The phenomenon of dehumanization has been present throughout the history of humankind, being totalitarianism the principal instigator. Processes of dehumanization are adaptive and stand out from the times of slave-trading and colonization to the Holocaust and the two world wars of the last century. These human violations caused, especially, by the ideological conflicts of the 20th century, have increased the literary interest in understanding humanity and in analyzing wherein the humanity of human beings lies. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) might be the most remarkable representation of this paradigm by addressing the social and cognitive impact totalitarian political systems cause in human beings. This research paper, in particular, will be closely examining how uninterrupted surveillance of individuals, political propaganda and censorship of information and thought, which can be considered as the three distinctive dehumanizing mechanisms of totalitarianism, are used in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

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Keywords: Homage to Catalonia, Dehumanization, Humanity, Spanish Civil War, Francoism.