1984: Some Prophecies Have Come True Essay, Research Paper

1984: Some Prophecies Have Come True

In many ways 1984 by George Orwell, was ahead of its time— ironically,

it parallels present day society in the U.S. in many ways. Yet at the same time,

the novel falls short—certain prophecies have yet to come true.

The story 1984 predicted many truths about present day society, truths

such as illegal prostitution, brainwashing, and personal identification were

predictions expressed in the book that have come true today. In the story,

prostitution was illegal and in present day society it is very much illegal.

Within the novel, during newspeak, thought criminals spoke about the crimes they

committed. The most popular crime was engaging in sexual activities with a

prostitute. Now we wouldn’t be tortured for it today but we can serve jail time

for soliciting with a prostitute.

Another example in the book was the prediction of brainwashing. The

truth is that today people are being brainwashed constantly and some times they

don’t even know it. For example people are always being brainwashed into buying

a certain product by advertisements on the televisions or by subliminal messages.

Winston was brainwashed into conforming to the normal society by loving Big

Brother. The brainwashing in the book might be a little exaggerated but it is

still the same concept.

Yet another example is how people are tagged with numbers. People today

are identified by a social security number same as in 1984. Many of Orwells

predictions became true but many didn’t.

Despite the truths, there were many untruths prevalent in 1984. Many

concepts expressed in the book such as banned sex, thought police, food

shortages from the past were all predictions that never became true. Orwell made

the prediction that sex would be illegal in the year 1984. In the story Winston

and Julia were caught having sex and Winston was tortured almost to death. A lot

of criminals expressed in newspeak that a reason for them being convicted was

for sex related charges. Today sex is legal (thank God) and although it might

not be the most safe thing, it is still a very big part of society today.

Another stagnant prophecy was that Orwell predicted that there would be

thought police reading our minds in the year 1984. This is a really scary

concept and luckily this prediction was false and it is not a part of present

day society. In 1984 they had thought police that knew what people were thinking

at all times. People were convicted for thinking about anything that had to do

with going against Big Brother. Parsons’ children were thought spy’s and they

turned in their own father. This is a major invasion of people’s rights and

thats why it would not be accepted in society today.

Another prediction was that in the year 1984 we would not have objects

from the past. For example, in the story coffee was illegal because of the

content of caffeine. The only way to obtain these thing was illegally. This

prediction was false because substances like coffee are still legal and still

obtainable today.

After reading this story you get a weird feeling of what the future

might bring. Gathering all the facts and finding out that some of the

predictions Orwell made were correct leads us to think about wether or not the

false predictions might come true someday.