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Abuse Of Power In George Orwell's '1984'

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1984 Analysis George Orwell’s 1984 has significant relevance to today’s society because of the abuse of power over the people by the government. Although most governments today don’t watch their citizen’s every move, or torture them into believing that two plus two could equal five and/or three, that might not be too far in the future. There are several symbol of the Party’s complete control over the free life, language, and emotions of the citizens. Body 1: To begin, the Party has significant power over the people, even to go as far arresting them for “thoughtcrime” which is when you think of things that are considered illegal by the Party. The free life of the people of Oceania was not actually free, or the people’s. They are constantly monitored by the Thought Police. The telescreens represent the interrupting surveillance by the government. As Winston, states , “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull.”(1.2.28.) But, as we see later in the story, even that can be compromised. The Party’s jurisdiction extended into the human consciousness. By the end of book three, chapter six, “He [Winston] loved Big Brother.”(3.6.297). This shows how horrible, but incredibly efficient, the Party’s methods of torture are. Since they had been watching Winston since his …show more content…

It is obvious that having free speech in this society would be problematic, but the Party takes it one step further. The invention and continued revision of “Newspeak”, the Party’s artificial and restraining language, is symbolic of the Party’s overwhelming power, because they can literally influence what you can and cannot think about, simply because they are eliminating the words in which to express it. This restriction of expression through language demonstrates the sickening amount of power the Party

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