Totalitarianism in George Orwell’s 1984 (1949) and Boualem Sansal’s 2084: The End of the World (2015): A Comparative Study

Abstract

This study discusses the portrayal of different aspects of totalitarianism as the major theme in both George Orwell's 1984 (1948) and Boualem Sansal 2084: The End of the World (2015). This work aims at understanding how the different ideologies of the authors, being from different societies, has influenced the way they demonstrated the theme in regards to the political and religious nature of the dystopian genre chosen by the authors. This study analyzes the mis(use) of technology, propaganda and language, and the portrayal of the protagonist character in each novel, as features representing totalitarianism in both novels. Moreover, it sheds light on the reflections of those features in the context of the writing of both works. Using the biographical approach, this paper seeks to understand the experiences involved in the formation of both authors’ ideologies and how they implement them in their novels. The use of the historical approach is also crucial to understand the context of writing and the various discourses influencing the authors’ productions and their motives. Finally, this work aims at understanding the difference between both authors’ motives in their depiction of the theme and to conclude that the perspective from which both novels are read determines the intentions of the writer. Accordingly, the outcome of this study is that the motives of both George Orwell and Boualem Sansal are ideological.