Big brother in george orwell’s 1984 and egdon in thomas hardy’s the return of the native : Criticism of abusive power

The aim of this study is to show the absolute control exercised by the main characters with similar practices in Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighteen Four. Here, Orwell depicts regimes where the state exercises total control over all aspects of citizens' lives, from their thoughts to their actions, through the emblematic figure known as Big Brother, while in The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy depicts Egdon Heath as a powerful force, shaping the characters' personalities and actions. It attracts and repels, creating tensions and social conflicts.