Arendt, Foucault, and the Liquidation of the Self in Orwell’s 1984

Blog Summary

This analysis explores how Orwell’s 1984 functions as a “laboratory of the soul” by synthesizing Hannah Arendt’s theories of social isolation with Michel Foucault’s mechanics of disciplinary power. It argues that the Party succeeds not just through outward violence, but by systematically dismantling the individual’s inner dialogue and replacing it with a state-authored “truth.” Ultimately, the essay illustrates that the most terrifying triumph of totalitarianism is the moment a subject is conditioned to participate in their own mental liquidation.