Afterword 1984

The Afterword of 1984 serves as a warning for present day and the future to avoid this society that Winston and Julia are trapped and exposed to. The Afterword discusses how unless the world avoids history repeating itself, future life and people could potentially be transformed into these brainwashed individuals to this communist form of government. This portion of the book continues with describing presented examples as time progressed such as the views of Christianity and Thomas Moore's Utopia, encompassing perfection, as well as Hitler and Stalin. After all of these events and personas that had been presented in history already, Orwell displays how at this rate the desire for that perfect society will entirely destroy the world for the lack of individualism and extreme control over communities established.
Although Orwell displays an extreme situation, it provides a perfect warning for the future. "One can react to this picture in two ways: either by becoming more hopeless and resigned, or by feeling there is still time, and by responding with greater clarity and greater courage." (pg 266). Orwell creates these dehumanized, soulless, machines, a result and product of the controlling government overpowering every individual taking away every last thought in their mind.
"He wants to warn and to awaken us. He still hopes -- but in contrast to the writers of the utopias in the earlier phases of Western society, his hope is a desperate one. The hope can be realized only by recognizing, so 1984 teaches us, the danger with which all men are confronted today, the danger of a society of automatons who will have lost every trace of individuality, of love, of critical thought, and yet who will not be aware of it because of 'doublethink.'"(pg267). The Afterword of 1984, although not created by Orwell, may seem like the impossible; however it serves as a perfect way to complete Orwell's purpose proving that this society can occur at anytime without precaution.