History NightmareFuel / NineteenEightyFour

* The Oceanians, thanks to all the years of indoctrination, starvation and overworking, coupled with the removal of any conflicting or disloyal elements, border on OurHumansAreDifferent. They're almost completely devoid of empathy for others, totally numb to violence or absolutely reveling in it. They're encouraged to hate their designated enemies, with each generation growing more desensitized to suffering and more thoroughly indoctrinated by the Party. They've also developed mindsets bordering on BizarreAlienPsychology, capable of actions like {{Doublethink}} nearly without question. They go beyond HumansAreBastards and closer to humanity if we were AlwaysChaoticEvil.[[note]]There are, unfortunately, plenty of historical examples of this being TruthInTelevision - take UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan and UsefulNotes/NaziGermany for instance, whose behavior is eerily identical to the Oceanians, and this trait would be adopted by UsefulNotes/NorthKorea and UsefulNotes/{{China}} later on, as well as organisations such as the Islamic State Of Iraq and Syria.[[/note]]

** The other three towers have windows, but the Ministry of Love has none whatsoever. It also has a visibly significantly larger degree of security, with booby traps and hidden turrets everywhere, layers upon layers of barbed wire fences, and there's so many guards that even the streets leading up to its entrance are patrolled. Now that's a lot of security.

When you're reading a book about a society whose highest goal is to be "a boot stamping on a human face -- forever," it's hard ''not'' to find something that unsettles you to your very core.

* The Oceanians, thanks to all the years of indoctrination, starvation and overworking, coupled with the removal of any conflicting or disloyal elements, border on OurHumansAreDifferent. They're almost completely devoid of empathy for others, totally numb to violence or absolutely reveling in it. They're encouraged to hate their designated enemies, with each generation growing more desensitized to suffering and more thoroughly indoctrinated by the Party. They've also developed mindsets bordering on BizarreAlienPsychology, capable of actions like {{Doublethink}} nearly without question. They go beyond HumansAreBastards and closer to humanity if we were AlwaysChaoticEvil.[[note]]There are, unfortunately, plenty of historical examples of this being TruthInTelevision - take UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan and UsefulNotes/NaziGermany for instance, whose behavior is eerily identical to the Oceanians, and this trait would be adopted by UsefulNotes/NorthKorea and UsefulNotes/{{China}} later on.[[/note]]

** Hell, the whole part where O'Brien tortures Winston into becoming a mindless follower of the Party. One that sticks out in particular is where he tortures Winston into believing that he is holding up five fingers instead of four.

* The mere idea that there is no escape from this hellish dystopia, irrespective of whether the theories of the outside world are true or not. Eurasia and Eastasia are both said to be exactly as oppressive as Oceania, and the details of that are already well established. The only place in the world that is said to not be ruled by any of the three is the Equatorial Front, which is nothing more than a giant fighting arena where you'll either be gunned down by supersoldiers or taken as a slave by whatever nation grabbed you. And if Julia's theory that Oceania is a OneWorldOrder is true, then there's ''nowhere to run.''\\\
Even if Oceania really just governed the United Kingdom, do you really think you'd still be able to pull off an escape without getting caught? For starters, it's an island - so actually getting off when limited to underhand means is going to be a challenge in itself, and of course that's assuming you even make it that far, as the main problems here are that Oceania has first constructed an extraordinarily large and pervasive surveillance network, and has secondly pretty much mastered the art of propaganda to the point where it's impossible to tell whether something is really true or not (such as the aforementioned scale and extent of the Thought Police). So taking those into consideration, it's pretty much a safe bet to consider an attempt to escape from Airstrip One a fool's errand and a guaranteed trip to the Ministry of Love or the labour camps. And on top of that, it's already been established that the Thought Police are said to be so vigilant that even the slightest detectable hint of defection will cause them to pounce. This just further drives home how terrifying Oceania's security operation is.

* The ending. Both Winston and Julia are left as soulless, brainless shells with no free will after the Party's re-education. All of their humanity has been snuffed from them. Of course, Julia has an extremely tiny shred left. Winston? He loves Big Brother. He worships the Party. All of his old personality is now gone, replaced by a soulless robot filled with propaganda and gin. And he is very shortly going to be shot.

* The Oceanians, thanks to all the years of indoctrination, starvation and overworking, coupled with the removal of any conflicting or disloyal elements, border on OurHumansAreDifferent. They're almost completely devoid of empathy for others, totally numb to violence or absolutely reveling in it. They're encouraged to hate their designated enemies, with each generation growing more desensitized to suffering and more thoroughly indoctrinated by the Party. They've also developed mindsets bordering on BizarreAlienPsychology, capable of actions like {{Doublethink}} nearly without question. They go beyond HumansAreBastards and closer to humanity if we were AlwaysChaoticEvil.[[note]]There are, unfortunately, plenty of historical examples of this being TruthInTelevision - take UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan and UsefulNotes/NaziGermany for instance, whose behavior is eerily identical to the Oceanians (and this disturbing behavior would be adopted by UsefulNotes/NorthKorea and UsefulNotes/{{China}} later on).[[/note]]