1984 George Orwell Analysis

In 1984, the Party has control over the creation of ‘truth’. This is through, as the slogan states, control of the present. In complete control over Oceania, the Party uses thousands of people to go back through past statements (past ‘truths) and eliminate all existance of them while continually updating these ‘truths’ to best suit them in the present. One example of this is Oceania’s relationship with Eurasia and Eastasia. During a war with Eurasia, the Party is able to make the public believe that Eastasia has always been the ally and Eurasia has always been the evil enemy that must be despised. Yet the instant it switches to warring with Eastasia, as was the case on page 180, the Party was immediately able to change the ‘truth’ to it always

Modern-day America has recently been hit with a plague of ‘alternative facts’ which are basically falsehoods being passed off as true. The sad part is that these ‘truths’ are accepted by millions of people who continue to buy what the ruling party keeps churning out - basically the same thing as in 1984. Actually, after looking it up, I found this quote from a New York Times article: “Conway's use of the phrase "alternative facts" to describe demonstrable falsehoods was ... extensively described as Orwellian. Within four days of the interview, sales of the book 1984 had increased by 9,500%, which was attributed to Conway's use of the phrase, making it the number-one bestseller on Amazon.” Going back to the example of Eastasia and Eurasia, just as the Party of 1984 was able to make up a longstanding war with Eastasia on page 180 to drum up support and direct outrage outward rather than inward, the Party of America was able to make up a “Bowling Green Massacre” to do basically the same thing. Both of these were accepted by people as ‘truths’ - although accepted by many more people in the novel. The Party in 1984 made up ‘truths’ that the number of consumption goods produced was above the target and more than before - the same thing as the Party in America said about the number of people attending the inauguration. Basically, I believe Orwell was correct about this slogan