distorted. The setting is preferably the city and the urban context.

Opposite completions are the utopian novels , the first example of which we find in the "Republic" of Plato , who imagined an ideal world governed by philosophers.

In England Thomas More wrote the political essay entitled " Utopia " in which he hypothesized the best political system as based on the principles of common property and education for tolerance. After him we remember Bacon's “New Atlantis” , who imagined a visit to an island in the Pacific , J. Swift and his “Gulliver's Travels” considered a satirical utopia.

Ironically, 32 cameras are present today near the house where George Orwell lived in London.

In London and other major cities in the United Kingdom there are about four million CCTV cameras that for security reasons film the lives of citizens every day. They are placed in shops, banks and even in schools. They are also used to monitor public areas such as parks, car parks, streets and entire neighborhoods. These cameras were placed to prevent crime and catch criminals. For example, during the terrorist attack of 2005, the terrorists were identified thanks to the presence of these cameras. However, the opinion that citizens have about the presence of these cameras is rather controversial, especially as regards the “Talking CCTV Cameras”,  those cameras that send messages to citizens. The voice comes from a person who follows the scene on a monitor and scolds the citizen for example when he throws the garbage in unsuitable places or when he draws graffiti on the walls. Many citizens are convinced that the UK is becoming a "Big Brother society".

Published on June 8, 1949, this novel was mainly written on the Isle of Jura in Scotland in 1948. Initially he wanted to name it "The Last Man in Europe" but then his publisher advised him to name it the year 1948 simply  inverting the last two digits. The novel can be seen as a text against totalitarianism in which the presence of a “Big Brother” stands out, observing all the inhabitants of the city through the cameras. Stalin's Soviet Union provided Orwell with great inspiration regarding the description of Oceanian society. Big Brother physically resembles Stalin, the party's great enemy Emmanuel Goldstein resembles Trotsky, and the treatment of many characters in the novel is reminiscent of the mistreatment of the population in the Soviet Union.